Judge Shonda Stone with portrait of her father, the late Jesse N. Stone, Jr., first African American appointed to serve on the Louisiana Supreme Court.
Judge Shonda Stone with portrait of her father, the late Jesse N. Stone, Jr., first African American appointed to serve on the Louisiana Supreme Court.
More than 150 attended the judicial portrait unveiling of the late Dr. Jesse N. Stone, Jr., February 28, at the Southern University Museum of Art in Shreveport.
Southern University Law Center (SULC) and the Southern University Shreveport campus (SUSLA) hosted the ceremony for Dr. Stone, who was the first African American appointed to the Louisiana Supreme Court. The portrait is a gift to the Law Center from Chancellor Emeritus B. K. Agnihotri, Vice Chancellor Russell L. Jones, and Prof. Winston Riddick (retd.) in honor of their friend and mentor. It will become a part of the Law Center’s Judicial Wall of Fame.
Stone was one of the law school’s first graduates, the first graduate to serve as dean of the law school, the first African-American Assistant State Superintendent of Education for the Louisiana Department of Education; and the first president of the Southern University System. Throughout his career, Stone, a native of Gibsland, Louisiana, and a resident of Shreveport and Baton Rouge, advanced civil rights from the bar, in the political arena, within educational administration, and from the bench.
Stone’s daughter, Louisiana Second Circuit Court of Appeal Judge Shonda Stone, addressed the gathering, thanking everyone for the kind gesture and for honoring her father in this way. She described her “daddy” as “a bridge builder and a social engineer par excellence.”