Black History Jump Start

So last year I personally extended Black History Month. Prompted by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and African American Lives; I dug deeper until I was exhausted. Then I paused and dug some more. So when I come across a bit of treasure, I'm more than happy to share it.

Jane Bolin, whose appointment as a family court judge by Mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia in 1939 made her the first black woman in the United States to become a judge. Judge Bolin was the first black woman to graduate from Yale Law School, the first to join the New York City Bar Association, and the first to work in the office of the New York City corporation counsel, the city’s legal department.

Jane Matilda Bolin was born on April 11, 1908, in Poughkeepsie. N.Y. Her father, Gaius C. Bolin, was the son of an American Indian woman and an African-American man. Mr. Bolin, who was the first black graduate of Williams College, had his own legal practice and was president of the Dutchess County Bar Association. Her mother, the former Matilda Emery, was a white Englishwoman.

In her comfortable girlhood, she was profoundly shaken by articles and pictures of lynchings in Crisis magazine, the official publication of the N.A.A.C.P. “It is easy to imagine how a young, protected child who sees portrayals of brutality is forever scarred and becomes determined to contribute in her own small way to social justice,” she wrote in a letter at the time of her retirement in December 1978. When she resigned because she had reached the mandatory retirement age of 70, she complained, “They’re kicking me out.” She was 98 and lived in Long Island City, Queens. She died on Monday, January 8, 2006. She is survived by her son, Yorke B. Mizelle, a granddaughter and a great-granddaughter.

Personal note to Kevin: I've official defunct the defunct blog. So you better crack those books, cause you've got a bar exam to pass. And some big shoes to fill, courtesy of Judge Bolin.