Amalya Kearse

When Amalya Lyle Kearse was appointed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, she was the first woman and only the second African American (after Thurgood Marshall) to serve on the court. Kearse was born in Vauxhall, New Jersey, where her father was a postmaster and her mother a pediatrician. A gifted student, she graduated from Wellesley College in 1959 with a degree in philosophy. She was the only black woman in her class at the University of Michigan Law School, where she was an editor of the law review. She graduated cum laude in 1962. When Kearse joined the firm of Hughes Hubbard & Reed, female attorneys were a rarity on Wall Street, and female attorneys of color were unknown, but she rose to become a partner in the firm, and her reputation reached the White House. President Jimmy Carter appointed Kearse to the Court of Appeals in 1979. She is now a senior member of the Court. Judge Kearse addressed the Academy of Achievement at its 1984 gathering in Minneapolis, Minnesota. In this audio podcast, recorded on that occasion, Judge Kearse describes the work of the Court, and recalls the path that led her from law school to Wall Street to the federal bench.