Matthew Washington Bullock was born Sept. 11, 1881, in Dabney, North Carolina to slave parents. Mr. Bullock's parents fled the south in 1889 to Massachusetts with seven children and ten dollars in cash. At Everett High School, in Everett, Massachusetts, Matthew Bullock excelled in academics and athletics. He was elected captain of the school's baseball, football, and track teams his senior year.

Matthew Washington Bullock was born Sept. 11, 1881, in Dabney, North Carolina to slave parents. Mr. Bullock's parents fled the south in 1889 to Massachusetts with seven children and ten dollars in cash. At Everett High School, in Everett, Massachusetts, Matthew Bullock excelled in academics and athletics. He was elected captain of the school's baseball, football, and track teams his senior year.

Matthew's father gave him fifty dollars and sent him on his way.

In the fall of 1900, Matthew Bullock enrolled in Dartmouth College. At Dartmouth, Mr. Bullock participated in varsity football for three years, varsity track for four years, the glee club, and was a member of Aegis Board, the Palaeopitus and the Executive Class Day Committee.

Mr. Bullock graduated in 1904 and attended Harvard Law School from which he graduated in 1907. He paid his way through Harvard Law School by coaching at Massachusetts Agricultural College (now known as University of Massachusetts). He is believed to be the first black man to hold the head coach position at a predominantly white institution (both collegiate and high school).

From 1908-1912 Mr. Bullock taught economics, history, Latin, and sociology at Atlanta Baptist College (now known Morehouse College). During his time at Morehouse he served as Athletic Director and head football coach. From 1912-1915 he practiced law in Atlanta after which he returned to academia, becoming the Dean of the Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical College for Negroes, a position he held until 1917. He was admitted to the Massachusetts Bar in 1917.

During World War I he did war work with the Y.M.C.A. in France and the U.S. From 1919-1921 he was the Executive Secretary of the Boston Urban League and in 1921, returned to practicing law in Boston. In 1927, he combined law practice with work on the Massachusetts Parole Board, to which he was first appointed by Governor Alvin T. Fuller.

When the term expired he was not reappointed by Governor James Curley, but acted as assistant to the Hon. Arthur Lyman, commissioner of corrections, for six years.

In 1943, Governor Saltonstall persuaded Bullock to serve again on the Parole Board, which he did until his retirement. In 1945, Bullock was asked by Secretary of the Navy James Forestal to join a commission investigating condition between negro and white enlisted men in the Pacific area.

Mr. Bullock also was a member of the Knight of Pythias, the Masonic order, and Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Incorporated. In 1971, Matthew Bullock received an honorary Doctors of Law degree from Dartmouth College (he also received an honorary degree from Harvard Law School). He died on December 17, 1972 at the age of 91.