From NKAA, Notable Kentucky African Americans Database (main entry)

In 1999, Judge Pamela Goodwine became the first African American woman appointed to the bench (Fayette County District Court); she was appointed by Governor Paul Patton, and later that year was elected to the position. In 2003, she was the first to be elected Circuit Court Judge in Fayette County and was re-elected in 2006. Judge Goodwine, from Youngstown, Ohio, received her JD from the University of Kentucky in 1994. She was inducted into the University of Kentucky Gatton College of Business and Economics Alumni Hall of Fame in 2002. During her interview on the Renee Shaw show, Judge Goodwine talks about her life with Crohn's disease.

In 2005, Pamela Goodwine became the first African American woman elected and sworn in to the Kentucky Supreme Court, the highest court in the Commonwealth of Kentucky. 

For more see Gatton College of Business and Economics Alumni Hall of Fame, University of Kentucky; "A Pledge of Service," Lexington Herald-Leader, 11/28/03, Final Ed., p. B1; KET's "Connections with Renee Shaw" - #315: Pamela Goodwine; see Justice Pamela Goodwin, a Kentucky Courts webpage.