Newspaper Page Text
The Politics Os Alertness >••••••••••••••••••• (Continued from page 4.)
as its most neglected figures.
Housing is still our number one
problem and the urban decay of
our central cities has emphasized
this.
I hope that in our deliberations
at this conference, we may arrive
at some suggested avenues of
resolution of these problems.
Sincerely,
Wilhelmina Jackson Rolark
President
Active Concerns
Topics at the first convention were indi
cative of the broad and vital concerns
shared by Attorney Wilhelmina Jackson
Rolark and the group of brilliant, fully
trained and dedicated women who had
joined with her to form the National Asso
ciation of Black Women Attorneys.
Uppermost in the minds of the black
women attorneys in attendance was both
the personal and professional concern of
“Job Discrimination and Black Women
Attorneys” which was a major workshop
focus.
Typical of the experience of most of
these highly educated, unusually capable
and deeply concerned women was that of
Judge Jean Capers of Cleveland. When
Judge Capers finished law school at night,
while teaching school by day, in the 1940’s
she explains: “None of the law firms would
take on a Negro woman lawyer. I had to
hang out my own shingle. There was no one
to help me get started.”
Speakers at the Job Discrimination
workshop during the first convention were
Julia Cooper, Associate General Counsel,
Equal Opportunity Commission; Marialice
Carter, Attorney, U.S. Department of Jus
tice; Mildred Byrd, District of Columbia
Council, District Office Equal Opportunity
Commission; and Mabel Haden, Private
Law Practitioner, District of Columbia.
Wide Interests
Other topics discussed included: “Prob-
Atty. Matilene Berryman, Special Achievement Award
(4th Conference).
lems in Admission of Black Women to Law
Schools and as Faculty Members,” “The
Plight of the Black Woman Prisoner,”
“New Thrusts in Housing,” “Crises in Bar
Admissions” and “Law Related Careers
for Women.”
Among the outstanding women in leader
ship roles at this initial conference were:
Inez Reid, then Executive Director of the
Black Women’s Development Foundation;
Judge Norma H. Johnson of the Superior
Court for the District of Columbia; Attor
ney Serena Davis, Assistant Corporation
Counsel of the District of Columbia;
Earlene Montgomery, Referee, Fulton
County Juvenile Court, Atlanta, Georgia;
Gwendolyn Cherry, Florida State Repre
sentative; along with Judge Jean Capers,
then Assistant to the Ohio State Attorney
General.
Honored at the first convention of the
National Association of Black Women
Attorneys, as attorney-law-makers were
Congresswoman Yvonne Braithwaite
Burke of Los Angeles, California; and
Congresswoman Barbara Jordan of Hous
ton Texas, together with Deputy Solicitor-
General Jewel La Fontant of the Depart
ment of Justice.
In her banquet address. Judge Norma
Johnson of District of Columbia Superior
Court stressed the need to greatly increase,
as rapidly as possible, the number of black
women attorneys in America. “Following
that conference and its call for vastly
increased numbers of women in the legal
profession, we started receiving mail from
all over the country,” reports Attorney
Wilhelmina Jackson Rolark who has con
tinued to serve the association as its re
markably astute and tirelessly devoted
president.
Attorney Rolark adds: “Mail came from
law schools, businesses and young women
desiring to know how to get into law
school. I knew we were on our way. I could
feel it! It would take time, but we’d make
it. Os course, one of the key ingredients to
our success was use of the media. Calvin
Rolark, who has served as our Public
Relations Adviser since our birth, was
highly instrumental in beaming our story
across the nation in all black oriented
media—print and electronic—since we are
If:®:
WSt
Atty. Barbara Sims, Vice President, Practicing Attor
ney in Buffalo, N. Y.
Are you supporting your Congressional Black Caucus and other liberation efforts?
not a funded group.
“We were unable to do the type of job
that can be done with information received
by the office. One of our long range goals,
when funded, is to operate officially as a
clearinghouse on black women attorneys.
Just now, we do that. As job offers come in
they are fed out to our regional directors to
circulate in their areas for the best effect.”
Through the cooperation, in part, of the
black press—and the Washington Informer
in particular—some office space and some
office staff were provided the organization.
Symbolic of the close ties between the
association and the black press is the fact
that Attorney Wilhelmina Jackson Rolark is
married to businessman and human rights
activist Dr. Calvin Rolark, editor-publisher
of the Washington Informer, founder of
the United Black Fund of America and
national chairman of the world’s largest
multi-media cooperative, that of The BMI
Cooperative.
Second Conference
In 1975, at its second annual conference,
the organization’s theme was: The Black
Woman Attorney, Identity and Involve
ment. Judge Margaret Haywood of the
District of Columbia Superior Court was
keynote speaker.
In the interim period between the first
and second conventions, the organization
had acquired 200 members, including attor
neys and law students who are associated
members.
The second convention was well attended
and considerably larger than the first. The
association identified three issues they felt
keenly about: “Problems in Admissions To
The Bar Encountered By Black Appli
cants”; attempts to remove the license of
Dr. Kenneth Edelin; and the Joan Little
case. Dr. Edelin, a black Boston physician,
was tried for murder for his role —later
seen as entirely legal—in an abortion case.
Dr. Edelin’s heroic function as a champion
of “freedom of choice” of abortions for
women represented a civil rights role for
women which received what was felt to be
the much-deserved attention of the black
women attorneys.
Sir OTOc
lurall I
Washington, DC. Mayor Walter Washington. First
Recipient of Equal Rights Amendment Award for his
leadership in hiring black women lawyers in D C. gov
ernment.
New National BLA CK MONITOR - January, 1979
Joan Little s name has couiir/jes ,n
make the news. As an ostensible female
victim of male molestation by a prison
guardian, Miss Little’s plight has symbol
ized the victim role forced upon women
throughout our society as a whole.
During the three-day session, experts in
various areas of legal concern served as
speakers and resource persons for work
shop groups. Included in these discussions
were subjects relating to Consumer Pro
ducts Safety Law and You, Communica
tions Law from the Black Perspective,
Housing Discrimination Vs. Black Women
and Continuing Problems in Black Admis
sions to the Bar.
In addition to the appearance of Dr.
Edelin and Ms. Galloway, other workshop
sessions were devoted to Problems of the
Female Offenders - Juvenile Delinquency -
Child Abuse and Child Neglect and Em
ployment Discrimination Vs. Black Wom
en.
Moving Ahead
In 1976, the convention theme was, “The
Black Woman Attorney at the Bi-Centen
nial.” Congresswoman Burke was keynote
speaker. State groups began to indicate
they wanted to affiliate with the national
organization. One group was in Los Ange
les, another was in New Jersey, and one
was in Houston, Texas. At the convention
itself, the association honored Miss Ollie
Cooper who has been a lawyer for 50 years
and who performed key administrative
duties at Howard University Law School
for a number of years. She was affection
ately called “Dean” by the students and
but for her sex may have seriously been
considered for that part.
In 1977 “The Role of the Black Woman
Attorney in the Community” was the
organization’s theme. Judge Julia Cooper
Mack was the keynote luncheon speaker.
She is the first black woman state appeals
court judge in the nation. Presentation of
awards to women attorneys long active in
the community as attorneys and law profes
sors and activists helped in the effort to
project images for our law students and
(Continued on page 12.)
0?
5=
I
I
t
I
I
Judge Johnson, Guest Speaker (Isi Conference).
Page 7