{"id":62831,"date":"2022-01-20T19:21:39","date_gmt":"2022-01-20T19:21:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mixedracestudies.org\/?p=62831"},"modified":"2022-01-20T19:44:10","modified_gmt":"2022-01-20T19:44:10","slug":"unsung-hero-as-a-pioneering-attorney-and-judge-elreta-alexander-ralston-left-indelible-mark-on-civil-rights-criminal-justice-reform","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/?p=62831","title":{"rendered":"Unsung hero: As a pioneering attorney and judge, Elreta Alexander-Ralston left indelible mark on civil rights, criminal justice reform"},"content":{"rendered":"

Unsung hero: As a pioneering attorney and judge, Elreta Alexander-Ralston left indelible mark on civil rights, criminal justice reform<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

The News & Record<\/a>
\nGreensboro, North Carolina
\n2021-12-19<\/p>\n

Nancy McLaughlin<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

<\/a>
Historian and UNCG<\/a> professor Virginia Summey’s<\/a> biography of Elreta Melton Alexander-Ralston<\/a> goes back to the history-making judge’s childhood, including her years at Dudley High School<\/a> and N.C. A&T<\/a>.
\nNews & Record archives<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

GREENSBORO<\/a> \u2014 Former attorney and District Court Judge Elreta Alexander-Ralston<\/a> was known for the sheer force of her personality and style.<\/p>\n

Outspoken. Flamboyant. Fierce. Unforgettable. Bold. She had an air of authority about her that left no doubt who was in charge.<\/p>\n

And oh the stories, said historian and UNCG<\/a> fellow Virginia Summey<\/a>, the author of a new biography of the history-making judge.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t imagine I will have as much fun on another book,\u201d Summey said.<\/p>\n

Summey was watching an oral-history interview with Alexander-Ralston when she heard the judge say she hired legendary attorney F. Lee Bailey<\/a> to defend her over a judicial complaint.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe would say something in her oral history and I could say, that could not be true,\u201d Summey said. \u201cBut it was.\u201d<\/p>\n

With Bailey, it was the drama of her driving to Massachusetts and showing up at his front door, Summey said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI called him right before he died and he was like, \u2018Oh yeah, Elreta…,\u201d Summey said, of the story he would go on to tell about her hiring him.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Life of Elreta Melton Alexander: Activism within the Courts<\/a>\u201d is available through pre-order from the University of Georgia Press<\/a> and includes her years at Dudley High School<\/a> and N.C. A&T<\/a>. Alexander-Ralston built her legal reputation as Elreta Alexander.<\/p>\n

Alexander-Ralston died in 1998 and is remembered for an unusual career pioneering legal reform among an impressive list of firsts, including the first Black woman in the nation to sit on the bench who was elected by voters…<\/p>\n

Read the entire article here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Unsung hero: As a pioneering attorney and judge, Elreta Alexander-Ralston left indelible mark on civil rights, criminal justice reform The News & Record Greensboro, North Carolina 2021-12-19 Nancy McLaughlin Historian and UNCG professor Virginia Summey’s biography of Elreta Melton Alexander-Ralston goes back to the history-making judge’s childhood, including her years at Dudley High School and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,1245,459,1467,8,20,25],"tags":[32041,32314,32040,32287,32315,32816,879,18530,463,32044,32045],"class_list":["post-62831","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles","category-biography","category-history","category-law","category-media-archive","category-usa","category-women","tag-elreta-melton-alexander","tag-elreta-melton-alexander-ralston-2","tag-elreta-melton-alexander-ralston","tag-ginny-summey","tag-greensboro","tag-nancy-mclaughlin","tag-north-carolina","tag-the-news-record","tag-university-of-georgia-press","tag-virginia-l-summey","tag-virginia-summey"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62831","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=62831"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62831\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":62833,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62831\/revisions\/62833"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=62831"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=62831"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=62831"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}