Elizabeth Freeman

Elizabeth Freeman (Mum Betts), (c1784 – 1829), an abolitionist, was the first slave to successfully sue for her freedom, encouraging Massachusetts to abolish slavery in 1781.

Charlotte E. Ray

Charlotte E. Ray (1850 – 1911), was the first permitted to practice law in the United States in 1872.

Jane M. Bolin

Jane M. Bolin (b. 1908), was the first to be appointed as a Family Court Judge in the United States by Mayor Fiorello H. LaGuardia in the City of New York in 1939

Juanita Kidd Stout

Juanita Kidd Stout (1919 – 1998) a judge was the first to serve on a State’s Highest Court when she was sworn in as an associate justice in Pennsylvania in 1959.

Jewel S. Lafontant Mankarious

Jewel S. Lafontant Mankarious (1922 – 1997), a lawyer, was the first female deputy solicitor general of the United States, an appointment made by President Nixon in 1973. In 1963, she became the first black woman to argue a case before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Elaine R. Jones

Elaine R. Jones (b. 1944), a prominent civil rights lawyer, was the first to be named director-counsel and president of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund in 1993.

Judge Constance Baker Motley

Judge Constance Baker Motley (September 14, 1921 – September 28, 2005) was an African-American civil rights activist, lawyer, judge, state senator, and Borough President of Manhattan, New York City.