March is Women’s History Month and this month’s theme, chosen by the National Women’s History Alliance, is ‘Celebrating Women Who Tell Our Stories.’ This was chosen to “encourage recognition of women, past and present, who have been active in all forms of media and storytelling including print, radio, TV, stage, screen, blogs, podcasts, and more.”

Women’s History Month has historically taken place during March and in 1980 “President Carter issued the first Presidential Proclamation declaring the Week of March 8th 1980 as National Women’s History Week.” Though this proclamation was made 43 years ago women still experience a gender gap to this day. The Harris County Robert W. Hainsworth Law Library would like to focus on the important women in the legal field, the achievements they have made throughout history and those they continue to make today.

Arabella Mansfield

“Arabella Mansfield became the first woman lawyer in the United States when she passed the bar examination in Henry County [Iowa] in 1869.” She studied for two years in her brother’s basement before taking the exam, despite the law in Iowa that “limited admittance to the bar to white males over the age of twenty one.” However, even though she passed the bar she never practiced law. Instead she spent her professional life teaching English at Iowa Wesleyan College.

Charlotte Ray

In 1872, Charlotte Ray became the first African American woman (and the third American woman) to earn a law degree. She is the first woman to graduate from Howard University School of Law and was admitted to the District of Columbia Bar. After graduation and passing the bar exam, Charlotte Ray “opened her own law office in Washington, DC and began her independent practice of commercial law”. Unfortunately, due to discrimination and bias, Charlotte Ray was unable to attract enough clients to maintain her practice and therefore she was forced to close her office. In 1879, she moved to New York City, “where she worked as a teacher in the Brooklyn public schools.”

Judge Kathryn Sellers

Kathryns Sellers was the first federally appointed female judge. She was nominated in 1918 to the head of the Juvenile Court of the District of Columbia by President Woodrow Wilson. She served in this position until she resigned in 1934. You can find an archive of her published works here.

Camille Elizabeth Stanford Openshaw

Camille Openshaw is of particular importance historically to the Harris County Law Library as she was the first woman to serve as a director to the Lawyers Library Association (which established the Harris County Law Library) after being elected to a 2-year term on March 12, 1934.

If you would like to learn more about Camille Elizabeth Stanford Openshaw, please take a look at our digital exhibit dedicated to this inspiring Houston historical figure.

Attorney General Janet Reno

Janet Reno was the first female Attorney General of the United States and held the position from 1993 to 2001. “Her early days in office were marked by her efforts to secure greater protection for women seeking abortions, who were often victims of physical harassment from antiabortion activists”. She was the longest serving attorney general in the 20th century and the founding director of the Innocence Project before her passing in 2016.

Chief Justice Sandra Day O’Connor

Sandra Day O’Connor was the first woman to serve on the Supreme Court of the United States. Prior to serving on the Supreme Court of the United States, she was appointed to the Arizona State Senate to fill a vacant seat and in 1970 she “kept that seat when she was elected to the State Senate for a full term as a Republican.” She served on the court for two decades and retired from the bench in 2006. She drafted the majority opinion in Mississippi University for Women v. Hogan in which the court ruled that not letting men into the nursing school at the Mississippi University for Women “perpetuated the limiting stereotype that nursing was a woman’s job.” She wrote 645 opinions during her 24 years on the Supreme Court, which you can find listed here.

Chief Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Ruth Bader Ginsburg was the second woman to be appointed to the Supreme Court in 1993. She found it difficult to find a position as a female attorney in the 1960s until “a favorite Columbia professor explicitly refused to recommend any other graduates before U.S. District Judge Edmund L. Palmieri hired Ginsburg as a clerk.” She was an integral part in directing the Women’s Rights Project of the American Civil Liberties Union during the 1970s. One of her passions was correcting instances of gender discrimination and the violation of women’s rights. For example, in 1996 she wrote the majority opinion in United States v. Virginia, where she held “that qualified women could not be denied admission to Virginia Military Institute.” She served on the Supreme Court until her passing in 2020. A list including all of Justice Ginsburg’s writings can be found here.

Chief Justice Sonya Sotomayor

Sonya Sotomayor is the first Hispanic Supreme Court Justice and she is currently serving on the Supreme Court. She was appointed in 2009. She has ruled in many important cases within the past 14 years, including her ruling “in the majority which upheld the Affordable Care Act twice, and in Obergefell v. Hodges, to legalize same-sex marriage in all 50 states.” A list including all of Justice Sotomayor’s writings can be found here.

Chief Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson

Ketanji Brown Jackson is the first Black woman and the first former Federal Public Defender to be appointed to the Supreme Court of United States in 2022. Though she wrote her first majority opinion for the Supreme Court in February of 2023, which can be read here, she has made many influential decisions in the past with her prior experience as a District Court Judge and during her time serving on the United States Sentencing Commission. While serving on the Sentencing Commission from 2009-2014, she “retroactively amended the Sentencing Guidelines to reduce the guideline range for crack cocaine offenses, and enacted the ‘drugs minus two’ amendment, which implemented a two offense-level reduction for drug crimes.”

Judge Phyllis Randolph Frye

Image by bobrosetxaol via the outwordsarchive.org

Phyllis Randolph Frye is the nations first openly transgender judge. She currently serves as an Associate Judge for the Municipal Courts in Houston, Texas. She is a founding member of the Rainbow Friends group at the University of Houston which helps “create an inclusive, welcoming and more understanding campus through supporting awareness campaigns, peer mentoring, social events and more.” You can find more articles and law reviews written by Judge Frye here.

Vice President Kamala Harris