DOJ Women’s History – Jewel Stradford LaFontant

DOJ Women’s History – Jewel Stradford LaFontant, First African American Woman Assistant U.S. Attorney, 1955; First Woman and African American U.S. Deputy Solicitor General, 1973

A true trailblazer, Jewel Stradford LaFontant achieved many firsts for women in law, becoming in 1946 the first woman to graduate from the University of Chicago Law School.  She was admitted to the Illinois Bar in 1947.  In 1955, LaFontant was appointed the first African American woman Assistant U.S. Attorney in the United States; and in 1973, she was appointed the first woman and African American to serve as Deputy Solicitor General of the United States.  She would serve in that role until 1975.  Learn more on the DOJ Libraries Blog.

You can also learn more about Ms. LaFontant athttps://www.nytimes.com/1997/06/03/us/jewel-lafontant-mankarious-lawyer-and-us-official-dies.html