Lillian Burke, Ohio’s 1st African-American Woman Judge

Lillian W. Burke, Ohio’s first African-American woman judge, passed away March 27th, 2012.  In the words of C. Ellen Connally, Cuyahoga County Council President, “she was highly educated, very dedicated on the bench, and very concerned about defendants.  … She set the standard for all the black women judges — and all the women judges, really.”*  Originally from Georgia, Burke earned her undergraduate business education degree from Ohio State University, and her JD from Cleveland-Marshall College of Law.  She was an Assistant Attorney General for 3 years before being appointed as the first woman to serve on the Ohio Industrial Commission.  Ohio Governor James Rhodes appointed Burke to the Cleveland Municipal Court Bench in early 1969.  Later in 1969, she won election to that seat, to which she was re-elected and held till her retirement in 1987.  Burke was active with numerous community organizations, and was awarded many honors.  She received the Norman S. Minor Bar Association Trailblazer Award in 1998, was honored as one of the “Jewels of Cleveland” by the Women’s City Club of Cleveland in 2002, and was recognized by the Cleveland Restoration Society in 2004 for her work to convert apartments to condominiums in an historic East Boulevard building, work done with the help of C|M|Law Urban Development Law Clinic students.  At its 2011 Commencement, C|M|Law awarded Judge Burke an Honorary Doctor of Laws Degree.

*Plain Dealer and Cleveland.com, 3/29/12