First City Court’s first African-American judge dies

Judge Angelique Aristell Reed, the first African-American judge elected to serve in First City Court of the Parish of Orleans, died on November 16, 2019 following a brief illness. She was 59.

“City Court was her passion,” says colleague and friend, Judge Veronica Henry. “She wanted to make sure people had their day in court,” and that they “were treated fairly.”

In learning of the Judge’s death, Mayor Cantrell said, “Her service and her dedication to justice were a blessing for New Orleans.”

JUDGE ANGELIQUE A. REED

Judge Reed was first elected to the bench in 1998. At the time of her death, she was that Court’s senior judge. She is a graduate of Ursuline Academy, Xavier University and Loyola University Law School.

The daughter of Louadrian Dejoie Reed and the late Dr. Langston Reed, and the mother of Giaina Jazelle Warren, Judge Reed was a recipient of the prestigious Gillis Long Public Service Award recognizing her talents and invaluable contributions to the community and a national winner of the Frederick Douglas Moot Court Competition where she won an award for best written brief.

She held memberships in the Louis A. Martinet Society; National Bar Association, Board of Governors; Association of Women Attorneys; LA Trial Lawyers Association, Board of Governors; Association of Women Attorneys; LA Supreme Court Task Force on Alternative Dispute Resolution; Independent Women’s Organization; Committee of 21, Associate; New Orleans Chapter of Links, Inc.; Broadmoor Improvement Association; Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.; New Orleans Volunteers in Court; League of Women Coters; and NAACP.

She also served on the boards and volunteered her time with several community service nonprofit agencies including the YWCA, Dryades YMCA, Carver School-Based Health Clinic & Day Care, Velocity Foundation – Persons Plus Program, Junior Associated Catholic Charities, and Coalition of 100 Black Women.

Along with her daughter and mother, Judge Reed is survived by her brother, Langston D. Reed; two sisters, Jennifer Reed and Meredith Reed; and a host of aunts, uncles and cousins, loving, devoted, and caring friends, as well as staff and former staff members of First City Court, Section B.
Services were held on Friday, November 22 at St. Katherine Drexel Chapel of Xavier University with Fr. Daniel Green as officiant and Fr. Peter Finney as concelebrant. Rhodes Funeral Home was in charge of the arrangements.

This article originally published in the November 25, 2019 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.