Sonia sotomayor biography videos

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She also focuses on philanthropy, which includes education, promoting women’s media, and increasing voter registration within her community. Sotomayor won a scholarship to Princeton University and graduated summa cum laude in 1976. She was on the board of the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund from 1980 to 1992.

She is also the first woman of color, the first Hispanic, and the first Latina to hold this position.

In 2008, Esquire magazine named Sotomayor one of "The 75 Most Influential People of the 21st Century."

Sonia Sotomayor's Early Life

Sonia Sotomayor was born in The Bronx, a part of New York City.

Born in Cuba and later immigrating to the United States at age 8, Ros-Lehtinen grew up with an anti-Fidel Castro activist father and memories of escaping the dictator’s regime. Sotomayor also joined student leadership groups.

In 1979, Sotomayor earned her law degree from Yale Law School.

The bright student persevered and attended University of Pacific’s Delta College, earning a teaching degree and working as a teacher in the 1950s. The wedding was at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York. Sotomayor was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at age 7, which required daily insulin injections. The family lived in the housing projects, which were later overrun by gang violence.

Dive Deeper

Still, Sotomayor’s mother pushed her children to take their education seriously, which left a deep imprint on Sotomayor, who knew by age 10 that she wanted to be a lawyer.

Her mother, Celina Báez, worked as a telephone operator and later as a nurse.

Sonia's younger brother, Juan Sotomayor, later became a doctor and a university professor.

Sonia's father passed away when she was nine years old. Today is one of those experiences.

Citation Information

• Article Title: Sonia Sotomayor Biography
• Author: Biography.com Editors
• Website Name: The Biography.com website
• Url: https://www.biography.com/legal-figures/sonia-sotomayor
• Access Date:
• Publisher: A&E; Television Networks
• Last Updated: March 6, 2023

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Early Legal Career

Sotomayor immediately began working as an assistant district attorney in Manhattan, serving as a trial lawyer under District Attorney Robert Morgenthau. Her work also earned her entry into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in June 2023.

Although highly accomplished in high school, her standardized test scores were not up to Princeton’s normal standards, and she wouldn’t have been admitted if not for affirmative action. Her parents came from Puerto Rico. In her 2013 memoir, My Beloved World, Sotomayor wrote that her experience is a strong example of the purpose of affirmative action: “to create the conditions whereby students from disadvantaged backgrounds could be brought to the starting line of a race many were unaware was even being run.”

Sotomayor initially felt overwhelmed at university.

She lectured and served as an educator throughout the United States, Europe, and Cuba and received honorary degrees at renowned universities.