By Goodluck Ikiebe.
America’s First Black Supreme Court Justice,
KETANJI ONYIKA BROWN JACKSON is a Nigerian.
She was born in Washington D.C., while parents are American descendants of enslaved Nigerians from West Africa, traced ancestral roots to Ibos in South-East.
The name ‘Ketanji Onyika’ translates to ‘lovely one’ in Ibo language.
“51-year-old Justice served as Vice Chair of the United States Sentencing Commission, active member of the Judicial Conference Committee on Defender Services, Harvard University’s Board of Overseers and the Council of the American Law Institute”
The Nigerian standard newspaper reports that Justice Ketanji had earlier worked as a law clerk to judge Patti B. Saris of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, then to judge Bruce M. Selva of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.
She was outstanding in private practice at Washington, D.C. law firm, Miller Cassidy Larroca & Lewin (now part of Baker Botts), then clerked for
justice Stephen Breyer of the U.S. Supreme Court.
Justice Ketanji Onyika currently serves on the board of Georgetown Day School and the U.S. Supreme Court Fellows Commission.
Our Correspondent reports that during the Slave era, African men and women were forced to change their names by slave owners.
