Judge Sheila Abdus-Salaam, whose bodywasfoundby policein the Hudson River on Wednesday, is remembered by those who knew her as atrailblazerand a relentless advocateforpoor families.The 65-year-old was the first African-American woman and the first Muslim woman to serve on New York's highest court.Born into a working class family of seven kids,Abdus-Salaamgrew up inWashington, D.C.and would often watch classic legal dramas like "East Side, West Side" and "Perry Mason" as a child, according to New York State Courts.In her teens, Abdus-Salaamwas powerfully affected by an appearance at her high school by thefamous civil rights attorney Frankie Muse Freeman.After studying economics at Barnard and getting her law degree at Columbia, Abdus-Salaam started working as a public defenderin Brooklyn in 1977.As a young lawyer, Abdus-Salaam once won a discrimination case for 30 female bus drivers who were passed over for promotionsgiven to their male counterparts, according to the New York Times.Abdus-Salaamquickly moved up in her profession becoming a judge in 1991 and being elected to New York's Supreme Court in 1993.In 2013, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo nominatedherto the New York State Court of Appeals, the highest court in the state..One the Court of Appeals, Abdus-Salaam became known, according to the New York Times, as "among the most reliable and steadfast liberal voices," more often siding with "poor, impoverished immigrants" and other vulnerable parties against "powerful and established interests."Cuomo called the judge a "trailblazing jurist and a force for good" on Twitter Wednesday.Justice Sheila Abdus-Salaam was a trailblazing jurist and a force for good.On behalf of all New Yorkers, I extend my deepest sympathies. https://t.co/hnic07Shp1' Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) April 12, 2017Last year, Abdus-Salaam wrote an important decision stating that the partners of LGBT parentswho agreed to conceive a child together hadthe right to seek custodyfor non-biological kids. Abdus-Salaam also chaired the board of directors forHarlem Legal Services, an organization providing free legal support tolow-income New Yorkers.We should not forget what Sheila Abdus-Salaam did for workers, the LGBT+ community, immigrants, and people with mental illnesses.' R. Yarsky (@r_yarsky) April 13, 2017Abdus-Salaam graduated Columbia in the same year as formerUS attorney general Eric Holder, who once traveled to Albanyto see his former classmate sworn into to theCourt of Appeals."Sheila could boogie," Holder told the Associated Press at time, also calling her intelligent and witty. Ever since discovering that her great-grandfather was a slave inVirginia, Abdus-Salaam alsofrequently talked about the importance ofyoung African Americans understanding their heritage.'All the way from Arlington, Virginia, where my family was the property of someone else, to my sitting on the highest court of the State of New York is amazing and huge,' she said in a video project aimed at bringing African American history into the schoolcurriculum.'It tells you and me what it is to know who we are and what we can do.'Here's the full video:In her final years,Abdus-Salaam also lived through several personal tragedies, according to the Times, who said that police are currently treating her death as a suicide. Abdus-Salaam's brother committed suicide three years ago and, at approximatelythe same time last year, her mother died.SEE ALSO:First female Muslim judge in US found dead in New York's Hudson RiverJoin the conversation about this storyNOW WATCH: Children who eat too much sugar are developing diseases that only alcoholics used to get
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