Patricia"Pat" Timmons-Goodson has dedicated her career to breaking barriers and creating opportunities for everyone becoming the first African-American woman on the Supreme Court of North Carolina. Now she aims to bring these same goals to Congress. 

Patricia “Pat” Timmons-Goodson was born into a military family and is the eldest of five children. Timmons-Goodson was one of the first African-American students to earn her undergraduate and law degree from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. After law school, she oversaw the Fayetteville operations for the U.S. Census Office in Charlotte during 1980. In 2006, Timmons-Goodson became the first African American woman on the Supreme Court of North Carolina and was the first African American woman elected to the North Carolina Court of Appeals. President Barack Obama appointed Pat the Vice Chair on the US Commission on Civil Rights. Since her appointment to the United States Commission on Civil Rights, Timmons-Goodson has continued her fight to ensure everyone is treated equally under the law and to combat discrimination.