Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson will share her life story in a new memoir titled “Lovely One.”
Jackson, who made history last year as the first Black woman to join the Supreme Court, will chronicle her life and career from her childhood in Miami to her years at Harvard, her early legal career, marriage to her mother, and her rise to the Supreme Court, according to a statement from book publisher Random House as reported by the Associated Press.
“Mine has been an unlikely journey,” Jackson said in the statement. “But the path was paved by courageous women and men in whose footsteps I placed my own, road warriors like my own parents, and also luminaries in the law, whose brilliance and fortitude lit my way. This memoir marries the public record of my life with what is less known. It will be a transparent accounting of what it takes to rise through the ranks of the legal profession, especially as a woman of color with an unusual name and as a mother and a wife striving to reconcile the demands of a high-profile career with the private needs of my loved ones.”
Jackson, 52, was born Ketanji Onyika Brown. The book’s title is derived from the English translation of Ketanji Onyika, a name suggested by an aunt who was serving in the Peace Corps in West Africa at the time.
She joined the court last year after President Joe Biden nominated her to succeed the retiring Stephen Breyer. She had previously been a U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals judge for the District of Columbia.
“My hope is that the fullness of my journey as a daughter, sister, wife, mother, litigator, and friend will stand as a testament for young women, people of color, and dreamers everywhere,” Jackson added, “especially those who nourish outsized ambitions and believe in the possibility of achieving them.”
Random House said Jackson tells her story with “refreshing honesty, lively wit, and warmth.”
No release date has been set for “Lovely One”.