The Higher Education of Iowa’s First Black Female Judge

Last month, Romonda Belcher-Ford was named district judge in Polk County, Iowa. She is the first black woman to serve in a judicial position in the state of Iowa. (Iowa’s first black male judge, William V. Parker, was elected in 1963 to the municipal court bench in Waterloo.)

Judge Belcher-Ford is a native of North Carolina. She is a graduate of Howard University and the Drake Law School. She has worked as an attorney for the Polk County government for the past 15 years. Polk County includes the capital city of Des Moines.