Legendary Greats

from Cleveland Volume 1, Issue 4 Reprint

Imani Capri

Jane Bolin

This Legendary Great, Jane Bolin was born April 11th, 1908 in Poughkeepsie, New York. She would go on to become the first melanated woman judge in the United States. Her mother Matilda a British Isle immigrant and her father Gauis Bolin a lawyer also had 3 other children aside from Jane, who was the youngest of the four. Jane soon found herself loving the law the same way her father did. (Gauis Bolin was the first melanated graduate of Williams College as well as the first melanated president of the Duchess County Bar Association) Jane continued her education after high school and attended Wellesley College, while there she faced the challenges of being only one of two black students in her class. In spite of the constant pressure of racial tension this legendary great graduated with honors. Her decision to pursue a law degree was not met with enthusiasm by her teachers or her father. It wasn’t until her father saw how determined she was that he encouraged and supported her. She was accepted into Yale Law School and was the only melanated Law Student and she graduated as the first melanated female to graduate from Yale Law School in 1931. Throughout her lifetime Jane continued to strive forward and continued being the first in many other avenues. Her love of the law lead her to become the first melanated female to join the New York Bar Association. She then joined her father to practice law partly because of the discrimination of her gender and race. She would later work along side her husband was also a lawyer. During her career Jane was very passionate about the injustice to her people particularly the youth. She was appointed as the first melanated female assistant corporate counsel for the New York City Corporation Counsel. By the time Jane was 31 years old she was being appointed judge of Family Court making her the first melanated female judge in the United States. For over 20 years she remained the only one. She continued on the bench for 40 years. Retiring at the age of 70. As judge she made many changes to the system including prohibiting probation officers from discriminating by not taking cases of minority people, she also fought to ensure that public and private child care services did not discriminate because of a child’s color. She would go on to work with Eleanor Roosevelt to work on programs to help stop juvenile crime among young men. This Legendary Great passed away in 2007 at the age of 98. Jane had one son.

Listen to some of Reaux Fareal music.

Reaux Fareal is a musician in New Orleans, LA. He is a Vocalist, Author, and a Filmographer. Mixing Reggae with Soul and Hip Hop, he has created his own style, calling it ‘Treggae”. His smooth tenor on Hip Hop/Trap beats give a universal feel to today’s contemporary music arena.

He has been on HBO, MTV, TBN, and Fox Sports. Throughout his life he has starred in more than 40 stageplays, beginning at 7 years old. He has written and directed four of his own. In 2017 he produced and directed a movie, ‘Get The Ring’, which is now featured on Amazon Prime. Reaux is also a 2x National Spoken Word Winner.