Jane Bolin in 1942
Jane Matilda Bolin LL.B. (April 11, 1908-January 8, 2007) was the first African-American woman to graduate from Yale Law School, the first to join the New York City Bar Association, and the first to join the city's law department. She became the first black woman to serve as a judge in the United States when she was sworn in to the bench of the New York City Domestic Relations Court in 1939.
Bolin was born in Poughkeepsie, New York. She was the youngest of four siblings. Her father, Gaius Charles Bolin, was the first African-American to graduate from Williams College and became a lawyer. Her mother, Matilda Ingram Bolin (née Emery), a white Englishwoman, died when Bolin was 8 years old.
Read Jane Bolin's obituary, in the New York Times.
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