From life in the segregated Old South to the U.S. Court of Appeals
The journey of Ojetta Rogeriee Thompson (’76) Her great-grandfather was a South
Her rise to the federal bench has been
her world of separate schools, separate
Carolina plantation owner who bought
a head-spinning journey from all-black
movie theaters and separate swimming
her great-grandmother at a slave
Catholic schools in the segregated South,
pools—a parallel universe of substandard
auction, then lived with her as her
through Brown University and BU Law,
facilities for an entire race of second-class
husband. Now, more than a century
to one of the highest courts in the land.
citizens.
laws of the Old South, Ojetta Rogeriee
Thompson’s big break came following her
“It was a kind of schizophrenic
Thompson has become the first black
sophomore year in high school. Growing
experience,” she recalled. “In the context
judge to sit on the U.S. Court of Appeals
up in Greenville, S.C., during the 1950s
of our community, we were surrounded
for the First Circuit.
and 1960s, Thompson knew little beyond
by very loving and supportive people who
after her ancestors defied the segregation
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Boston University School of Law
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www.bu.edu/law