myra bradwell, america's "first" female lawyer
TRANSCRIPT
MYRA BRADWELL
America’s “First” Female Attorney
and someone you should know
Tuesday, August 6, 2013
A Story of Conflict and Irony
• “First” (just a technicality)• Wrote laws (never elected)• Judges relied on her,
but kept Myra out of courtrooms
Tuesday, August 6, 2013
Early Years
Born 1831, Vermont
Age 12 moved to Schaumburg
Attended School
Kenosha, WI
Elgin Female Seminary
Tuesday, August 6, 2013
19th CenturyRights and Privileges of Law
Principle of Common Law
A husband had complete control
A wonderful time for self-made MEN
Tuesday, August 6, 2013
The legal profession: no place for a woman
Married 1852
True womanhood
Myra had modest hope
1855 James admitted to the Chicago Bar, later a IL Legislator & Cook Co. Judge
James B. Bradwell
Tuesday, August 6, 2013
Wife and mother
Daughter Myra born 1854, died at age 7
Thomas born 1856
Bessie born 1858
James born 1862, died at age 2
Bessie Bradwell Helmer
Tuesday, August 6, 2013
Application to Practice Law
She passed the Bar exam in 1869 with high honors
Applied for a license
A Circuit Judge and State’s Attorney signed her application
Myra cited the Illinois Revised Statue, which saidIL laws were gender neutral
Tuesday, August 6, 2013
“Wrecking” her family1870 IL Supreme CourtDenied! because she was a married woman
Must be “available” to her husband at all times
Myra responded with ascholarly brief
“God designed sexes to occupy different spheres”
Alfred M. Craig, Illinois Supreme Court Judge
Tuesday, August 6, 2013
Women said to be unfit for Civil Occupations
1873 U.S Supreme Court Bradwell v. Illinois
Denied! Law licensea privilege granted by states
Family harmony, interest, identity “repugnant” to a woman having a career
Justice Bradley U.S. Supreme Court
Tuesday, August 6, 2013
Far-reaching influence1868 Editor and publisher
1871 Chicago Fire
Indispensable to all lawyers
Released judicial decisions before courts published them
Judges came to her to correct apublished ruling
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Author and advocate
1872 Myra and Alta Hulet drafted a statute opening occupations to women
James saw that it passed in IL
1873 Alta, at age 19, was admitted to the IL Bar
Tuesday, August 6, 2013
Never Again!
1876 James and Myra helped Mary Lincoln
1876 Represented IL at the Centennial Expo in Philadelphia
By 1879 made it possible for 26 women to become lawyers in several states
1890 IL Supreme Court reversed itself
Tuesday, August 6, 2013
History Destroyed
Bessie Bradwell Helmer took over CLN
Granddaughter Myra Bradwell Helmer Pritchard inherited Mrs. Lincoln’s letters
Myra Pritchard wrote articles aboutMrs. Lincoln’s insanity trial, but the magazine cancelled.
Robert Lincoln’s widow and lawyers destroyed originals
Robert LincolnTuesday, August 6, 2013
History Recovered
Jane Friedman biography of Myra Bradwell, Americaʼs First Woman Lawyer, 1993 Prometheus Books
2005 Jason Emerson found of two letters penned by Robertʼs attorney, Frederic N. Towers
2006, 25 of Mrs. Lincolnʼs letters, previous unpublished, were discovered in a steamer trunk owned by the children of Robert Todd Lincolnʼs attorney
The Madness of Mary Lincoln by Jason Emerson, 2007
The Dark Days of Abraham Lincolnʼs Widow, Myra Helmer Pritchard, written in 1927, released 2011, SIU Press
Tuesday, August 6, 2013