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Roderick L. Ireland (born December 3, 1944) served as the 36th Chief Justice of theSupreme Judicial Court ofMassachusetts, and was the first African American to serve that position. He was nominated for Chief Justice by GovernorDeval Patrick on November 4, 2010,[1] and sworn in on December 20.[2] He retired from service on the court on July 25, 2014.[3]
Ireland was born on December 3, 1944,[4] inSpringfield, Massachusetts to Helen Garner Ireland,[5] an elementary school teacher fromSpartanburg, South Carolina, and George Lovelace Ireland, a house painter from Springfield. He grew up on Terrence Street[6] in the Old Hill neighborhood, and attended Springfield public schools – The William N. DeBerry Elementary School, Buckingham Junior High School, and Classical High School.[citation needed] 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).[7]
In 1971, alongside Wallace Sherwood, Ireland formed the Roxbury Defenders Committee (also known as the Roxbury Defenders).[8]
In 1977, Ireland was nominated to the Boston Juvenile Court, and in 1990, to theMassachusetts Court of Appeals. He was appointed to both courts by governorMichael Dukakis.
In 1997, he was appointed Associate Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court by GovernorWilliam Weld. He is the first African-American associate justice and also thefirstAfrican-American chief justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Court. He resigned from the high court in 2014, and was replaced by Associate JusticeRalph Gants.
Ireland has served on the faculty of bothNortheastern University School of Law 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.[when?]
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 inRoxbury, Massachusetts.[9]
In 2015, the city ofSpringfield, Massachusetts 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.
Ireland has received honorary degrees fromExcelsior College,[10]University of Massachusetts Boston[11]
He is the author ofMassachusetts Juvenile Law, a volume of the Massachusetts Practice Series.
