David Proeber / The Pantagraph (Pool)
When Carla Barnes closed a black robe around her shoulders for the first time on Thursday, she marked history as the first Black judge in the 11th Judicial Circuit.
An audience of friends, family and colleagues watched the swearing-in ceremony in Courtroom 5A while many others followed COVID-19 protocols by joining a Zoom option for the celebration.
The judiciary seemed an uphill and unlikely destination, Barnes noted in her remarks.
Raised in Chicago Heights by a single mother who struggled with mental illness, parenting responsibilities for Carla fell to her older sister, Sharon. When Sharon started classes at Illinois State University, she smuggled her sister, then 11, into her dorm where they lived until they moved into an apartment.