Mpls - left behind her earthly constraints on November 13th. Born in Gadsden, Alabama, she moved North with parents who wanted more for their children. Joyce seized every opportunity, opening doors for herself and others along the way.

A 1957 Valedictorian, honors graduate, and tuba-playing marching band member of Minneapolis Central High School, Joyce was Minnesota's first Black girl to be elected Governor at Girls State. While attending Carleton College, Joyce's writing and fashion design skills led to a two-time stint as student guest editor for Mademoiselle magazine in New York. After graduating magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa in 1961, she studied at the University of Madrid on a Fulbright Scholarship. Joyce went on to serve as a Carleton Board Trustee for 30 years and was elected Trustee Emerita. In 2001, the college awarded Joyce with an Honorary Doctor of Laws for her body of work.

A prestigious law school recruiter who questioned her capacity to succeed motivated Joyce to pursue a law career. She was on Law Review and graduated from the University of Minnesota Law School cum laude and Order of the Coif in 1965, making her the institution's first Black woman to earn a J.D. In 1971 she was the first Black woman to join the university's faculty, and to become a tenure-track law professor at any majority law school in the country.

Joyce received notable attention in 1965 after her selection as the first woman and African American to clerk for a Minnesota federal district court judge. She also worked in private practice at a small Minneapolis law firm and later married and divorced. Joyce's achievements were spotlighted at the St. Paul Federal Courthouse in 2015 when she was recognized as one of several "leaders of Minnesota women lawyers and judges."

Northwestern Law School invited Joyce to teach as a visiting professor in 1975. She earned tenured full professorship four years later, the first Black woman to do so at any school of Northwestern University or majority law school in the nation. Her expertise included evidence, civil procedure, constitutional law, refugees and asylum, real estate and banking law.

For more than 40 years, Joyce poured herself into teaching and mentoring students, some who attributed their eventual careers to seeing possibility in her presence. Said one student of her classroom: "(it) was one of the few places where I did not feel out of place." In 1991, she took a brief Sabbatical to teach at Hastings College of Law in San Francisco.

Joyce published many articles in national law review journals and contributed the chapter, "Neither a Whisper Nor a Shout" in the book titled, Rebels in Law. Upon retiring from Northwestern Pritzker Law School as Professor Emerita in 2021, a scholarship was endowed by a senior administrator and small group of alumni donors in her name.

Joyce found community in Chicago, focusing her interests on public service and justice. She served as the first woman and Black General Counsel for the Chicago Transit Authority and was appointed to the city's Board of Education. She co-chaired the Lawyers Committee for Harold Washington, Chicago's first Black mayor. Her service also included sitting on the Illinois Supreme Court's Committee on Rules of Evidence; membership on the Federal Home Loan Board; Vice Chair of the National Urban League board and Director of Girl Scouts USA, among other appointments.

Always modest, Joyce believed that "one must define for oneself what success is," even as she received numerous honors and public service awards from the American, National, and Cook County Bar Associations; American Constitution Society; and other professional affiliations and civic organizations. Her lived experience was a quiet arc: Joyce was featured in Ebony Magazine, a recent Northwestern University documentary, newspapers, books and periodicals. As a Jimmy Carter appointee, she traveled to Yugoslavia with the Helsinki Accord delegation to address human rights. Following an emotional trip to the House of Slaves in Senegal, she remarked: "although trained in a rational tradition, I am certain I felt the spirits of souls with whom I am connected." Wherever her many visits took her, Joyce always returned with mementos for family.

Joyce is preceded in death by parents Solomon Hughes Sr. and Bessie Cunningham Hughes, uncle Fern Hughes and sister A. Antoinette (Toni) Hughes. She is survived by sister Shirley J. Hughes, brother Solomon (Soli) Hughes (Mary), niece Roxanne S. Allen, Nephews Bryan S. Allen of Atlanta (Yolanda) and Solomon (Chaz) Hughes III, great niece Alexis A. Allen, great nephews Ari A. Allen, and Earl S. Branch (Emily) and children. She also leaves behind loving friends, beloved book club circles, and her esteemed colleagues.

Devoted to family, faith, and the daily reading of the New York Times, her sudden humor, probing conversations, stubborn resolve, selfless pragmatism and unconditional love are already missed. Celebration of Joyce's singular life will be announced in Spring. Endless gratitude is extended to all who cared for her.