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.
Read moreLatest & Greatest: Women in Law: Discovering the True Meaning of Success
“We all belong here.” This statement encapsulates the message of empowerment shared by the contributing authors of Women in Law: Discovering the True Meaning of Success, an anthology of reflections by women lawyers describing what success means to them. The authors recount their personal journeys and the choices they made that placed them on their life’s path.
Read moreLatest & Greatest - Shortlisted: Women in the Shadows of the Supreme Court
The Harris County Robert W. Hainsworth Law Library recently added two copies of Shortlisted: Women in the Shadows of the Supreme Court to its collection. This book, which is summarized in this blog post, examines the history of women who have been considered as nominees for the U.S. Supreme Court.
Read moreIconic Women in Legal History
Dolores Huerta. Louise Raggio. Lisa Tatum. Sally Ride. These are just a few of the women whose achievements and accomplishments are featured in a new website by the Texas Young Lawyers Association (TYLA). Made possible by generous funding through the Texas Bar Foundation, Iconic Women in Legal History uses videos and interviews with historians, scholars, family members, and in some cases, the women themselves, to introduce these remarkable women and highlight the contributions that they have made to the legal profession, to the struggle and fight for equality and civil rights, and to the history of our country.
Read moreVotes for Texas Women Celebrates Today's 19th Amendment Centennial Anniversary
The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.
— United States Constitution, Amendment XIX, Ratified August 18, 1920
On August 18, 1920, Tennessee became the 36th state to ratify the 19th Amendment, thereby adding it to the Constitution of the United States. Finally, after decades of campaigning for the right to vote, protesting and petitioning their representatives, and facing opposition and, even, imprisonment, suffragists achieved their goal of a national constitutional amendment.
Today, to commemorate the centennial of the ratification of the 19th Amendment, the Harris County Law Library is hosting virtual symposium featuring three accomplished women from our local legal community, Marie Jamison, Partner at Wright Close & Barger, Professor Renee Knake Jefferson, and Justice Frances Bourliot. They will discuss the history of voting rights for women and the importance of diversity and inclusion in the legal profession.
For details on the symposium, please visit Votes for Texas Women online.
A list of Further Reading, available here and at the link below, will connect you to resources that trace the fight for women’s suffrage from its origins at the Seneca Falls Convention of 1848 to the full ratification of the 19th Amendment in 1920.
