For Yvette McGee Brown, it has been quite a remarkable journey to history.

By IKE MGBATOGU
Contributing Writer

COLUMBUS – For Yvette McGee Brown, it has been quite a remarkable journey to history.

When former Governor Ted Strickland picked McGee Brown as his running mate in his reelection bid, it instantly catapulted her to the brink of history where she would have been the first African-American Democrat and second African-American overall to be elected Ohio’s lieutenant governor.

However, it was not to be since Strickland narrowly lost to Republican John Kasich.

But McGee Brown was still destined to make some kind of history and, evidently, it was fated to be linked to Strickland.

Weeks after the election, December 10 to be precise, Strickland appointed his former running mate to the Ohio Supreme Court to replace Justice Maureen O’Connor who was elected chief justice of Ohio’s highest court.

McGee Brown was picked over a cadre of highly qualified candidates, including Strickland’s chief legal counsel Kent Marcus and Geauga County appeals Judge Mary Jane Trapp.

She humbly accepted the appointment.

“I told the governor, I believe I can hold the seat,” said McGee Brown, who will run to keep the seat in 2012.

Well, she is holding it in 2011.

McGee Brown was sworn in as Ohio Supreme Court justice on January 8 at The King Arts Complex, 867 Mt. Vernon Avenue at 2 p.m.

Strickland administered the oath of office before a crowd of about 700 people who came to be a part of history as McGee Brown became the first African-American woman to hold the position of justice of the Ohio Supreme Court.

McGee Brown paid tribute to those who work made all of this possible.

“This day is possible because of people from this neighborhood, people who are not famous,” said McGee Brown.  “Another barrier is broken today. This strengthens our democracy in an important and visible way."

Hundreds of persons traveled across Ohio to witness the swearing in. Bus loads from Cleveland sponsored by Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., of which Justice McGee Brown is a member, National Council of Negro Women, Women of Distinction as well as grassroots organizations.

She said she’s honored to serve in this important capacity.

“I have tremendous respect for the court and the important role it has in our democracy,” said McGee Brown.  “I am humbled by this opportunity and consider it a privilege to serve with the other distinguished jurists on the court.”

For O’Connor, the feeling was mutual.

“I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know Justice McGee Brown well since her appointment,” said O’Connor. “I’m happy to call her a colleague, excited that such an accomplished, respected public servant has joined the court, and looking forward to tackling the important work we have ahead of us in a collaborative manner with her and the other members of the court.”

McGee Brown is the third African-American to serve on the Ohio Supreme Court, following Robert M. Duncan, Ohio’s first Black justice who served from 1969 to 1971 and Lloyd O. Brown who served from 1971 to 1973.

McGee Brown, who was raised by her teenage mother and grandmother, has a stellar public career. In 1987, she was hired as a general counsel for the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction.  She left that job in 1989 to join the Ohio Department of Youth Services.

After leaving her job as a legal counsel at Youth Services, she was elected to the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas in the Domestic Relations and Juvenile Division in 1992 after defeating Republican Clifford Cloud in a race few gave her a chance of winning.

In 2002, she joined the Nationwide Children’s Hospital where she was the founding director of the Center for Child and Family Advocacy, an agency of 400 staff with a budget of $30 million annually. She had an impressive education, too.

McGee Brown graduated from Mifflin High School in Columbus in 1978 before enrolling at The Ohio University where she graduated with a bachelor’s degree in journalism in 1982.

In 1985, McGee Brown received her law degree from The Ohio State University and was hired as an assistant Ohio attorney general that same year.

Not bad at all for an “uninspired social worker,” which was what Ohio Republican Chair Kevin DeWine called McGee Brown shortly after Strickland named her as his running mate.