When you think about the trailblazers who graced the Apollo stage, Stevie Wonder, Ella Fitzgerald, James Brown, and Aretha Franklin most likely come to mind. However, there was only one Supreme Court Justice who not only graced the stage but also sold out the Apollo. 

Ketanji Brown Jackson sat down with Gayle King on Sept. 3 to discuss her new memoir, “The Lovely One,” about how she fell in love with law, manifested her dream of becoming a Supreme Court Justice, and persevered during tough times.

Hundreds of fans wrapped around the entire block with excitement to see history being made. Even Jackson’s friends and husband were in the audience. Throughout the event, King playfully joked with Jackson. At one point, they sang a song from one of Jackson’s favorite musicals, “The Wiz.” 

“It has been overwhelming but exciting and just wonderful to get such a great response to the book with so many people supporting me who haven’t even read it!” Jackson said. 

King informed the audience that the focus of the evening wasn’t to discuss the law but to get a sense of who Jackson was and what her hopes and dreams were. To start off, Jackson described the concept behind the name of her memoir, “Lovely One.” Ketanji means “lovely one.”

“My aunt was in a peace corps in Africa when I was born…..my parents grew up in the segregated south and I was born in 1970 which was five years after the civil rights act and the voting rights act and my parents really saw my birth as an opportunity,” said Jackson. 

She explained that her parents had been so limited in their lives as African Americans in segregation, and they invested in her and had a fierce pride in their heritage. 

Jackson also shared what got her into law. Although her parents were both teachers, her father had a particular interest in law. Her father, who she considers “a unicorn” and a striver, attended the University of Miami  School of Law. Exposed to the law as early as four years old, she described what it was like having her father talk to her about law cases so early in her life. 

“My parents never spoke to me baby talk, they always talked to me in full sentences and I remember some of my earliest memories are sitting in the little kitchen table, my dad has his law books and he’s studying and I have my coloring books and I’m sitting with him and I never thought there was anything else you were supposed to do then go to law school,” said Jackson. 

However, a particular moment in the book also truly shaped Jackson’s passion and ethic, which is to never give up no matter what. It took place during her childhood while in a pool.

“I loved to float on my back, this was at a backyard pool party and I remember Motown blasting and I look and I’m not within reach of the side and I start to panic, and I sink to the bottom of the pool,” said Jackson. 

She explained that even though she was pulled out of the pool, she remembers being so disappointed in herself because she knew how to swim. 

“I say in the book, from then on even if afraid, I would swim,” says Jackson. 

Ketanji Brown Jackson’s new memoir “The Lovely One" is out now.

Ali McPherson is a multimedia journalist and freelancer based in New York City.