Judith Nelson Dilday facts for kids
Judith Nelson Dilday, born in 1943, is an American lawyer. She made history as the first person of color to become a judge in the Massachusetts Probate and Family Court. This court handles important family matters like adoptions and wills.
Early Life and Education
Judith Dilday grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Her grandparents moved there from Alabama during the Great Migration. This was a time when many African Americans moved from the Southern states to the North for better opportunities.
Dilday studied French at the University of Pittsburgh. She graduated in 1966. She also took more French classes at Millersville State College. After college, Dilday taught French in public schools in Pittsburgh for four years.
Later, she moved to Boston. She decided to study law at the Boston University School of Law, graduating in 1972. While in law school, she met her husband, James Dilday. They later had children.
A Career in Law
Dilday started her legal career working for private law firms and for the government. She became the first Black president of the Women's Bar Association from 1990 to 1991. This group supports women lawyers.
She worked at the law firm Stern and Shapiro. She also worked for the Department of the Interior's solicitor's office. Dilday was a founding partner of Burnham, Hines & Dilday. This was the first law firm in New England owned by African American women. She was also the first Black woman to work in the Suffolk County District Attorney's office. This office handles criminal cases.
In 1993, Dilday was appointed as a circuit judge to the Probate and Family Court. At that time, she was one of only four Black women judges in Massachusetts. In 1998, she became an associate justice in the Middlesex Probate and Family Court. Judge Dilday retired in June 2009.
After retiring, she helped Chinese law students practice mock trials. She also taught English in Qiqihar, China.
See also
- List of first women lawyers and judges in Massachusetts
