In Memoriam - Pamela Bridgewater

Pamela Bridgewater - RIP

On December 27, 2014, our community lost a fierce and devoted legal scholar, activist, teacher, and friend when Professor Pamela Bridgewater passed away after battling cancer for several years.  Pam lived a life full of giving mentorship and dedicated activism.  She was an innovator and a creative thinker.  She believed that the law could give voice to the powerless.  Pam was a feminist who wrote about reproductive rights.  Pam was a hip hop head that wrote about hip hop's impact on law and culture.  She co-founded this blog, HipHopLaw.com.  She founded Roots and Reality at American U. Law School.  She is the co-author of the forthcoming, first-of-its-kind casebook, Hip Hop and the Law (Carolina Academic Press).

Pam Bridgewater was all of these things and more.  To me, she was a soulful human being.  She cared about peace and justice.  She cared about the success and potential impact of her colleagues and friends.  She was gentle yet forceful when pushing for innovative change in the law or important revisions on book manuscripts.  Pam fought for affirmative action, recognition of equal marriage rights, reproductive rights for women and particularly women of color, and urged all who knew her to get behind these equal rights.

At base, Pam loved well, lived well, and left a legacy of mentorship, equality, and fierce activism.  She will be greatly missed by all who knew her.  She was loved by many.  Pamela Bridgewater's passing leaves a void in the legal academy that will be difficult to fill.

A memorial service will be held on Sunday, February 1, 2015, at the Women's National Democratic Club in Washington, D.C.