The captivating story of how a diverse group of women, including Janet Reno and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, broke the glass ceiling and changed the modern legal profession In Stories from Trailblazing Women Lawyers, award-winning legal historian Jill Norgren curates the oral histories of one hundred extraordinary American women lawyers who changed the profession of law. Many of these stories are being told for the first time. As adults these women were on the front lines fighting for access to law schools and good legal careers. They challenged established rules and broke the law's glass ceiling.Norgren uses these interviews to describe the profound changes that began in the late 1960s, interweaving social and legal history with the women's individual experiences. In 1950, when many of the subjects of this book were children, the terms of engagement were clear: only a few women would be admitted each year to American law schools and after graduation their professional opportunities would never equal those open to similarly qualified men. Harvard Law School did not even begin to admit women until 1950. At many law schools, well into the 1970s, men told female students that they were taking a place that might be better used by a male student who would have a career, not babies. In 2005 the American Bar Association's Commission on Women in the Profession initiated a national oral history project named the Women Trailblazers in the Law initiative: One hundred outstanding senior women lawyers were asked to give their personal and professional histories in interviews conducted by younger colleagues. The interviews, made available to the author, permit these women to be written into history in their words, words that evoke pain as well as celebration, humor, and somber reflection. These are women attorneys who, in courtrooms, classrooms, government agencies, and NGOs have rattled the world with insistent and successful demands to reshape their profession and their society. They are women who brought nothing short of a revolution to the profession of law.

An engaging history of women's rights and the legal profession in the nineteenth century Long before Sandra Day O'Connor and Ruth Bader Ginsberg earned their positions on the Supreme Court, they were preceded in their goal of legal excellence by several intrepid trailblazers. In Rebels at the Bar, prize-winning legal historian Jill Norgren recounts the life stories of a small group of nineteenth century women who were among the first female attorneys in the United States. Beginning in the late 1860s, these determined rebels pursued the radical ambition of entering the then all-male profession of law. They were motivated by a love of learning. They believed in fair play and equal opportunity. They desired recognition as professionals and the ability to earn a good living. Through a biographical approach, Norgren presents the common struggles of eight women first to train and to qualify as attorneys, then to practice their hard-won professional privilege. Their story is one of nerve, frustration, and courage. This first generation practiced civil and criminal law, solo and in partnership. The women wrote extensively and lobbied on the major issues of the day, but the professional opportunities open to them had limits. They never had the opportunity to wear the black robes of a judge. They were refused entry into the lucrative practices of corporate and railroad law. Although male lawyers filled legislatures and the Foreign Service, presidents refused to appoint these early women lawyers to diplomatic offices and the public refused to elect them to legislatures. Rebels at the Bar expands our understanding of both women's rights and the history of the legal profession in the nineteenth century. It focuses on the female renegades who trained in law and then, like men, fought considerable odds to create successful professional lives. In this engaging and beautifully written book, Norgren shares her subjects' faith in the art of the possible. In so doing, she ensures their place in history.

View the Table of Contents. Read the Prologue.

Foreword by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg

"Exceptionally well-researcheda].Norgrenas contribution is to situate Lockwood among a generation of female activistsa].Norgren isa]successful in moving the woman who would be president to her proper standing as a pioneering lawyer who would change America."
--Jean Baker, "American Historical Review"

aNorgren has written an engrossing and insightful book about Belva Lockwood, a woman who, through tenacity, drive and self worth, accomplished more in the 19th century than many modern women accomplish. Because Lockwood was known to few and most of her personal papers were destroyed after her death, Norgren has done an exemplary job of illuminating the life of this varied and accomplished woman.a
--"The Law and Politics Book Review"

aAn engaging account of Belva Lockwoodas struggles and achievements as one of the first women to enter the legal profession in the United States in the late 19th century.a--"Canadian Journal of Law and Society"

aNorgren describes a farmwife who became a fearless advocate for womenas rights and the first woman lawyer to argue before the Supreme Courta
--"Ms."

