February is Black History Month, and on Morning Edition we are sharing stories of Black women who were pioneers in Michigan politics.
In 1980, Lucile A. Watts made history when she became the first African-American woman elected to a circuit court in the state of Michigan. Judge Watts served on the Third Circuit Court in Wayne County for 14 years. Her work on the court helped open doors for both African Americans and women in the Michigan court system.
Watts died in 2018 at the age of 97.
For a look back at her groundbreaking career, Michigan Public Morning Edition host Doug Tribou spoke with another accomplished Michigan jurist. Judge Cynthia Stephens served as a district court judge, then served for about 25 years on the Third Circuit Court in Wayne County, where she worked with Watts. Stephens later joined the Michigan Court of Appeals until her retirement from the bench in 2022.
Doug Tribou: When did you first meet Lucile Watts?
Cynthia Stephens: Gosh, I moved back to Michigan from Texas in the early '80s, and I met her through her being the chair of the Mary McLeod Bethune Association, which was an organization of African-American women who provided community services. And she was, at that point, its head and was providing free legal services. She was also a member of my sorority, Delta Sigma Theta, and so, I saw her at sorority meetings.
DT: What struck you about her when you started to become aware of her career and her accomplishments?
CS: She was an individual who served, and expected respect, and demanded respect for others.
DT: When Watts graduated from Detroit College of Law in 1962, women were not typically hired as attorneys, so she started her own firm. In an interview with the Detroit Free Press about a year before her death, Watts spoke about those early years of her legal career, and she said, "At that time, being a woman was worse than being Black." Could you tell us some more about some of the barriers she faced as a Black woman in the legal profession?
CS: So my dad graduated from DCL, as well, and he had no trouble finding a job or getting some work. He was not treated like white men, but all the guys were over at the Tobin building and they all worked together. But both she and Jessie Slaton, another one of my sorors, had to figure out how to make it happen on their own. Jesse ended up being a legal secretary, which, as my mother would say, burned her biscuit. But she was ten years ahead of Judge Watts. Judge Watts said, "I don't think so, and I'm going to make it happen on my own." And she did.
DT: In 1967, during the riots in Detroit, also known as the Detroit Uprising, Watts was practicing divorce and real estate law. How did she get involved in efforts to defend Black men who were wrongfully detained by police at that time?
CS: She got involved because she interjected herself in it. George Crockett, the elder, who later became [a U.S.] representative, decided he was going to hold court right there at 1300 [Beaubien], the police headquarters in Detroit. And people had been detained because they were, you know, walking while Black. She and a number of others, Elliott Hall, some other people that people may now know, provided these people with legal services.
DT: After [nearly] 20 years as an attorney in private practice, Watts ran a successful campaign in 1978 to become a judge on the Common Pleas Court. Then two years later, in 1980, she ran for the Third Judicial Circuit Court. What was she like as a judge?
CS: She was direct. She was thorough, but she was also a teacher for those of us who were baby lawyers, baby judges. She gave us guidance, very much like her dear friend, Geraldine Bledsoe Ford. She'd call you back in chambers after you did something and tell you, "Baby, you don't want to do that again. Maybe you can do this a little differently."
DT: In a conversation on the public television program American Black Journal, Judge Watts described that in her early days on the court, judges were still pulling cases and picking and choosing what was assigned. I guess now there's a blind-draw system so that doesn't happen. But she mentioned being assigned particularly difficult technical cases. Were those kinds of obstacles common? And it seems like that was the kind of thing — through research — that she just rose to the occasion to...
CS: I became a judge in 1981 and, for example, I was a district court judge, and they intentionally gave me accosting and soliciting cases — in other words, the prostitution docket — to see if it would just freak me out. So yes, it was common. It was kind of ridiculous, but it was common.
DT: You worked with Judge Watts in your early years on the bench. And as I mentioned, you served until just a few years ago. How have things changed for Black women judges in the time since your career began?
CS: Well, there are many more women judges, many more Black women judges. Unfortunately, by the same token, the examination of Black women judges by the Judicial Tenure Commission has increased. We are more likely to be the subject of formal investigations, but as a general rule, the election process is much easier because the electorate is used to having women as judges. And that started with people like Judge Watts showing them that she could be simply the best.
DT: Do you have a favorite memory of Judge Watts?
CS: The day she swore me in as a circuit court judge and pointed out that common sense was uncommon.
DT: [Laughs] Very true.
CS: And Judge Watts loved to have people at her house. She was a great entertainer. But I do recall one of her soirees where George Clinton was there. And so while you may not think of Judge Watts and the Funkadelic, she had a wide breadth of experience and openness.
Editor's note: Some quotes in this article have been lightly edited for length and clarity. You can listen to the full conversation near the top of this page.
