Stout, Juanita Kidd 1919–1998

Juanita Kidd Stout 1919–1998

Judge

Aspired to a Legal Career

Tough on Juvenile Offenders

Indifferent to Accolades

Sources

Juanita Kidd Stout started her career as a small-town music teacher. She went on to become the first African American woman to be elected as a judge in the United States. Stout made history a second time by becoming the first African American woman to be appointed to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. The former music teacher became fascinated with law, and ultimately became well-known and respected as a judge for her bravery, her passion for justice, and her commitment to education.

Stout was born Juanita Kidd on March 7, 1919 in Wewoka, Oklahoma, to Henry and Mary Chandler Kidd. Having studied piano since she was five years old, she left Oklahoma at the age of 16 to attend Lincoln University in Lincoln, Missouri, for two years. Kidd was forced to leave Oklahoma to attend an accredited school because schools in her home state would not admit African Americans. After earning a music degree from the University of Iowa in 1939, she taught music at Booker T. Washington High School in Seminole, Oklahoma. She then taught at Sand Springs, near Tulsa, Oklahoma, where she met her future husband, Charles Otis Stout. He was a history and Spanish teacher and boys’ counselor there. Because she weighed only 88 pounds and was smaller than many of her students, Kidd sent her unruly pupils to Stout for discipline. For a year, the two spent time together outside the classroom, singing, playing piano, and playing bridge. When World War II erupted, Stout went into the Army and Kidd moved to Washington D.C. with a friend and worked as a secretary. Although the couple had never discussed marriage, Stout proposed to Kidd on his first leave from the Army. She accepted, and they were married on June 23, 1942.

Aspired to a Legal Career

Stout began to study law at Howard University, but soon transferred to Indiana University, where her husband was doing doctoral work. She earned her Doctor of Jurisprudence degree from Indiana in 1948. Stout remained at Indiana and, in 1954, received a master of laws degree with a specialty in legislation.

It was in Washington, D.C., where Stout’s law career began in earnest. In 1950 she took a job as secretary to

At a Glance…

Born Juanita Stout March 7, 1919 in Wewoka, OK; daughter of Henry and Mary Chandler Kidd; died August 21, 1998 of leukemia in Philadelphia, PA; married Charles Otis Stout (deceased), June 23, 1942.Education: University of Iowa, B.A., 1939; Indiana University, J.D., 1948, L.L.M., 1954.

Career: Music teacher, Booker T. Washington High School, Seminole, Oklahoma, c. 1939-41; music teacher, Sand Springs, Oklahoma, c. 1941-42; administrative assistant, Honorable W. H. Hastie, U.S. Court of Appeals for Third Circuit, Philadelphia, 1950-55; chief, Appeals, Pardons & Paroles Division, District Attorney’s Office, Philadelphia, 1956-59; assistant district attorney, City of Philadelphia, 1956-59; judge, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, 1959; justice, retired, Pennsylvania Supreme Court, 1989; senior judge, Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas 1989-98.

Awards: Jane Addams Medal, Rockford College, 1966; inducted into Oklahoma Hall of Fame, 1981; inducted into the Oklahoma Women’s Hall of Fame, 1983; Distinguished Daughter of Pennsylvania, 1988;Gimbel Award for Humanitarian Services, Medical College of Pennsylvania, 1988; Justice of the Year, National Association of Women Judges, 1988; Sandra Day O’Connor Award, Philadelphia Bar Association, 1994; Thurgood Marshall Award, National Bar Association, 1994; honorary doctor of laws degrees: Ursinus College, 1965, Indiana University, 1966, Lebanon Valley Col lege, 1969, Drexel University, 1972, Rockford College, 1974, University of Maryland, 1980, Roger William College, 1984, Morgan State University, 1985, Fisk University, 1989; honorary doctor of human letters degree, Russell Sage College, 1966, Delaware State College, 1990.

William Hastie, a prominent African American lawyer. Hastie was soon appointed by President Harry S. Truman to the U.S. Court of Appeals in Philadelphia— making Hastie the first African American appellate court judge in U.S. history. Stout accompanied Hastie to Philadelphia, and served as his administrative secretary.

In 1954, Stout began her own private law practice. Two years later, she accepted a position as assistant district attorney for the city of Philadelphia. Stout continued her private practice even after she was promoted to Chief of Appeals, Pardons and Paroles Division of the District Attorney’s Office. In September of 1959, Stout was appointed as a judge of the municipal (county) court by Pennsylvania Governor David L. Lawrence, making her the first African American woman to sit on the bench in Philadelphia. Two months later, she was elected by a two-to-one margin to a ten-year term, becoming the first elected African American female judge in the United States. In 1969, Stout became the first African American woman to be elected to the Common Pleas Court.

