In 1996, Judge Taylor became the first Black woman Chief Judge for Michigan’s Eastern District following her 1979 appointment.
On Nov. 15, 1979, the late Anna Diggs Taylor became the first Black woman judge to be appointed to the United States District Court as a federal judge for the Eastern District of Michigan.
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel remembered the Black woman pioneer who approached another historic moment in 1996 after she was appointed as the first Black woman Chief Judge for Michigan’s Eastern District.
“She paved the way for many others behind her,” Nessel wrote in a Feb. 13 post on Twitter/X.
In 1979, Anna Diggs Taylor became the first black woman judge to be appointed to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. In 1996, she became the first black woman Chief Judge for that circuit. She paved the way for many others behind her! pic.twitter.com/9cihFquPae— Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel (@MIAttyGen) February 13, 2023
The Eastern District of Michigan saluted Taylor for her work in defending civil rights workers who were jailed for registering Blacks to vote. The 1964 mission led her and her team to face angry racists.
“She was an all-around beautiful person,” a judge said. “She was gracious and kind, but not in a way that allowed herself to be diminished by people because she was a woman or a minority.”
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Source: Black Enterprise
