Shirley L. Fulton (January 2, 1952 – February 8, 2023) was an American judge and prosecutor.[1][2] She was the first African American woman to serve as a judge in the Superior Court of North Carolina, a position she held for 14 years.[3] Earlier in her career, she had served as the first black female prosecutor in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina.[1][4]
Early life and education
Born on January 2, 1952, Fulton was the second of five children of Jacob Fulton, a farm laborer in Kingstree, South Carolina.[3][5] As a child, she helped pick cotton and tobacco before school every morning, along with her siblings.[5] While in high school, she worked at a funeral home operated by Virgil Dimery.[6] Dimery encouraged her to volunteer for voter registration drives, and took her along to political rallies.[1][6]
In 1982, Fulton was appointed as an assistant district attorney, the start of her 20-year career in the Mecklenburg County courthouse.[1][2] She was the first black female prosecutor in the county, and served under District Attorney Peter Gilchrist.[1][3]
In 1987, Fulton was appointed a District Court judge, replacing Terry Sherrill, who had been the only black judge among eleven in Mecklenburg.[5][8] She was selected by Governor James G. Martin after receiving the largest number of votes in an election conducted by the Mecklenburg County Bar.[8] In 1988, Judge Fulton was elected to the bench of the North Carolina Superior Court, in the newly created, predominantly African American district of Mecklenburg.[5][9] She became chief resident judge, the highest ranking judge in the Superior Court,[5] after Chase Saunders retired in 1997.[10]
During her tenure as judge, Fulton led several high-profile initiatives, including what became known as "the Fulton Plan", an effort to reform handling of criminal cases system-wide to make them more racially equitable, and more efficient in the face of a significant backlog.[3][11] She also campaigned for bonds to raise funds to build a new courthouse.[2] In addition, she introduced programs to improve the court's handling of cases involving non-English speakers, offering free Spanish classes to judges, lawyers, and court clerks.[2][12] Judge Fulton gave death sentences to three convicted murderers, a decision she later said forced her to reexamine her beliefs.[3]
Fulton left the bench to enter private practice in 2002,[3] and was a founding partner at Tin Fulton Walker & Owen,[5] where she practiced business and real estate law.[2] She later formed her own alternative dispute resolution firm, Fulton Consulting, and practiced with Singletary Law Firm.[3]
Civic activities
A past president of the Wesley Heights Community Association, Fulton was an advocate of community development and neighborhood improvement.[1][13] She served as a board chair of the Charlotte Housing Authority, and was a co-organizer of the Queen City Congress, a coalition of downtown neighborhoods such as Washington Heights and Dilworth.[1][3]
Fulton restored the historic George Pierce Wadsworth House, which she acquired in 2001, and turned it into a conference and events center in Wesley Heights.[14][15] During the 2012 Democratic National Convention held in Charlotte, North Carolina, Fulton hosted 400 delegates and guests from New Jersey and Maryland at Wadsworth House.[15]
In 2015, Fulton presided over a mock grand jury hearing in Raleigh, North Carolina, organized by the North Carolina Medicaid Expansion Coalition.[3][16] The hearing was organized to "shame" state legislators who had voted to block expansion of government assistance to low-income households.[16]
Fulton served as the chair of the former Charlotte School of Law's board of advisors, working with the school to provide scholarships to students.[3][17] She also served on the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Task Force.[2] In Mecklenburg County, she served as co-chair of the local chapter of United Agenda for Children, and was a past president of the county bar association.[3]
Awards and accolades
In 2009, Fulton was the recipient of a Citizen Lawyer Award from the North Carolina Bar Association.[18] In 2010, Fulton received the Order of the Long Leaf Pine in recognition of her service to North Carolina.[1]
In 2014, Fulton was presented with the Chief Justice's Professionalism Award, "for her selfless dedication and commitment to the principles of professionalism and public service in North Carolina".[2]
In 2018, Fulton was inducted as a Legal Legend of Color by the NCBA Minorities in the Profession Committee.[19] Other accolades included the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Medallion, awarded by the Charlotte Community Relations Committee.[20]
Personal life and death
While studying at university, Fulton was a single mother raising a toddler son.[3]
In 1993, Fulton was diagnosed with breast cancer, and took a leave of absence in 1995 to undergo treatment, including a double mastectomy and stem cell transplant, at Duke.[3][7] She was named chief judge of the North Carolina Superior Court after returning to work full-time in 1997.[3][7]
Fulton was married to Leon Orr, who preceded her as president of the Wesley Heights Community Association.[21] The couple first moved to Wesley Heights when Fulton was elected judge, buying a duplex which they restored into a single-family home, which became a local landmark.[21]