aNorgren eloquently and succinctly educates the reader on the story of the first woman to ever be allowed to argue before the United States Supreme Court, as well as the first woman to ever launch two full scale bids for this countryas presidency....Norgrenas writing is engaging and her narrative is accessible yet rich with fact.a
--"Feminist Review"

aJill Norgrenas study of Belva Lockwood (which comes with a graceful preface by Ruth Bader Ginsburg) is a very unusual book. .. . Norgren has the great discernment to see Lockwoodas life as large and anticipatory rather than eccentric and half-realized. A legal historian of considerable skill, she ploughed through reams of records to construct an account of Lockwoodas legal career. . . . The comparison [of Hillary Clinton and Nancy Pelosi to] Belva Lockwood is illuminating, because it was Lockwoodas instinct for opportunity that took her out of womenas politics, with their intact principles, into the thick of things. . . . The biographies of these women will be composed of the workaday, disenchanted materials of political lives--perseverance, competence, canniness, and, yes, a facility for the quick grab--that Belva Lockwood cultivated and prized.a
--Christine Stansell, "The New Republic "

aAstonishingly, this is the first scholarly biography of 19th-century activist Belva Lockwood. Lawyer, lobbyist, wife, mother, and contemporary of Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lockwood was among the most formidable of equal rights advocates. The first female lawyer admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court, the relentlessly ambitious Lockwood ran for the U.S. presidency in 1884 and 1888 on the Equal Rights Party ticketa].Later she concentrated on her work for the Universal Peace Union and her Washington, DC, legal practice while maintaining a demanding public-speaking schedule. Her life was never easy, as she constantly fought to surmount political and legal barriers and to support her family. Although few of Lockwoodas papers have survived, Norgren has delivered an able and long overdue study of Lockwoodas life, drawing on newspapers, magazines, organizational records, and the papers ofLockwoodas contemporaries. Though the book emphasizes Lockwoodas career, the inclusion of information on her family and friends gives added dimension. Highly recommended for both public and academic libraries; essential for womenas history collections.a
--"Library Journal," starred review

aMany biographers would balk at the paucity of archival sources, but Norgren persisted. . . . In [Norgrenas] credible narrative, Lockwood emerges as a shrewd self-promoter, never hesitating to garner publicity for herself and her causes. . . . In eloquent detail, Norgren shows how Lockwood loved the law.a
--"New York Sun"

aLong before Hillary Clinton, there was Belva Lockwood: two-time presidential hopeful, Lockwood campaigned in 1884 and 1888 on a platform of women's suffrage. In the first full-length biography of this feminist pioneer, legal historian Norgren has meticulously researched what little has remained of Lockwood's papers, most of which were destroyed after her death.a
--"Publisheras Weekly Annex"

aIn this thoroughly researched and beautifully written biography, Jill Norgren traces Belva Lockwoodas dogged efforts to earn a living as a lawyer in Washington while caring for her daughter and becoming a leading advocate for womanas suffrage and the peaceful arbitration of international disputes. Norgrenas brilliant study makes clear why Lockwood--the first woman to argue before the Supreme Court (1879) and run for President (1884 and 1888)--belongs in the ranks of Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Frances Willard.a
--John M. Ferren, author of "Salt of the Earth, Conscience of the Court: the Story of Justice Wiley Rutledge"

aJill Norgren beautifully weaves thepersonal and political ordeals of Belva Lockwood's life into a compelling story that illuminates Lockwood's enduring contributions. This is a dramatic account of a pioneering woman whose life in the law still resonates in contemporary times.a
--Joan Biskupic, author of "Sandra Day O'Connor: How the First Woman on the Supreme Court Became Its Most influential Justice"

aJill Norgren's splendid biography of one of history's most astonishing pioneers-first woman counsel before the Supreme Court, visionary for equal rights, international peace activist, Indian rights litigator, presidential candidate-is provocative, challenging, galvanizing! Brilliantly researched, vividly written, and profoundly discerning. Everybody concerned about justice, human rights, the future of democracy, and women's power will rush to read, and assign, this important book.a
--Blanche Wiesen Cook, author of "Eleanor Roosevelt "

aBelva Lockwood lived a life of afirstsa as a practicing lawyer at a time when women were rare in any profession. She was the first woman admitted to the Bar of the Supreme Court and twice ran for President of the United States. Jill Norgren captures the story of this forgotten heroine in a biography as fast paced and interesting as the life Lockwood led.a
--Barbara Babcock, Judge John Crown Professor of Law, Emerita, Stanford University, and author of "Clara Shortridge Foltz: Constitution Maker"

aJill Norgren's biography of Belva Lockwood is a gem. Not only does she describe the amazingly full life of an important woman now practically forgotten, but she takes us into the politics of the late-nineteenth century women's reform movement in a way few other authors have done. This is a must-read book.a
--Melvin I. Urofsky, editor of the "Journal of Supreme Court History "

