When I arrived at Vanderbilt Law School in the fall of 1975 after having graduated from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, there were 15 black students in my class out of approximately 200. That was a big number for Vanderbilt at the time. We all considered ourselves on the front lines of change in America, and I personally considered it was a miracle that I was there. Growing up in Crossett, AR, I had never seen a black lawyer, let alone a black female lawyer. Yet there I was — petrified, but determined.
I had known at least since my junior high years that I wanted to be a lawyer. From my point of view, change in America was happening because of the courts. I made Crossett Courthouse Steps to document that time in my life. It is created from traditional courthouse steps blocks in my favorite neutrals with an African tribal border. I still love this quilt 24 years later. It is part of my personal heirloom collection.
I am Black History.
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