The first African American man to become a state court judge in Missouri was Theodore McMillian, who became a St. Louis circuit judge in March 1956, ultimately being elevated to the state and federal appellate benches in 1972 and 1978, respectively. Several other Black men became judges in Missouri over the next few decades, but there were no African American women on the bench until April 1983, when Evelyn Baker was appointed a circuit judge in St. Louis city by then-Governor Christopher "Kit" Bond.

Like McMillian, Baker had earned her law degree from Saint Louis University School of Law and had been a prosecutor in St. Louis. She also served as an assistant United States attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri. Baker retired in March 2008, having served a quarter of a century as a circuit judge.

The first African American female judge in St. Louis County was Sandra Farragut Hemphill, appointed as an associate circuit judge in March 1991 by the-Governor John Ashcroft. She previously worked as a staff attorney at Legal Services of Eastern Missouri, as an assistant county counselor in St. Louis County, in private practice, and as an adjunct professor of law at both Saint Louis University and Washington University in St. Louis. In November 2014, Hemphill was appointed a St. Louis County circuit judge by then-Governor Jeremiah W. (Jay) Nixon. She continues to serve as a circuit judge.

In November 1994, Missouri elected its first Black judge to the bench – Mary Ellen Young, elected circuit judge for the 17th Judicial Circuit (Cass and Johnson counties). She previously had been an assistant public defender. She served one term in office, ending in December 2000. She remains the only African American elected as a state court judge in Missouri.

Two Black women were appointed circuit judges in 1999 by then-Governor Mel Carnahan, albeit on opposite sides of the state. Appointed in Jackson County was Judge Lisa White Hardwick, who was elevated two years later to the Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District. Appointed in St. Louis was Nannette A. Baker, who in 2004 was elevated to the Missouri Court of Appeals, Eastern District and, in appointed a federal magistrate judge in St. Louis in 2010. Both remain on the bench.

For two African American women in St. Louis, their journeys to the bench began when the St. Louis circuit court appointed them as family court commissioners. One, Angela Turner Quigless, moved first from commissioner to associate circuit judge in 1995. Both later were appointed as St. Louis circuit judges, Quigless in 2003 and Robin Ransom in 2008. Both ultimately were appointed to the Missouri Court of Appeals, Eastern District: Quigless in April 2012 and Ransom in January 2019. Quigless still serves on the Eastern District; Ransom was appointed to the Supreme Court of Missouri on May 24, 2021.

A number of Black women in addition to Hemphill and Quigless were appointed as associate circuit judges around the turn of the 21st century. Appointed in St. Louis city were: Iris Ferguson, appointed in 1993; Barbara Peebles, appointed in 2000; Calea Stovall-Reid, appointed in 2003. Appointed in St. Louis County were: Brenda Stith Loftin, appointed 1993; Gloria Clark Reno, appointed in 2002; and Paula Perkins Bryant, appointed in 2004. In addition, Judy Preddy Draper became Missouri's first African American and Asian American judge in 2004, when she was appointed as an associate circuit judge in St. Louis County.