In Belva Lockwood: The Woman Who Would be President, prize-winning legal historian Jill Norgren recounts, for the first time, the life story of one of the nineteenth century's most surprising and accomplished advocates for women's rights. As Norgren shows, Lockwood was fearless in confronting the male establishment, commanding the attention of presidents, members of Congress, influential writers, and everyday Americans. Obscured for too long in the historical shadow of her longtime colleague, Susan B. Anthony, Lockwood steps into the limelight at last in this engaging new biography.

Born on a farm in upstate New York in 1830, Lockwood married young and reluctantly became a farmer's wife. After her husband's premature death, however, she earned a college degree, became a teacher, and moved to Washington, DC with plans to become an attorney-an occupation all but closed to women. Not only did she become one of the first female attorneys in the U.S., but in 1879 became the first woman ever allowed to practice at the bar of the Supreme Court.

In 1884 Lockwood continued her trailblazing ways as the first woman to run a full campaign for the U.S. Presidency. She ran for President again in 1888. Although her candidacies were unsuccessful (as she knew they would be), Lockwood demonstrated that women could compete with men in the political arena. After these campaigns she worked tirelessly on behalf of the Universal Peace Union, hoping, until her death in 1917, that she, or the organization, would win the Nobel Peace Prize.

Belva Lockwood deserves to be far better known. As Norgren notes, it is likely that Lockwood would be widely recognized today as a feminist pioneer if most of her personal papers had not been destroyed after her death. Fortunately for readers, Norgren shares much of her subject's tenacity and she has ensured Lockwood's rightful place in history with this meticulously researched and beautifully written book.

The captivating story of how a diverse group of women, including Janet Reno and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, broke the glass ceiling and changed the modern legal profession In Stories from Trailblazing Women Lawyers, award-winning legal historian Jill Norgren curates the oral histories of one hundred extraordinary American women lawyers who changed the profession of law. Many of these stories are being told for the first time. As adults these women were on the front lines fighting for access to law schools and good legal careers. They challenged established rules and broke the law's glass ceiling.Norgren uses these interviews to describe the profound changes that began in the late 1960s, interweaving social and legal history with the women's individual experiences. In 1950, when many of the subjects of this book were children, the terms of engagement were clear: only a few women would be admitted each year to American law schools and after graduation their professional opportunities would never equal those open to similarly qualified men. Harvard Law School did not even begin to admit women until 1950. At many law schools, well into the 1970s, men told female students that they were taking a place that might be better used by a male student who would have a career, not babies. In 2005 the American Bar Association's Commission on Women in the Profession initiated a national oral history project named the Women Trailblazers in the Law initiative: One hundred outstanding senior women lawyers were asked to give their personal and professional histories in interviews conducted by younger colleagues. The interviews, made available to the author, permit these women to be written into history in their words, words that evoke pain as well as celebration, humor, and somber reflection. These are women attorneys who, in courtrooms, classrooms, government agencies, and NGOs have rattled the world with insistent and successful demands to reshape their profession and their society. They are women who brought nothing short of a revolution to the profession of law.

View the Table of Contents. Read the Prologue.

