TV judge honored by National Urban League

The National Urban League says Penny Brown Reynolds of the U.S. TV series Family Court with Judge Penny is one of its Women of Power.

The Chicago Sun-Times reported Sunday the ordained minister, who earned a law degree while cleaning a courthouse in Georgia earlier in her career, was honored Saturday at the league’s annual convention at McCormick Place in Chicago.

Reynolds said she was not positively welcomed when she eventually found herself serving as a judge in the same Fulton County, Ga., courthouse she had previously cleaned.

Also honored with a Women of Power award were Paula Madison, NBC Universal’s executive vice president for diversity, Northern Virginia Urban League President Lavern J. Chatman and U.S. Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif.

The civil rights group also presented Living Legends awards to model Tyra Banks, former Illinois state Senate President Emil Jones Jr. and Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley.