'Maybe I was paving the way': Pioneering Black female lawyer honored

Local community leaders and attorneys thanked and honored Freddie M. Springfield, the first Black woman to practice as an attorney in Lorain County, on Wednesday. They said that she laid the groundwork for generations of women of color to work in the courtrooms and halls of power of Lorain County, and personally worked to lift up those who followed in her footsteps. The event was a commemoration of "Be Kind to Lawyers Day" in Springfield's honor, and it was hosted at the YWCA's Holly Hall and sponsored by the Lorain County Section of the National Council of Negro Women, the Lorain and Elyria Clubs of the National Negro Business and Professional Women and the Outside Circle Theater Project. "For more than 45 years, Freddie has shown up for communities across this county," said Charlita Anderson-White, a former magistrate in the Lorain County Juvenile Court. "In courtrooms, in county offices, in mentoring relationships (and) in shaping careers and lives ... (Springfield had) a distinguished career as a judicial law clerk, a prosecutor for two counties and a private practitioner, whose work touched some of the most vulnerable and consequential moments in her clients' lives. She did all of this with grace, vigor and with a servant's heart." Springfield graduated from Baldwin-Wallace College and the Cleveland State College of Law before joining the Ohio Bar in 1980. She served as a prosecutor in Lorain and Cuyahoga counties and had a private practice in Elyria before retiring last year. Not only was Springfield the first Black woman to practice as a lawyer in the county, but she was also the first to win a primary election for a judgship and contest it in a general election. Springfield ran for Elyria Municipal Judge in 1997, but she lost that race to eventual three-term Municipal Judge John Musson. Nearly 30 years later, Oberlin Municipal Judge Farah Emeka was sworn in to become the first Black woman to ever serve as a judge in Lorain County. "I wasn't shocked that I didn't win, but I felt that maybe I was paving the way," Springfield said. "And we have a (Black female) judge in Oberlin now. She was here earlier today, and it let me know that if you keep on keeping on, things will happen." Not only did Springfield lead the way for Emeka's run, the judge said on Wednesday, but Springfield had helped her get her start in law in Lorain County in the first place. "I struggled to find a job in Lorain County," Emeka said. "If I did not know Miss Freddie Springfield, I don't know what I would have done, because she tried to support me as best she could. In talking about me, and trying to help me secure a position in this county for many, many years. And then when I finally did come to the county to practice law, she was there for me just the same to motivate me, support me and answer questions. I ran into her occasionally in the courtroom, and she always had time to offer a word of advice. I really appreciated that." Springfield, who grew up in Tennessee before moving to Elyria, said that her own career was built with the help of her community, so she had always felt it was her duty to pass along that same support and encouragement. "I never dreamed I could be a lawyer, I just did not think that could happen," Springfield said. "But yet, people in Lorain County helped me, and that is why I tried to give back to my community." Regan Phillips, first vice president of the Lorain County NCNW, presented Springfield with a proclamation from state Rep. Joe Miller, D-Amherst, recognizing her legal and community service work, and Anderson-White presented her with a plaque thanking her for the same. Contact Owen MacMillan at (440) 329-7123 or omacmillan@chroniclet.com.