Foreword by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg

"Exceptionally well-researcheda].Norgrenas contribution is to situate Lockwood among a generation of female activistsa].Norgren isa]successful in moving the woman who would be president to her proper standing as a pioneering lawyer who would change America."
--Jean Baker, "American Historical Review"

aNorgren has written an engrossing and insightful book about Belva Lockwood, a woman who, through tenacity, drive and self worth, accomplished more in the 19th century than many modern women accomplish. Because Lockwood was known to few and most of her personal papers were destroyed after her death, Norgren has done an exemplary job of illuminating the life of this varied and accomplished woman.a
--"The Law and Politics Book Review"

aAn engaging account of Belva Lockwoodas struggles and achievements as one of the first women to enter the legal profession in the United States in the late 19th century.a--"Canadian Journal of Law and Society"

aNorgren describes a farmwife who became a fearless advocate for womenas rights and the first woman lawyer to argue before the Supreme Courta
--"Ms."

aNorgren eloquently and succinctly educates the reader on the story of the first woman to ever be allowed to argue before the United States Supreme Court, as well as the first woman to ever launch two full scale bids for this countryas presidency....Norgrenas writing is engaging and her narrative is accessible yet rich with fact.a
--"Feminist Review"

aJill Norgrenas study of Belva Lockwood (which comes with a graceful preface by Ruth Bader Ginsburg) is a very unusual book. .. . Norgren has the great discernment to see Lockwoodas life as large and anticipatory rather than eccentric and half-realized. A legal historian of considerable skill, she ploughed through reams of records to construct an account of Lockwoodas legal career. . . . The comparison [of Hillary Clinton and Nancy Pelosi to] Belva Lockwood is illuminating, because it was Lockwoodas instinct for opportunity that took her out of womenas politics, with their intact principles, into the thick of things. . . . The biographies of these women will be composed of the workaday, disenchanted materials of political lives--perseverance, competence, canniness, and, yes, a facility for the quick grab--that Belva Lockwood cultivated and prized.a
--Christine Stansell, "The New Republic "

aAstonishingly, this is the first scholarly biography of 19th-century activist Belva Lockwood. Lawyer, lobbyist, wife, mother, and contemporary of Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lockwood was among the most formidable of equal rights advocates. The first female lawyer admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court, the relentlessly ambitious Lockwood ran for the U.S. presidency in 1884 and 1888 on the Equal Rights Party ticketa].Later she concentrated on her work for the Universal Peace Union and her Washington, DC, legal practice while maintaining a demanding public-speaking schedule. Her life was never easy, as she constantly fought to surmount political and legal barriers and to support her family. Although few of Lockwoodas papers have survived, Norgren has delivered an able and long overdue study of Lockwoodas life, drawing on newspapers, magazines, organizational records, and the papers ofLockwoodas contemporaries. Though the book emphasizes Lockwoodas career, the inclusion of information on her family and friends gives added dimension. Highly recommended for both public and academic libraries; essential for womenas history collections.a
--"Library Journal," starred review

aMany biographers would balk at the paucity of archival sources, but Norgren persisted. . . . In [Norgrenas] credible narrative, Lockwood emerges as a shrewd self-promoter, never hesitating to garner publicity for herself and her causes. . . . In eloquent detail, Norgren shows how Lockwood loved the law.a
--"New York Sun"

aLong before Hillary Clinton, there was Belva Lockwood: two-time presidential hopeful, Lockwood campaigned in 1884 and 1888 on a platform of women's suffrage. In the first full-length biography of this feminist pioneer, legal historian Norgren has meticulously researched what little has remained of Lockwood's papers, most of which were destroyed after her death.a
--"Publisheras Weekly Annex"

aIn this thoroughly researched and beautifully written biography, Jill Norgren traces Belva Lockwoodas dogged efforts to earn a living as a lawyer in Washington while caring for her daughter and becoming a leading advocate for womanas suffrage and the peaceful arbitration of international disputes. Norgrenas brilliant study makes clear why Lockwood--the first woman to argue before the Supreme Court (1879) and run for President (1884 and 1888)--belongs in the ranks of Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Frances Willard.a
--John M. Ferren, author of "Salt of the Earth, Conscience of the Court: the Story of Justice Wiley Rutledge"

aJill Norgren beautifully weaves thepersonal and political ordeals of Belva Lockwood's life into a compelling story that illuminates Lockwood's enduring contributions. This is a dramatic account of a pioneering woman whose life in the law still resonates in contemporary times.a
--Joan Biskupic, author of "Sandra Day O'Connor: How the First Woman on the Supreme Court Became Its Most influential Justice"

