TEN WOMEN IN U.S. LEGAL HISTORY #5: Charlotte E. Ray (January 13, 1850 – January 4, 1911) was the first African-American female lawyer in the U.S., a graduate of Howard University School of Law in 1872. Ray was the first woman admitted to the District of Columbia Bar and was the first woman admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia, where she pleaded the case of Gadley v. Gadley in 1875. In this case, Ray defended an uneducated woman divorcing an abusive husband, based on the grounds of his “habitual drunkenness” and endangering the life and health of the complaining party. Unfortunately, prejudice against African Americans and women made her law practice unsustainable and Ray eventually moved to New York and became a teacher. She died in Long Island in 1911.
Posted on: Fri, 12 Dec 2014 12:00:00 +0000
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