Lovely One

Ketanji Brown Jackson's memoir follows one family across a single generation, from the segregated South to a seat on the United States Supreme Court. She is the first Black woman appointed to the Court, and she tells the story of how she got there in her own voice.

The title is her given name. Ketanji Onyika means "Lovely One," a name suggested by an aunt who was serving in the Peace Corps in West Africa. Her parents were both educators, and they taught her from the start to take pride in where she came from. She recalls growing up on stories of grandparents and parents who pushed past the barriers of the segregated South, and of deciding as a girl that she would live up to that inheritance.

The book moves through her formative years: a high school stretch as an oratory champion and student body president, then Harvard, where she graduated magna cum laude while acting in musical theater, performing improv, and joining influential student groups. Jackson sets the public record of her career beside details people have not heard before. She describes what it takes to rise in the legal profession when few of the people holding power look like you, and how she balanced a demanding career against the rewards and costs of marriage and motherhood.

It is a candid, warm account for anyone with big ambitions who will not be steered away from them.