“I come as one, but I stand as ten thousand.” –Dr. Maya Angelou

My great-great-great-great maternal grandmother was Mary Ann Barrett. In 1865, she was freed from slavery in Palestine, Texas. Her former enslaver was a lawyer. In freedom, Mary Ann Barrett studied under him to become one herself, but she wanted someone in her family to formally study law and become an attorney.

She articulated this dream to her family. My great-great-grandmother, Lena, whom I knew as a child, told this dream to her daughter, granddaughter, and great-granddaughters, including my mother. Interestingly, I didn’t know about this dream until after I graduated from law school.

Today, I was sworn into the District of Columbia bar, simultaneously becoming the manifestation of my ancestor’s specific dream. I am the first in this line of my family to do so. I had the honor of being sworn in by Judge Zuberi Williams, a history-maker himself who also administered the oath of professionalism to my 1L class on our first day of law school orientation. Thank you, Judge Williams, for administering my oath of admission today. It is an honor to have shared this full-circle moment.

The law is imperfect. Indeed, it is deeply flawed. It allowed Mary Ann Barrett and millions more to be enslaved for 400 years. However, the law can be good, and people can use it for good. My great-great-great-great-grandmother recognized the importance of having us in these spaces of power for good, and I hope to honor her legacy by making positive, meaningful change as a practitioner in this field.

Thank you to my ancestors, our ancestors, known and unknown, who relentlessly dreamed and demanded a better life and more equitable world. I am the fruit of their labor. Thank you to God, family, and friends for getting me here.

I come as one, but I stand as ten thousand.