Juanita Kidd Stout

Juanita Kidd Stout (born March 7, 1919 in Wewoka , Seminole County , Oklahoma , † August 21, 1998 ) was an American lawyer and from 1988 to 1989 a judge at the Supreme Court of the state of Pennsylvania . Stout became the first African-American woman to be elected a judge in the United States, and later became the first woman to serve on a state Supreme Court.

She was born under the name Juanita Louise Kidd . Her parents, Henry and Mary Kidd, were teachers at the local school. She grew up in poor conditions. First she studied at the University of Iowa , where she graduated in 1939 as a Bachelor of Arts . She then worked for some time as a music teacher, first in Seminole , then in Sand Springs , a suburb of Tulsa . There she met her future husband, Charles Otis Stout (1907–1988). He taught Spanish there. The two married on June 23, 1943.

From 1943 she went to Indiana University to study law. There she graduated in 1948. She first worked at the school and from 1949 with Judge William H. Hastie . From 1954 she practiced for five years. She was elected a Philadelphia judge in 1959, as well as in 1969 and 1979. In 1989 she retired.

She was the special envoy to Kenya under President Kennedy in 1963 and 1967 .

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personal data
SURNAME	Stout, Juanita Kidd
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	American judge
DATE OF BIRTH	March 7, 1919
PLACE OF BIRTH	Wewoka , Oklahoma
DATE OF DEATH	August 21, 1998