INDIANAPOLIS — When Sonia Sotomayor was a young girl, the South Bronx complex she grew up in was called Bronxdale Houses.
At the time, those houses were a mark of affirmation that an American Dream had been obtained for New York's thriving immigrant class.
It was a solid foundation on which Sotomayor could establish roots. Today, those 28 buildings are called Sotomayor Houses in honor of the first Latina to hold a spot on the U.S. Supreme Court and self-proclaimed "Nuyorican" who worked always credited the community she grew up in for her success.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor was raised in a close Puerto Rican family, which was hit with tragedy after the death of her father when she was just 9 years old.
The young Sotomayor delved into a high quality education provided by her mother, Cecelia, and eventually graduated as valedictorian of her high school class.
She received a bachelor's degree from Princeton in 1976 and graduated summa cum laude, then went onto Yale to obtain her J.D.
By the late 1970s, Sotomayor was serving as an assistant district attorney in the New York County District Attorney's Office. She then litigated international commercial at Pavia & Harcourt, and eventually worked her way up to partner.
President George President George H.W. Bush nominated her to the U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, and she served in that role from 1992 until1998.
President Barack Obama nominated her as an associate justice of the Supreme Court on May 26, 2009, and she assumed the role Aug. 8, 2009.
In addition to her work in court, Sotomayor continued to foster a lifelong passion for literature, eventually writing several books herself.
Her new book out, called "Just Help," will be released in January.
