A lynching in the family inspired Michigan's first Black woman elected justice to pursue the law
Justice Kyra Harris Bolden is the first Black woman to be elected to the Michigan Supreme Court
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — During Michigan Supreme Court Justice Kyra Harris Bolden's first campaign, a critic told her she wasn't Michelle Obama or Kamala Harris, “but you feel emboldened to run for this office.”
She later named her first child Emerson, so it could be shortened to “Em Bolden.” The word has driven her ever since.
Bolden, now 36, won that race, for the statehouse in 2018, and in 2022 she was appointed as the youngest-ever justice, and first Black woman, on Michigan's top court. Voters affirmed Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's choice by electing Bolden to her seat in November.
“It’s been a long journey for me,” Bolden told The Associated Press, one that began generations ago when her great-grandfather was lynched and her family fled the South.