aJill Norgren's splendid biography of one of history's most astonishing pioneers-first woman counsel before the Supreme Court, visionary for equal rights, international peace activist, Indian rights litigator, presidential candidate-is provocative, challenging, galvanizing! Brilliantly researched, vividly written, and profoundly discerning. Everybody concerned about justice, human rights, the future of democracy, and women's power will rush to read, and assign, this important book.a
--Blanche Wiesen Cook, author of "Eleanor Roosevelt "

aBelva Lockwood lived a life of afirstsa as a practicing lawyer at a time when women were rare in any profession. She was the first woman admitted to the Bar of the Supreme Court and twice ran for President of the United States. Jill Norgren captures the story of this forgotten heroine in a biography as fast paced and interesting as the life Lockwood led.a
--Barbara Babcock, Judge John Crown Professor of Law, Emerita, Stanford University, and author of "Clara Shortridge Foltz: Constitution Maker"

aJill Norgren's biography of Belva Lockwood is a gem. Not only does she describe the amazingly full life of an important woman now practically forgotten, but she takes us into the politics of the late-nineteenth century women's reform movement in a way few other authors have done. This is a must-read book.a
--Melvin I. Urofsky, editor of the "Journal of Supreme Court History "

In Belva Lockwood: The Woman Who Would be President, prize-winning legal historian Jill Norgren recounts, for the first time, the life story of one of the nineteenth century's most surprising and accomplished advocates for women's rights. As Norgren shows, Lockwood was fearless in confronting the male establishment, commanding the attention of presidents, members of Congress, influential writers, and everyday Americans. Obscured for too long in the historical shadow of her longtime colleague, Susan B. Anthony, Lockwood steps into the limelight at last in this engaging new biography.

Born on a farm in upstate New York in 1830, Lockwood married young and reluctantly became a farmer's wife. After her husband's premature death, however, she earned a college degree, became a teacher, and moved to Washington, DC with plans to become an attorney-an occupation all but closed to women. Not only did she become one of the first female attorneys in the U.S., but in 1879 became the first woman ever allowed to practice at the bar of the Supreme Court.

In 1884 Lockwood continued her trailblazing ways as the first woman to run a full campaign for the U.S. Presidency. She ran for President again in 1888. Although her candidacies were unsuccessful (as she knew they would be), Lockwood demonstrated that women could compete with men in the political arena. After these campaigns she worked tirelessly on behalf of the Universal Peace Union, hoping, until her death in 1917, that she, or the organization, would win the Nobel Peace Prize.

Belva Lockwood deserves to be far better known. As Norgren notes, it is likely that Lockwood would be widely recognized today as a feminist pioneer if most of her personal papers had not been destroyed after her death. Fortunately for readers, Norgren shares much of her subject's tenacity and she has ensured Lockwood's rightful place in history with this meticulously researched and beautifully written book.

This compact history is the first to explore two landmark U.S. Supreme Court cases of the early 1830s: "Cherokee Nation v. Georgia" and "Worcester v. Georgia." Legal historian Jill Norgren details the extraordinary story behind these cases, describing how John Ross and other leaders of the Cherokee Nation, having internalized the principles of American law, tested their sovereignty rights before Chief Justice John Marshall in the highest court of the land. The Cherokees' goal was to solidify these rights and to challenge the aggressive actions that the government and people of Georgia carried out against them under the aegis of law. Written in a style accessible both to students and to general readers, "The Cherokee Cases" is an ideal guide to understanding the political development of the Cherokee Nation in the early nineteenth century and the tragic outcome of these cases so critical to the establishment of U.S. federal Indian law.

Should the law be praised or cursed for what it has done to the American Indian? Using American legal history, politics and jurisprudence, this study considers the degree to which American courts have maintained their autonomy and withstood political pressure, when the sovereignty and property rights of Native American tribes were at issue. In 1879, a chief of the Ponca tribe, when released from military custody by an order of a U.S. district court, pronounced the use of law "a better way" to redress Indian grievances. This study explores the development of legal doctrine affecting Native American tribes by courts and commissions in the United States beginning with seminal court cases of the early 19th century and continuing through to the 1980's. Whether the law ever was a better way for Native Americans is a question of fundamental importance not only with regard to the rights - or even the survival - of American Indian tribes but also with respect to the claim of the American legal system to be equally fair and just to all groups in society regardless of their economic and political power.

