Former Hancock County Probate Judge Edith Jacqueline Ingram Grant in 1969. Grant became the first black probate judge in U. S. history and the first black female judge in the history of Georgia.

Heralded as a trailblazer, the nation's first African American probate judge died quietly in her hometown of Sparta, Georgia, Friday, more than 51 years after her historic election, according to the state Council of Probate Judges.

Edith Jacqueline Ingram Grant, who served as Hancock County's probate judge for 36 years, was also the state's first black female judge, according to council Executive Director Kevin Holder. She was 78.

Georgia Supreme Court Justice Harold Melton saluted Grant as "a true pioneer."

"When I think of the strength of character and determination that it took, and the loneliness that she must have had to endure to become the first black female judge in Georgia history, I am truly awestruck and humbled," Melton said. "Through the exceptional example set by Judge Grant, and set by those women and men who have continued to follow in her footsteps, a path for future progress has been opened for all of us that may otherwise have never existed. As we walk that path, we must always remember the strength and perseverance of, and give honor to, the woman who made it possible."

Cobb County Chief Probate Judge Kelli Wolk, president of the state Council of Probate Court Judges, called Grant "an inspiration."

"She valued integrity, and she was an exemplar of humility during her nearly four decades of service to Hancock County," Wolk said. "The history of our country, this state and our class of court are much better because of her contributions."

Hancock County Probate Judge Sabrina Lamar said that Grant "loved Hancock County, and she worked tirelessly for the betterment of our community. She was a fighter and a true advocate of equality and equal justice for all."

Grant was born Jan. 16, 1942, in Sparta. After graduating from high school, she enrolled in New York City College for Nurses before returning to Georgia to attend Fort Valley State College, now known as Fort Valley State University, according to an alumni profile of her. Grant majored in education and graduated in 1963.

Grant then embarked on a teaching career, first in Griffin and then at a Sparta high school founded by her father and maternal grandfather, according to HistoryMakers, the nation's largest African American video oral history archive.

In a 2006 interview with HistoryMakers, Grant said that, when her father ran for public office in Hancock County in 1966, members of the black community were first told they could serve as poll workers. But on Election Day, the judge of what was then known as the Court of the Ordinary barred them from doing so in language laced with racial epithets. At the time, Grant said, community members promised the judge, a white woman, "that her politicking days were over."

Two years later, the Hancock County Democratic Club, which was not affiliated with the state Democratic Party, recruited Grant to challenge the judge, she said. Grant said her father, Robert T. Ingram, who at the time was the only African American on the Hancock County school board, encouraged her to run.

"My daddy and others kept explaining to me the importance of it," she recalled. "And their main reason was because as ordinary, one of her duties is to supervise the elections."

Grant won the 1968 election, seven months after Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. But when she went to the courthouse to ask her predecessor to brief her on court operations, the judge cursed her and ordered her to get out of the office, Grant recalled. The defeated judge then closed down the court, locked the doors and turned the keys over to the Superior Court clerk, a white man, Grant said. "I just had to wait until I got in there and hit the books," Grant recalled.

Grant served as judge for the next 36 years. In 1973, the ordinary court was renamed the probate court. She also served as president of the Georgia Coalition of Black Women. She retired in 2004.