Historic Portrait of Judge Martha Lynn Sherrod Unveiled
By Jeanette Jones
The Honorable Judge Martha Lynn Sherrod became the first judge of color to have her portrait on display in the Madison County Courthouse, located in Huntsville, Alabama. The Unveiling Ceremony was presided over by Presiding Circuit Judge Ruth Ann Hall. Special tributes were given by Lt. Governor Will Ainsworth, Mayor Tommy Battle, a representative from Senator Doug Jones’s office, State Senator Sam Gavin, Minority Whip Anthony Daniels, County Commission Chairman Dale Strong, State Representative Laura Hall, and Sherrod’s law partner Gary V. Conchin. The Rev. Maurice Wright, II, the servant pastor, and the Rev. Joretha Wright, the executive minister of St. John AME Church, jointly delivered an awe-inspiring opening prayer.
Retired District Court Judge Sherrod is a partner in the firm of Conchin Cole and Jordan, specializing in personal injury, workmen’s compensation, and wrongful death. Judge Sherrod is a registered mediator for civil, domestic relations and probate matters, and a nationally-registered parliamentarian.
The first person of African descent to win an at-large (partisan) election in North Alabama (2000), Sherrod is a graduate of Fisk University and the University of Houston (Texas) School of Law. She completed her last year of law school as a transient student at the University of Alabama School of Law. Appointed by Governor Don Siegleman to the state court in 1999, she was elected to a full term in 2000. She was re-elected, unchallenged for a six-year term on November 7, 2006.
Judge Sherrod has served her community as a presiding municipal judge, assistant district attorney, private practitioner, and taught criminal justice at Alabama A&M University. She developed the first Family Drug Court (a dependency court for substance-abusing parents) in Alabama and added an Adult Drug Court (felony criminal offenders) and a Juvenile Drug Court to the specialty courts in Madison County, Alabama. She also initiated and secured funding for other important state programs. In response to an increase in traffic accidents involving young drivers, she has taken the defensive driving program, Alive at 25, into the local high schools. She has also developed the Lend An Ear Court Mentoring Program in Madison County (www.lendanear.org).
The 35th Chairperson of the Judicial Council of the National Bar Association, Judge Sherrod formerly served on the Board of Trustees of Alabama A&M University. She is a founding member of the National African American Drug Policy Coalition (NAADPC) and currently serves as Vice President for Administration. She has previously held other positions and memberships. She is a member of the Alabama State Bar Association, the Huntsville/Madison County Bar Association, the Alabama Lawyers Association, and the National Bar Association.
Judge Sherrod has received more than 100 awards, including the Outstanding Achievement Award, South Eastern Regional Conference of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., Milton K. Cummings Humanitarian Award, Community Action Partnership, the Rosa Parks Woman of Courage Award, the Perry O. Ward Community Service Award, and has been named citizen of the year by Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, the Worshipful Masters Council, and received unity awards from Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity and the Greater Huntsville Interdenominational Ministerial Fellowship.
Judge Sherrod and her husband Eddie, are members of St. John AME Church. She is also a member of the Epsilon Gamma Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., where she serves as the parliamentarian. She is also a member of the Greater Huntsville Chapter of The Links, Inc., and a charter member of the Ivy Center Foundation Huntsville/Madison County.
Those in attendance to witness this historic occasion included family, friends, church members, elected and appointed officials statewide, and the legal community. Following the ceremony, a celebratory reception—hosted by the Greater Huntsville Chapter of The Links, Inc.—was held in her honor at the historic Weeden House.
