Uncrowned Community Builders

Judge Miles-LaGrange, a native of Oklahoma City, graduated cum laude from Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., and received a certificate from the University of Ghana in Accra, Ghana, West Africa. She received her law degree from Howard University School of Law in Washington, D.C., where she was editor of The Howard Law Journal.

In 1986, Miles-LaGrange became the first African-American female elected to the Oklahoma State Senate. She served as chairman of the Oklahoma Senate Judiciary Committee, and later, the Oklahoma Legislative Black Caucus and the Law and Justice Committee of the National Conference of State Legislators. During her years in the Oklahoma Legislature (1986-1993), she also conducted a private law practice. Earlier in her career, Miles-LaGrange worked as a criminal trial attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. She later prosecuted sex crimes as an assistant district attorney in Oklahoma County.

She has been devoted to community service and has served vigorously with numerous womenââ?¬â?¢s and community organizations. For example, she received an honorary doctorate from the Oklahoma City University School of Law and serves on the board of trustees of her alma mater, Vassar College. She also is a life member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc., where she serves as Regional Director of the Mi-Western Region; former president of Beta Sigma Omega Chapter in Oklahoma City; the Oklahoma Historical Society and the Urban League of Oklahoma City Inc.; the Oklahoma City Links Inc., and the Eastside Culture Club.

Judge Miles-LaGrange has received numerous awards over the years including being inducted into the Oklahoma Womenââ?¬â?¢s Hall of Fame, the Oklahoma African-American Hall of Fame and the Child Advocates Hall of Fame. She is also the recipient of an Oklahoma Bar Associationââ?¬â?¢s Woman Trailblazer Award, and Legislator of the Year in 1990 by both the Oklahoma State Child Care Association and the Norman Chamber of Commerce. Judge Miles-LaGrange is also featured in the Oklahoma History Center Museum in the African American Gallery. In 2004, Oklahomaââ?¬â?¢s business newspaper, The Journal Record, named her ââ?¬Å?Woman of the Year.ââ?¬

Today, Miles-LaGrange serves as a federal judge on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma. She was appointed to the bench by President Bill Clinton in 1994 as the first African-American federal judge in the six states that make up the 10th Circuit. Before her appointment to the bench, Miles-LaGrange served as US attorney for the Western District of Oklahoma ââ?¬â?? the first female U.S. attorney in Oklahoma and among the first in the nation.

Vicki Miles-LaGrange is an active member of the St. John Missionary Baptist Church since 1959. At the church she continues her community service by serving on Deaconess Board, Usher Board and Social Department and is an active member of the St. John Lawyersââ?¬â?¢ Corps.