She’s the Judge – Finally
Lori K. Morgan makes judicial history in Allen County
Fort Wayne Ink Spot Staff Report
Although there will be a “ceremonial swearing-in ceremony” in the coming weeks, Lori K. Morgan made history on May 18 when she was sworn-in as the first African American woman appointed as a judge on the Allen Superior Court.
In front of a group of friends and colleagues, Morgan, who has spent over a quarter-century as a magistrate in the Family Relations Division of Allen County Superior Court, received a call from Gov. Eric Holcomb who appointed her to the post. She is currently the only person of color serving among the court’s 19 judges and magistrates, and the first African American judge to serve on the court since 1998.
Morgan succeeds Judge Charles Pratt who retired earlier this month. She was featured last May in Ink Spot as a replacement for Judge Nancy Eschoff Boyer, a long-time judge and the first woman jurist in Allen County.
As a veteran and respected jurist, promoting Morgan to a judgeship was a cause voiced by a diverse group of Fort Wayne leaders and activists, including Boys & Girls Club CEO Joe Jordan, Iric Headley, and Stephen L. Hinkle, the retired CEO of Easterseals Arc of Northeast Indiana.
ChangeMakers Fort Wayne, which grew out of last summer’s protests after the death of George Floyd, got over 2,100 people to petition the governor to appoint Morgan.
“We stood together and spoke together and as of today Magistrate Lori Morgan, after 26 years of service, was appointed to the Allen Superior Courts and is now Judge Lori K. Morgan of the Family Relations Division!” the group posted on its Facebook page.
In continuing to serve in the court’s Family Relations Division, the Journal Gazette’s editorial board highlighted Morgan’s bona fides and her importance in continuing to improve justice for families and children.
“Morgan is up to the challenge having worked on such cases as a magistrate for 26 years and in family law in private practice before that,” the board wrote in a May 19 editorial. “She has received several awards, including NAACP recognition for community service in the area of justice for families and children. She helped found the court’s SCORE project, designed to recognize the achievements of children who successfully navigated the CHINS [Children in Need Services] system.”
Judge Morgan, the board wrote, is a “welcome change for the court, and for children and families and Allen County.”
Judge Morgan received her undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan and her law degree from the University of Iowa. Before she was appointed a magistrate, she was in private practice where she primarily practiced family law.