Loretta Lynch was born on May 21, 1959, in Greensboro, North Carolina. Her interest in law and politics was bred into her at an early age. Her mother was a school librarian and her father was a Baptist minister. In their spare time, Lynch and her father would watch proceedings at the Durham, North Carolina courthouse. She also listened to stories that her grandfather told about helping fellow Black people outrun the unjust laws of Jim Crow in the 1930s.

Once she graduated from high school, Lynch attended Harvard College. She earned her B.A. in 1981. By 1984, she had earned her Juris Doctorate from Harvard Law School. During that time she was also a member of the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau.

Shortly after earning her degree, Lynch landed her first legal job as a litigation associate for Cahill Gordon & Reindel. In 1990, she served as a drug and violent-crime prosecutor for the U.S. Attorney’s office. Throughout the 1990s, she worked on several political corruption cases in Brookhaven, New York.

In 1999, Lynch was nominated to serve as the U.S. Attorney of the Eastern District of New York by President Bill Clinton. In her new position, she oversaw the prosecution of New York police officers in the Abner Louima case.

In 2001, Lynch left her role to become a partner with Hogan & Hartson. From 2003 to 2005, she was a member of the board of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. She continued working there until 2010. At that time, President Barack Obama nominated her to serve as the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York once more.

During her second term as the U.S. Attorney general, Lynch met with the family of Eric Garner after he was killed by police in July 2014. She assisted the family in prosecuting the officer responsible for Garner’s death. She also saw that politicians accused of corruption were brought to justice.

In recent years, Lynch has made decisions in high-profile cases. After Dylan Roof opened fire in the Charleston church shooting of 2015, she fought to charge him with a hate crime. She also sought the death penalty for him. Later in 2015, she also launched an investigation into the Chicago police department based on the suspicion of them violating civilians’ civil rights.

59-year-old Loretta Lynch married Stephen Hargrove in 2007. She has helped provide a home for her husband’s kids from a previous marriage. She continues to fight for equality and justice while serving in the U.S. Attorney’s office.

**The views and actions of the DDH historical figures that are featured may not reflect the views and beliefs of Ramiro The Writer or We Buy Black. Thank you.**