Roderick L. Ireland (born December 3, 1944) is a former Chief Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court of

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

, and the first African American to serve that position. He was nominated for Chief Justice by Governor

Deval Patrick Deval Laurdine Patrick (born July 31, 1956) is an American politician, civil rights lawyer, author, and businessman who served as the 71st governor of Massachusetts from 2007 to 2015. He was first elected in 2006, succeeding Mitt Romney, who ...

on November 4, 2010, and sworn in on December 20. He retired from service on the court on July 25, 2014.

Early life and education

Ireland was born on December 3, 1944, in

Springfield, Massachusetts Springfield is a city in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States, and the seat of Hampden County. Springfield sits on the eastern bank of the Connecticut River near its confluence with three rivers: the western Westfield River, the ...

to Helen Garner Ireland, an elementary school teacher from

Spartanburg, South Carolina Spartanburg is a city in and the county seat, seat of Spartanburg County, South Carolina, United States. The city of Spartanburg has a municipal population of 38,732 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the 11th-largest c ...

, and George Lovelace Ireland, a house painter from Springfield. He grew up on Terrence Street in the Old Hill neighborhood, and attended Springfield public schools – The William N. DeBerry Elementary School, Buckingham Junior High School, and Classical High School. He received his B.A. from Lincoln University, the first degree-granting HBCU in the nation (1966); J.D. from Columbia Law School (1969); LL.M. from Harvard Law School (1975); and Ph.D. in Law, Policy and Society from Northeastern University (1998).

Roxbury Defenders Committee

In 1971, alongside Wallace Sherwood, Ireland formed the Roxbury Defenders Committee (also known as the Roxbury Defenders).

Judicial career

In 1977, Ireland was nominated to the Boston Juvenile Court, and in 1990, to the Massachusetts Court of Appeals. He was appointed to both courts by governor

Michael Dukakis Michael Stanley Dukakis (; born November 3, 1933) is an American retired lawyer and politician who served as governor of Massachusetts from 1975 to 1979 and again from 1983 to 1991. He is the longest-serving governor in Massachusetts history a ...

. In 1997, he was appointed Associate Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court by Governor

William Weld William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

. He is the first African-American associate justice and also the

first First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

chief justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Court. He resigned from the high court in 2014, and was replaced by Associate Justice Ralph Gants. Ireland has served on the faculty of both

Northeastern University School of Law Northeastern University School of Law (NUSL) is the law school of Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded as an evening program to meet the needs of its local community, NUSL is nationally recognized for its cooperative legal ed ...

and Northeastern University's College of Criminal Justice. He is currently Distinguished Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice in the College of Social Sciences and Humanities at Northeastern University.

Personal life

Ireland is married to Alice Alexander. The now adult children from their previous marriages are Elizabeth and Michael (Ireland's daughter and son), and Melanee (Alexander's daughter). Ireland is a member of the Elliot Congregational Church in

Roxbury, Massachusetts Roxbury () is a Neighborhoods in Boston, neighborhood within the City of Boston, Massachusetts. Roxbury is a Municipal annexation in the United States, dissolved municipality and one of 23 official neighborhoods of Boston used by the city for n ...

Honors

Renamings

In 2015, the city of

renamed the street Ireland grew up on, Terence Street, to Chief Justice Roderick L. Ireland Way in honor of Ireland. In 2017, the Hampden County Hall of Justice was renamed the Roderick L. Ireland Courthouse in honor of Ireland.

Honorary Degrees

Ireland has received honorary degrees from

Excelsior College Excelsior University is a private online university in Albany, New York. It offers undergraduate and graduate degrees and comprises three schools: the School of Undergraduate Studies, the School of Graduate Studies, and the School of Nursing. I ...

University of Massachusetts Boston The University of Massachusetts Boston (stylized as UMass Boston) is a Public university, public research university in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the only public research university in Boston and the third-largest campus in the five-campus Un ...

Books

He is the author of ''Massachusetts Juvenile Law,'' a volume of the Massachusetts Practice Series.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ireland, Roderick L. 1944 births Living people 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American people African-American judges Chief Justices of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Columbia Law School alumni Harvard Law School alumni Lincoln University (Pennsylvania) alumni Northeastern University alumni People from Springfield, Massachusetts