Minnesota’s first Black judge honored with Ramsey County Law Library portrait

Gabrielle Lombard, Pioneer Press
·3 min read

The Ramsey County Law Library in downtown St. Paul recently celebrated the donation of the first portrait of Stephen L. Maxwell, the first Black judge appointed to the Ramsey County bench and in the state of Minnesota.

The portrait was donated two years ago by Maxwell’s granddaughter, but the ceremony was delayed due to COVID-19, library director Shannon Stoneking said. The celebration was held Oct. 13 at the library on the 18th floor of the Ramsey County Courthouse building.

The Law Library Board of Trustees also chose to name a reading room in Maxwell’s honor, and his family has donated another framed picture of the judge and plaque for the room.

“There’s many portraits up on the walls within the law library, but as people walk in they kind of look around and see a lot of, to be frank, white dudes,” Stoneking said. “Having judge Maxwell’s portrait now up on the wall … we kind of made a special designation there.”

The judge’s granddaughter, Arianne Maxwell, said she decided to donate the portraits and the plaques due to her grandfather’s deep passion for education and community in addition to his great impact on Minnesota as a trailblazer.

ST. PAUL NATIVE

Maxwell, a St. Paul native, was born in 1921 and graduated from St. Paul Central High School. He started college at the University of Minnesota and obtained his bachelor’s degree from Morehouse College in Atlanta in 1942, according to his law library biography.

Along with work and military service, Maxwell also attended the St. Paul College of Law, which is now known as Mitchell Hamline School of Law, and in 1953 earned his bachelor of laws degree. He began his legal career in private practice, while also volunteering as legal counsel for the St. Paul NAACP.

He later worked in the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office and helped prosecute the infamous case of T. Eugene Thompson, a St. Paul attorney who hired a hit man to kill his wife in their Highland Park home.

Maxwell started his judicial career when he was appointed to the St. Paul municipal bench in 1967. He was then appointed to the Ramsey County District Court one year later, becoming the first Black district court judge in the state. He served in the second judicial district for 19 years until his retirement in 1987. He died in 2009.

‘POWER IN WORDS’

“Grandpa taught me how to argue. I’m not a lawyer, but he taught me,” Arianne Maxwell said. “I stood in front of him and I was always arguing and losing at the same time.”

They would always have a dictionary close by while intensely flipping through the pages to define different terms used in the arguments.

“There’s power in words and in this day and age … I think not only do you need logic, but you also need to tell a story so you can make people feel included,” Maxwell said.

Stoneking said around 50 people including family, law clerks, judges and more attended the portrait ceremony. They shared stories and experiences about Judge Maxwell, who was known as being tough on the bench, yet also showing a sense of humor to put people at ease.

Arianne Maxwell said the second donated portrait represents the grandfather she remembers most. She said it reminds her of his dry sense of humor he also had off the bench where “you never knew if he was making a joke or not.”

The theme of the event was that “everybody has a seat at the table” and it was important to give her grandfather recognition for his legacy, Maxwell said.

“Sometimes you have to be creative to get that seat,” she said. “You’ve got to think outside of the box to get that seat sometimes and it’s not fair, but you sometimes have to create the opportunity yourself.”

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