By Mike Dunn

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — Mayor Michael Nutter today signed a bill that renames the Criminal Justice Center in honor of Juanita Kidd Stout, the first female African-American elected as a judge in the United States.

With Mayor Nutter’s signature on the bill, the city’s Criminal Justice Center, at 13th and Filbert Streets, will soon bear a new name: the Justice Juanita Kidd Stout Center for Criminal Justice (see related story).

(Justice Juanita Kidd Stout, in file photo)

Stout (right), who died in 1998, was praised at the bill-signing as a trailblazer: the first African-American woman to serve as judge, and the first to serve on a state supreme court.

Several judges appeared at the signing ceremony, including Common Pleas Court judge Jacqueline Allen, who said, “Once that building has that name on it, we will all take proud stances as we walk in and out of that building.”

“I can say without hesitation or pause that we stand on her shoulders, and move forward in pursuit of a colorblind justice system,” said Municipal Court judge Lydia Kirkland.

And the mayor praised Stout as a tough judge who also took time to mentor some of those whom she had sentenced.