The Higher Education of the Nation’s Newest Black Judge

Wilma Lewis was recently confirmed as judge for the U.S. District Court in St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands. She is the first woman to serve as a federal district judge for the Virgin Islands. Lewis was assistant secretary of the Interior where her responsibilities included supervision of the Bureau of Land Management, the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation, and Enforcement. Previously, she was the first African American to serve as Inspector General at the Department of the Interior.

Judge Lewis is a graduate of Swarthmore College and Harvard Law School.