Suffragist and Trailblazer for Women Lawyers

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To commemorate the upcoming hundredth anniversary of the passage and ratification of the 19th Amendment, which granted women the right to vote, Independent Women’s Forum will profile a leader of the fight for women’s suffrage each month ([link removed] Suffragist&utm_content=myra-bradwell44000) .

America’s suffrage leaders were women who recognized that the right to vote is essential to any meaningful form of citizenship. The 19th Amendment was ratified August 18, 1920.

Myra Bradwell was a trailblazer for women in the legal profession. In 1869, Bradwell was examined on her knowledge of the law and found qualified to be licensed as a lawyer.

Nevertheless, the Illinois bar rejected her application because she was a woman. Bradwell appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which upheld the Illinois decision. Bradwell had an outstanding career as editor of the influential Chicago Legal News and crusader for women’s suffrage.

She was one of an emerging group of women lawyers who faced opposition from state bar associations. The Illinois bar belatedly conferred membership on Bradwell in 1890, not long before she died. She already had written and campaigned for laws that expanded women’s legal horizons.

"[Myra Bradwell] probably contributed more to the women's rights movement than any other woman in the 19th Century," her biographer Jane M. Friedman told the Chicago Tribune. "People like Susan B. Anthony were one-issue people. The issue was women's suffrage. But Myra was a multi-issue person. She entirely changed the course of women's legal rights."

She was so thoroughly forgotten, however, that an elementary school named for her had no idea who she was when Friedman began research for the 1993 book.

With so many women lawyers, in a way her progeny, perhaps Myra Bradwell will receive the recognition she so richly deserves as we celebrate the centenary of the 19th Amendment.
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Sincerely,

Charlotte Hays
Cultural Director
Independent Women's Forum
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