New York residents are shocked at the tragic death of Judge Sheila Abdus-Salaam on Wednesday. She was a pioneer in the city’s legal system and defended the poor and disenfranchised with passion and commitment. She dedicated her life to upholding the law and making her city a better place for all its citizens.
Judge Sheila Abdus-Salaam was found dead on April 12, 2017, her body floating on the Manhattan side of the Hudson River in New York City. This happened hours after she was reported missing from her home in Harlem. Sheila Abdus-Salaam was a judge on the New York Court of Appeals. She was also the first African American and Muslim woman to be appointed a seat on New York’s highest court. Abdus-Salaam was also the first Muslim woman to serve on the bench in the United States. As news of her tragic death spreads across the nation, people are curious to know more about her. Here are some details from Sheila Abdus-Salaam’s wiki.
From Slavery to Liberation
Sheila Abdus-Salaam was born on March 14, 1952, in Washington D.C., where she grew up with six siblings in a working class family. She studied in public schools there and while researching her family history as a child, she learned that her great-grandfather had been a slave in Virginia. About her accomplishments and discovery, she later said, “All the way from Arrington, Va., where my family was the property of someone else, to my sitting on the highest court of the State of New York is amazing and huge. It tells you and me what it is to know who we are and what we can do.” Abdus-Salaam attended Barnard College, before studying law at Columbia Law School.
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Strong Believer in Equal Rights
Abdus-Salaam worked as a staff attorney for Brooklyn Legal Services and was later an assistant attorney general in the civil rights and real estate financing bureaus. She was a New York supreme court justice from 1993 to 2009 and held several powerful positions in the New York legal system before her elevation to judge of the New York Court of Appeals. Abdus-Salaam was the first female judge to hold this seat. Her colleague, attorney Seymour James, recalled meeting her in the early 1980s when she was working in the Civil Rights Bureau saying, “She was a strong believer in equal rights and equal access to justice.”
Autopsy Report Awaited
Judge Sheila Abdus-Salaam was married three times. She married her third husband, Gregory A. Jacobs, a Christian minister within the Episcopal Diocese of Newark, in June 2016. Sheila Abdus-Salaam’s husband was the one who identified her body after it was taken out of the river. The police are investigating how Abdus-Salaam ended up in the Hudson. She was found fully clothed, and officers said that there were no obvious signs of any trauma. Her body has been sent for autopsy to determine the actual cause of death.
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A Trailblazer in Her Field
Some people have speculated that Sheila Abdus-Salaam committed suicide, but there is no evidence of that at this point. Governor Andrew Cuomo has said, “Justice Sheila Abdus-Salaam was a trailblazing jurist whose life in public service was in pursuit of a more fair and more just New York for all. As the first African-American woman to be appointed to the state’s court of appeals, she was a pioneer. Through her writings, her wisdom and her unshakable moral compass, she was a force for good whose legacy will be felt for years to come.” The people of New York will miss her dearly.