In 1963, Stout was sent by President John F. Kennedy to attend the independence celebration in Kenya as a special ambassador. In 1967, Lyndon B. Johnson sent her back to Kenya on a speaking tour. As a participant in a State Department cultural exchange program, she toured six African countries.

Tough on Juvenile Offenders

During the mid-1960s, Stout garnered national attention for her tough sentencing of juvenile offenders. Because of her stature on the court, she often received death threats from gang members. Stout refused to be bullied, however, and continued to speak out publicly against gang violence. Stout’s reputation as a tough, but fair, judge earned her a feature inn Life magazine entitled “Her Honor Bops the Hoodlums.”

Stout was raised in a family environment that promoted education and achievement. Having earned advanced degrees, she was a staunch advocate for education. “She loved her roots,” one colleague told the Philadelphia Tribune, “She loved her family and was a great admirer of education. When she had a defendant, she would extol the virtues of education, the wonders it could accomplish. She always put that as a requirement for probation.” In the same article, Rev. Shirley Hilton, whom Stout referred to as the “daughter she never had,” agreed. “She never stopped promoting education,” Hilton remarked. “Everyone who passed her way got an earful about the importance of education.”

In 1988, Stout’s husband passed away. That same year, she became the first African American woman in the United States to be appointed to a state Supreme Court. In 1989, having reached the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s mandatory retirement age of 70, she was forced to retire. Stout returned to the Common Pleas Court as a senior judge in the homicide division. In 1993, she presided over the trial in absentia of Ira Einhorn.

Einhorn was convicted of the 1977 murder of his girlfriend, Holly Maddux, and was living as a fugitive in France.

Indifferent to Accolades

The anteroom of Stout’s courtroom was covered with cartoons. She chose to decorate her walls with legal cartoons instead of the many plaques, awards, commendations and medals that she received through the years. “She (Stout) does not need rewards to reinforce, to give; she is truly a generous person,” Audrey C. Talley, co-chair of the Philadelphia Bar’s Women in the Profession Committee, told the Philadelphia Tribune. “She will do as she has done and will continue to do it without recognition.” Stout received very special recognition in 1981 when her home state of Oklahoma, a state whose colleges refused to admit African Americans, inducted her into its Hall of Fame. She often cited this honor as one of her greatest achievements.

Although modest, Stout did acknowledge her place in history. “Looking back, I guess that 1 have (done historic things),” she told the Philadelphia Tribune, “but when I was doing these things I did not know that I was being a pioneer. I just did them because I wanted to.” Stout has been a role model for other African American women. “There are many African-American women who look to her,” Talley told the Philadelphia Tribune. “Without question, her accomplishments are significant. Her accomplishments are not just significant for the Philadelphia community. She made a number of firsts for the nation.”

Stout’s influence transcends the history books. In a story recounted by the Philadelphia Tribune, Stout was stopped on the street by a woman she did not know. The woman had once served on a jury in Stout’s court, and she told Stout that she had inspired her to switch careers. The woman had returned to college, finished law school, and passed the bar exam. Even those tried, convicted, and given long sentences by Stout thanked her for her legal “insight,” the story said.

Stout’s tremendous success can be attributed to her love for her chosen profession. “Let me tell you one thing,” she told the Philadelphia Tribune, “99 percent of the reason I am working is that I love the job and I think that I can do some good. I cannot understand how a person can work eight hours a day or more at a job that they do not like. I love my job. I just love the law. I enjoy it.”

On August 21,1998, Stout died of leukemia at Thomas Jefferson Hospital in Philadelphia. Although she had not heard cases for seven months, she was expected back on the bench in September of that year. Immediately after Stout’s death, she was lauded for her many achievements. Philadelphia Bar Association Chancellor Mark Aronchick praised Stout in the Philadelphia Tribune as “a giant in our justice system.” In the same article, Philadelphia Mayor Ed Rendell said Stout was “a true champion for justice and a role model for thousands of Philadelphias.” According to the Philadelphia Tribune, a few days before she died, Stout told her close friend Shirley Hilton, “I’m ready to go home.”

Sources

Periodicals

Jet, September 7, 1998, p. 52.

New York Times, August 24, 1998, p. 15.

Newsday, August 24, 1998, p. A33.

Philadelphia Tribune, October 14, 1994; August 25, 1998, p. 1A.

Books

Epic Lives: One Hundred Black Women Who Made a Difference, edited by Jessie Carney Smith, Visible Ink Press, Detroit, 1993.

—Brenna Sanchez