[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 37 (Friday, February 26, 2021)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E176]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    HONORING THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF ELRETA MELTON ALEXANDER-RALSTON-

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. G.K. BUTTERFIELD

                           of north carolina

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, February 26, 2021

  Mr. BUTTERFIELD. Madam Speaker, in celebration of Black History 
Month, I rise today to recognize the life and legacy of Elreta Melton 
Alexander--an educator, barrier breaker, civil rights advocate, and 
renowned officer of the court. She was the first Black woman in North 
Carolina to be licensed and practice as a lawyer, to argue before its 
Supreme Court, and to be elected a judge.
  Elreta Narcissus Melton was born on March 21, 1919, in the small 
eastern North Carolina town of Smithfield. Her father, Joseph C. 
Melton, a Baptist minister and teacher, and her mother, Alian A. 
Reynolds Melton, a schoolteacher, had strong beliefs about the 
importance of education and refused to perpetuate the narratives of 
racial injustice. The family later moved to Greensboro, North Carolina, 
where in 1937, at the age of eighteen, Alexander graduated from North 
Carolina Agricultural & Technical College, now North Carolina 
Agricultural and Technical State University, with a Bachelor of Science 
degree in music. Upon graduation, she became a high-school teacher in 
South Carolina where she taught music, math, and history.
  Encouraged by a Greensboro minister, Alexander decided to attend law 
school and pursue a legal career. Because of the limitations for Black 
student admittance into Law schools in North Carolina, Alexander 
applied and was the first Black woman admitted to Columbia Law School 
in 1943 at the age of twenty-four, and became the first Black woman to 
graduate from Columbia Law School in 1945. In 1947, after passing the 
North Carolina bar exam, Alexander became the first black woman to 
practice law in North Carolina. After establishing a large solo 
criminal practice in Greensboro, Alexander formed one of the first 
integrated law firms in the South, Alston, Alexander, Pell & Pell. 
During her career as a trial attorney, she added to her list of 
``firsts'' when she became the first Black woman to argue before the 
Supreme Court of North Carolina.
  On December 2, 1968, Alexander became the first Black judge elected 
in North Carolina and the first Black woman in the United States to be 
elected district court judge. Alexander was re-elected in 1972, 1976 
and 1980. One of her most notable accomplishments as a District Court 
Judge was her innovative juvenile sentencing approach called ``Judgment 
Day'', which focused on rehabilitating young offenders and 
misdemeanants as an alternative to sentencing. Judge Alexander ran for 
the Republican nomination for the Chief Justice position on the North 
Carolina Supreme Court in 1974. Battling persistent racism in the 
state, she lost the election to a White man named James Newcomb, a fire 
extinguisher salesman with no college degree or legal background. 
However, her loss prompted a later-adopted constitutional amendment 
requiring judges to first be attorneys licensed in North Carolina 
before they can rightfully hold the position as judge. Her presence in 
the courtroom brought about great change and needed perspective; 
however, she did not win every battle and every election. Despite the 
perception of defeat, the barriers that Alexander faced laid the 
groundwork and opened doors for a better tomorrow.
  While Alexander faced many challenges throughout her educational 
pursuit and legal career, she refused to let her circumstances define 
her destiny as she forged her own path led by her passion and 
conviction for justice and equality.
  On behalf of the United States House of Representatives and the 
people of the First District of North Carolina, I am proud to recognize 
and celebrate the life and legacy of a true pioneer and Black History 
icon, Elreta Melton Alexander-Ralston.

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