Lovely One

Ellery Brown is Ketanji Brown Jackson’s mother. Born Ellery Ross in 1945, she grew up in Miami’s Liberty City neighborhood under Jim Crow segregation laws. Brown attended Tuskegee University in Alabama, where she majored in biology. Brown went on to become a high school teacher and later a school principal. Brown married Johnny Brown in 1968, and the couple welcomed their daughter, Ketanji, in 1970.

In her work, Jackson depicts her mother as a determined, hardworking person with high standards for her daughter. Brown always encouraged Jackson to try new things to expand her skill set and increase her confidence, signing her up for activities like swimming, piano, and debate. The author recalls how her mother always emphasized her ability to overcome obstacles and self-doubt. She remembers that when she struggled, “[her] mother would look at [her] calmly. ‘Can this be done, Ketanji?’ she would ask. ‘Have you seen other people do it? […] Well, if it’s possible for a person to do this thing, then you can do it, too’” (45). Jackson also credits her mother with helping her develop a positive identity as a Black woman by dressing her in African fashions and introducing her to Black authors and artists and to television shows with Black characters or performers. She also explains how her mother took an active role in her education, beginning phonics and reading lessons with her at the age of two and enrolling her in a school with a program for gifted students.

Johnny Brown is Ketanji Brown Jackson’s father. Johnny was born in Fitzgerald, Georgia, in 1945. As a child, he moved to Miami, where he grew up as the youngest of five siblings.

The first in his family to go to college, Johnny attended Kentucky State University and then transferred to North Carolina Central University, where he graduated with a degree in history. After working as a high school teacher for several years, he attended the University of Miami Law School before becoming an attorney for the Miami-Dade County School District.

In Lovely One, Jackson depicts her father as a “born striver” who remained motivated to succeed at school even though he had little personal or societal support (36). She describes him as “something of a unicorn in his family” since his relentless ambition set him apart from his siblings (36). Jackson admires her father for having ambitions that were bigger than simply providing for himself, explaining that he wanted his work to have a positive impact on the broader culture. She writes, “[H]e had two transparent goals: to provide for his family and to leave the world better than he had found it” (36). As an example, Jackson proudly recounts how her father developed high school curricula on Black history, changing how American history was taught in his school district. In her book, the author thanks her father for his “unwavering love” and for modeling a “spirit of perseverance” that proved so crucial in her own achievements (29).

Justice Constance Baker Motley was an American judge. Motley was born in 1921 in New Haven, Connecticut, and became involved in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the civil rights movement. Motley studied at New York University and Columbia University before contributing to the NAACP’s Legal Defense and Education Fund. Motley was the first Black woman to argue a case before the Supreme Court, and she is known for legal victories that advanced civil rights. In 1966, she made history as the first Black woman to serve as a judge on a federal court.

While Jackson never met her, she calls Motley an “extraordinary woman” and cites her as a source of inspiration to her in her own career (67). As a child, Jackson learned of Motley’s accomplishments in a magazine profile of famous Black Americans. Even at her young age, Jackson regarded Motley as a source of hope, feeling that she set a positive precedent for Black women in the legal profession. Motley’s ascent to the position of federal justice helped Jackson believe that her dream of serving on the Supreme Court was a real possibility. Learning of Motley’s success felt like a revelation to an 11-year-old Jackson. She remembers, “I sat up abruptly, my mind racing, a cascade of new possibilities crashing inside me. A federal judge. Closing the magazine gently, I placed it under my pillow, as if the secrets of Judge Motley’s trajectory might be revealed to me in dreams” (67). Jackson is grateful for Motley, whose story was a “beacon of hope” for her throughout her childhood and career (67).

Justice Stephen Breyer was a Supreme Court justice from 1994 until his retirement in 2022. In her memoir, Ketanji Brown Jackson fondly reflects on her experience of clerking for Justice Breyer in 1999, focusing on the experience she gained and the immense responsibility of contributing to the Court’s work.

She characterizes Justice Breyer as a kind and intelligent man who was known for his positive mindset. Jackson found that Justice Breyer was “as generous a mentor” as a boss could be and admired how he could reconcile different parties and aspects of law to create a consensus (224). Her relationship with Justice Breyer became more significant when, 23 years after her clerkship, she filled his vacancy on the Supreme Court. At the end of her book, Jackson reminds the reader of Breyer’s positive example, sharing that she wishes to live up to the “wisdom, integrity, optimism, and grace that Justice Breyer had modeled for us all” (379).