Hon. Elreta N. Melton Alexander Ralston
Description:
The Honorable Elreta N. Melton Alexander Ralston was born in 1919 in Smithfield, N.C. She is interviewed about her childhood and experiences living in the segregated South. She speaks about her studies at North Carolina A&T and Columbia Law School, where she was the first black woman to graduate with a J.D. She joined a firm in New York early in her career before returning to Greensboro in 1947 to practice, primarily, criminal law. In 1968 she began her service on the N.C. District Court bench. In this interview she shares her memories of the first case she tried. Other topics include international travels, memories of notable cases, thoughts about necessary qualities of good litigators, and judicial philosophy.
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