CBA Record March-April 2021

PRESIDENT’S PAGE BY MARYAM AHMAD Women’s History Month Sheroes

CBA RECORD

EDITORIAL BOARD EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Justice Michael B. Hyman Illinois Appellate Court

ASSOCIATE EDITOR Anne Ellis Proactive Worldwide, Inc.

admiration of strong, intelligent, and artistic women was borne from my love of her. During Women’s History Month, I find myself reflecting on such women and their achievements. Their works and deeds have shaped my view of the world. These women include Congresswoman Shirley Chisolm; abolitionists Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth; civil rights advocate Fannie Lou Hamer; author and poet Maya Angelou; blues guitarist Sister Rosetta Tharpe; artist Frida Kahlo; environmental activist Rachel Carson; Professor Angela Davis; talk show host and life coach Oprah Winfrey; and writer Judy Blume. We all likely have a list of women icons from history, old and new, who have inspired our journeys. We all likely have a list of personal, women icons too, comprised of the names of the great women of our personal lives. Recently, while visiting a social media site, I read the personal reflections of two of my friends about their mothers. I was immediately drawn into these accounts. One friend wrote that after his military father suddenly died, his mother was faced with raising three children. My friend wrote: “Mom was a very strong woman, both mentally and physically. We would need that as a family as we moved back to North Carolina in 1970 after my dad passed away unexpectedly. We were ALL too young at the time. My mom was now a 30-year-old widow with three children, ages 8, 6, and 3. She found a way to hold it all together, while taking on the role of both mom and dad.” He went on to describe how his mother drove a school bus so she could spend time with and keep an eye on her children. She was den mother to my friend’s Boy Scout troop and coach of his sister’s softball team. When she became an empty nester, she went to truck-driving school and earned a CDL

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Carolyn Amadon Samuel, Son & Co. Daniel J. Berkowitz Illinois Attorney General’s Of fi ce Amy Cook The Farmer Chef Alliance Nina Fain Janet Sugerman Schirn Family Trust Anthony F. Fata Cafferty Clobes Meriwether & Sprengel LLP Clifford Gately Hinshaw & Culbertson Jasmine Villaflor Hernandez Lynn Semptimphelter Kopon Kopon Airdo LLC John Levin Kathryn C. Liss DePaul University College of Law Bonnie McGrath Law Of fi ce of Bonnie McGrath Clare McMahon Law Of fi ce of Clare McMahon Pamela S. Menaker Clifford Law Of fi ces Peter V. Mierzwa Law Bulletin Media Kathleen Dillon Narko Northwestern Pritzker School of Law Adam J. Sheppard Sheppard Law Firm, PC Richard Lee Stavins Robbins, Saloman & Patt, Ltd. Rosemary Simota Thompson

I nvariably, every March duringWomen’s History Month, I find myself reflecting on the great influential women of my life. For me, like many of you, the woman who holds the first position of greatness is my mother. My mother’s name is Khadijah Shafeek Ahmad. I enjoy writing and speak- ing her name whenever I can because that is one of the ways I keep her memory alive. I learned friendliness from my mother. One of my earliest memories is walking with her to the “RIF (Reading is Funda- mental) Mobile, which would travel around Dayton, Ohio back in the late 1960s and early 1970s. It would park at a playground about a mile from our home. For a three- year-old, that one-mile walk to and from the RIF Mobile took forever. My mother held my hand as we walked, and every time we passed someone, I remember my mother would look at them, smile, and say hello. She would always say, “Greetings don’t cost a thing.” Although friendly, my mother’s per- sonality was larger than life. She was courageous, intelligent, and artistic. My Maryamas a 4-year-oldwith hermother, Khadija Shafeek Ahmad, andher siblings in 1968.

Judge E. Kenneth Wright, Jr. Circuit Court of Cook County

THE CHICAGO BAR ASSOCIATION Sharon Nolan Director of Marketing

6 March/April 2021