THE DIGITAL REPOSITORY FOR THE BLACK EXPERIENCE
"Tomorrow Is Another Day."
Magistrate Judge Stephanie Cecile Davis was born on May 22, 1958 in Atlanta, Georgia to Myrtle Reid Davis and Albert Miles Davis. Davis graduated from Northside High School in 1976, before receiving her B.A. degree from Stanford University in 1980, and her J.D. degree from Emory University in 1985.
Just after receiving her degree from Stanford University, Davis was involved in a life changing car accident that left her a paraplegic. The trauma from the experience was not enough to stifle her career goals; just five years later, she received her law degree. One year later, in 1986, Davis began working for the Superior Court of Fulton County as a law clerk and staff attorney.
In 1990, Davis worked as a staff attorney for the Georgia Court of Appeals. During her tenure, she became involved in several civic organizations, including the Atlanta Women’s Foundation, which is focused exclusively on the issues of women and girls in the metropolitan Atlanta community.
In 2000, Davis began serving as the Fulton County Magistrate Judge in Atlanta.
In 2001, Davis filed the first lawsuit against Atlanta’s public transportation system, MARTA, to improve access to public transportation for all Atlanta residents with disabilities. In 2005, she began serving on the advisory board of the Virginia C. Crawford Research Institute.
Davis was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on September 13, 2007.