Sharlene Sinegal-DeCuir

“Forging a Path” critically analyzes the personal and professional life of Bernette Joshua Johnson, an unsung leader in black political action in Louisiana. In 1969, she shattered the glass ceiling as one of the first African American females to graduate from Louisiana State University Law School. From there, she continued building an impressive career, culminating in being the first African American and African American female Chief Justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court. The manuscript fills a gap in Louisiana’s civil rights history as it not only tells the story of Chief Justice Johnson, it examines critical moments of the Civil Rights Movement both locally and nationally, thus grounding the book not only in the personal experiences of Chief Johnson but in a larger shared experience. Her story will take the reader back to a segregated Louisiana in which being black and female was two of the hardest conditions a person could be born into, through creation of a black law school, and integration of LSU Law, while weaving in the story of the national movement and its impact on Chief Justice Johnson.