This new edition of Norgren and Nanda's classic updates their examination of the intersection of American cultural pluralism and law. They document and analyze legal challenges to the existing social order raised by many cultural groups, among them, Native Americans and Native Hawaiians, homeless persons, immigrants, disabled persons, and Rastafarians. In addition, they examine such current controversies as the culture wars in American schools and the impact of post-9/11 security measures on Arab and Muslim individuals and communities. The book also discusses more traditional challenges to the American legal system by women, homosexuals, African Americans, Latinos, Japanese Americans, and the Mormons and the Amish. The new chapters and updated analyses in this Third Edition reflect recent, relevant court cases dealing with culture, race, gender, religion, and personal status. Drawing on court materials, state and federal legislation, and legal ethnographies, the text analyzes the ongoing tension between, on the one hand, the need of different groups for cultural autonomy and equal rights, and on the other, the necessity of national unity and security. The text integrates the authors' commentary with case descriptions set in historical, cultural, political, and economic context. While the authors' thesis is that law is an instrument of social policy that has generally furthered an assimilationist agenda in American society, they also point out how in different periods, under different circumstances, and with regard to different groups, law has also some opportunity for cultural autonomy.

An engaging history of women's rights and the legal profession in the nineteenth century Long before Sandra Day O'Connor and Ruth Bader Ginsberg earned their positions on the Supreme Court, they were preceded in their goal of legal excellence by several intrepid trailblazers. In Rebels at the Bar, prize-winning legal historian Jill Norgren recounts the life stories of a small group of nineteenth century women who were among the first female attorneys in the United States. Beginning in the late 1860s, these determined rebels pursued the radical ambition of entering the then all-male profession of law. They were motivated by a love of learning. They believed in fair play and equal opportunity. They desired recognition as professionals and the ability to earn a good living. Through a biographical approach, Norgren presents the common struggles of eight women first to train and to qualify as attorneys, then to practice their hard-won professional privilege. Their story is one of nerve, frustration, and courage. This first generation practiced civil and criminal law, solo and in partnership. The women wrote extensively and lobbied on the major issues of the day, but the professional opportunities open to them had limits. They never had the opportunity to wear the black robes of a judge. They were refused entry into the lucrative practices of corporate and railroad law. Although male lawyers filled legislatures and the Foreign Service, presidents refused to appoint these early women lawyers to diplomatic offices and the public refused to elect them to legislatures. Rebels at the Bar expands our understanding of both women's rights and the history of the legal profession in the nineteenth century. It focuses on the female renegades who trained in law and then, like men, fought considerable odds to create successful professional lives. In this engaging and beautifully written book, Norgren shares her subjects' faith in the art of the possible. In so doing, she ensures their place in history.

This new edition of Norgren and Nanda's classic updates their examination of the intersection of American cultural pluralism and law. They document and analyze legal challenges to the existing social order raised by many cultural groups, among them, Native Americans and Native Hawaiians, homeless persons, immigrants, disabled persons, and Rastafarians. In addition, they examine such current controversies as the culture wars in American schools and the impact of post-9/11 security measures on Arab and Muslim individuals and communities. The book also discusses more traditional challenges to the American legal system by women, homosexuals, African Americans, Latinos, Japanese Americans, and the Mormons and the Amish. The new chapters and updated analyses in this Third Edition reflect recent, relevant court cases dealing with culture, race, gender, religion, and personal status. Drawing on court materials, state and federal legislation, and legal ethnographies, the text analyzes the ongoing tension between, on the one hand, the need of different groups for cultural autonomy and equal rights, and on the other, the necessity of national unity and security. The text integrates the authors' commentary with case descriptions set in historical, cultural, political, and economic context. While the authors' thesis is that law is an instrument of social policy that has generally furthered an assimilationist agenda in American society, they also point out how in different periods, under different circumstances, and with regard to different groups, law has also some opportunity for cultural autonomy.