On September 14, the Travis County Democratic Party will host the Second Biennial Senator Yarborough Judicial Retirement Celebration, honoring seven of our distinguished retiring judges. This is the last in our series of mini-portraits of our honorees.

Judge Wilford Flowers grew up in segregated Port Arthur and has broken racial barriers in Austin for decades. In 1977 he became the first African-American assistant district attorney, and his election in 1990 to the 147^th District Court made him Travis County’s first black district judge. For 20 years, he has presided with distinction over trials involving Austin’s most serious felonies, including murder and robbery.