When the Senate votes to confirm Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court, it will be making history.

There has never been a Black woman on the Supreme Court. Only two Black men have been justices. Meanwhile, for two centuries, the courts rulings have shaped life for Black Americans and women.

Jacksons confirmation hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee were historic themselves, and several Black photojournalists were there. This isnt always the case Cheriss May, Sarahbeth Maney, Michael McCoy and Jarrad Henderson noted that theyre each used to being the only Black photographer in the room.

May, a freelance photographer, felt the importance of representation as she watched Jackson. Maney, a photography fellow for the Times, took a viral photo of Jacksons daughter, Leila, staring at the judge with pride and admiration. McCoy, a freelance photographer, followed along when Jackson met with Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), one of two Black lawmakers currently in the Senate, who later delivered an impassioned speech during the hearings. Jarrad Henderson, a senior multimedia producer at USA Today, captured Jackson as she answered question after question, with her parents and other supporters looking on.

This will be a moment I can tell my grandchildren about, Henderson said. How I witnessed a person endure hours of insults, survive the gauntlet of scrutiny required to serve on the highest court in the land, and walk out with her head held high.

Below, read the four photographers own words on being Black journalists in Washington and witnessing Jacksons hearings up close.

Sarahbeth Maney

Photography Fellow at The New York Times