As part of the literary arts program Roosevelt High School, as well as many other high schools across Portland including Franklin High School, Grant High School, and St. Marys, had the pleasure of getting tickets to see Ketanji Brown Jackson speak at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall when her book tour brought her to Portland on Thursday, March 12th. Ketanji Brown Jackson is a supreme court justice and author, her book “Lovely One” is a New York Times best seller and was nominated for a Grammy for best audio book narration.
In 2022 Brown Jackson became the first black woman to serve on the supreme court, her memoir, tells of her journey to the supreme court and the struggles she faced along the way. Although she is a prominent politician, her talk steered away from political discourse, touching on her personal life and journey in contrast to her work. She talked about how her parents raised her, growing up sitting at the table as her father went through law school in Florida, her time in high school on her speech and debate team winning championships in her speech category and she talked about meeting her now husband while both attending college at Harvard. The anecdotes painted a clear picture of who Jackson was, how she came to be where she is and who shaped her to be the person she is today.
Although she didn’t talk about her work, it is still important to highlight the work Ketanjii Brown Jackson has done. She was appointed to the supreme court in 2022 by former president Joe Biden. She went to college at Harvard and graduated from Harvard Law in 1996. After school she had various jobs around the law before getting appointed by former president Barack Obama to the United States sentencing commission as a vice chair in 2009. There she worked on reducing sentencing for specific drug crimes. In 2014, Ketanjii was nominated as a district judge for the court of Columbia where she worked until 2021. She was nominated for the supreme court in 2022 and appointed the same year, becoming the first black woman to serve on the supreme court. In her current position she has played a role in many major rulings such as Trump v. United States and Ames v. Ohios Departments of Youth Services. Where she opposed giving President Donald Trump total immunity and where she helped uphold Title Nine rights.
Jackson’s journey throughout her education, government jobs and as an author has helped inspire a variety of people, her journey is one of resilience and determination that speaks to many people’s own experiences. I think the impact of her work is best said in her book lovely one “My hope is that the trials and triumphs of my journey as a daughter, sister, wife, mother, litigator, and friend will stand as a testament for young women, people of color, and strivers everywhere, especially those who nourish outsized ambitions and believe with stubborn faith in the possibility of achieving them.”
