When I was 15, I decided I wanted to be a lawyer. No one thought this was a good idea

The fact is that racism, despite all the doomsayers, has diminished

We Americans entered a new phase in our history - the era of integration - in 1954.

I was born and raised in the oldest settled part of the nation and in an environment in which racism was officially mooted.

Too many whites still see blacks as a group apart.

I never thought I would live long enough to see the legal profession change to the extent it has.

In my view, I did not get to the federal bench because I was a woman