Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson inaugurated the Chicago Humanities Festival’s autumn 2024 season in front of a packed, enthusiastic crowd at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance. In conversation with native Chicagoan and longtime Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett, the first African American woman on the nation’s highest bench discussed her historic momentous ascendance and new book Lovely One.
Justice Jackson started the matinee program by reading from the preface of her memoir, named after the English translation of her name, Ketanji Onyika. Her aunt, a Peace Corps worker in Africa, suggested it to her parents. Jackson recounted clerking for Justice Breyer, whose seat she eventually took, after clerking at all three levels of the American justice system.
She also recalled being sworn in as the 116th Supreme Court Justice, the first Black female in the Court’s 233-year history, with her hand on two books: the cherished Jackson family bible and a bible donated to SCOTUS in 1906 by John Marshall Harlan, the sole dissenter in the Plessy v. Ferguson case, symbols of “how far our nation has traveled.”
In a time of ugly and violent public discourse, weaponization of the law and conservative Christofascists stripping away established human rights on the daily, Justice Jackson is joyful, kind and grateful to have been elevated to the nation’s highest court, noting that “so many have invested, mentored and poured into me.” She stands on the shoulders of others, mentioning important trailblazers like Constance Baker Motley, the first Black woman to argue before SCOTUS, and the first federal judge appointment in 1966.
Born in DC in 1970, Justice Jackson was raised in Miami; her brother Ketajh, ten years her junior, is currently a Chicago lawyer (and in attendance at this lecture). Her public school teacher parents had attended HBCUs, and she mentioned that her own life started during the crucial period following Jim Crow and the passing of the Civil and Voting Rights Acts. Referring to Dr. King’s mention in his iconic “Dream” speech—“so we have come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and security of justice”—Justice Jackson said she has “gratefully reaped the first installment of that check.”
She said that she was “raised to go to law school” because she remembers doing her 6-year-old homework at the same table where her dad studied law for the University of Miami. Her mother imparted lessons too. Justice Jackson’s beloved grandmother, who called her a “blessed child,” couldn’t spell very well on household notes, something the Justice once made fun of as a youngster. Her mom admonished the child for harshly judging her well-meaning but under-educated elder. “Guard your spirit,” her mom said. That embarrassment stays with her today.
Jarrett noted that Justice Jackson, Michelle Obama and herself were discouraged by college counselors from applying to top law schools. But Justice Jackson was not easily deterred, especially as she was a nationally recognized speech and debate champion as well as the president of her high school. When she felt lost and alone during her first year at Harvard, she remembers an unknown (and uncommon) Black woman walking by, saying “Persevere” before she disappeared. Justice Jackson pondered if that person was one of the angels among us that her aunt often talked about. She met her surgeon husband Patrick, a Boston Brahmin and a Mayflower descendant, at Harvard, where he represented the seventh generation of his family to attend.
“He saves lives,” Jarrett said. “And you save democracy.”
They had deep conversations with their two young daughters about Justice Jackson pursuing the position. “Will you share your mom with the country?” he asked. They agreed. One daughter even wrote a letter to President Obama encouraging him to pick her for the job when Justice Scalia died.
Justice Jackson told of her “murder board” preparation for the grilling she received during her Senate confirmation. She fondly remembered Senator Cory Booker moving her to tears during the process because he didn’t ask gotcha questions, but instead proclaimed “no one’s stealing my joy” about her historic nomination.
Justice Jackson wasn’t allowed to discuss her seemingly and increasingly corrupt conservative benchmates like Anita Hill did at a May 2022 CHF lecture, where she chastised Jackson’s cruel confirmation process. But Justice Jackson did recall almost drowning at a pool party when she was about 8, despite knowing how to swim. She said the lesson she learned that day was “whenever I’m in the deep end, I will swim.”
Reserve tickets now for upcoming autumn events at the Chicago Humanities Festival:
Oct 26: US Poet Laureate Natasha Thretheway
Oct 26: Michelangelo Sebastiano on the Edith Farnsworth House
Nov 2: Anne Curzan
Nov 2: Claudia Rankine
Nov 9: Jamaica Kincaid
Nov 13: Nikole Hannah-Jones
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