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 African American woman permitted to practice law in the United States, graduating from Howard Law School and advocating civil rights.

Jane M. Bolin

Jane M. Bolin (1908 - 2007), 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, became the first female deputy solicitor general of the United States in 1973 and, in 1963, the first Black woman to argue a case before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Elaine R. Jones

Elaine R. Jones (b. 1944), a civil rights lawyer, became the first director-counsel and president of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund in 1993, strengthening the 1982 Voting Rights Act and advocating for equal justice.

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.