Charlotte E. Ray

Charlotte E. Ray was the first Black woman to earn a law degree in the United States and the first woman admitted to the bar in the District of Columbia. In 1872, she graduated from Howard University School of Law — reportedly applying under the name "C.E. Ray" so the admissions committee would not know she was a woman — and opened a private law practice in Washington, D.C., specializing in corporate and commercial law.

Born in New York City in 1850, Ray was the daughter of Charles Bennett Ray, a prominent abolitionist and editor of The Colored American newspaper. She grew up in a household dedicated to racial justice and education, and she excelled academically from a young age. After teaching at Howard University's preparatory school, she enrolled in the law program and distinguished herself as a brilliant legal mind. Her graduation thesis on corporate law was praised by her professors.

Despite her credentials, Ray was unable to sustain her law practice because racial and gender prejudice prevented clients from seeking her services. She eventually returned to New York and became a teacher, while remaining active in the women's suffrage movement. Ray joined the ancestors in 1911, largely forgotten by history. But her achievement — earning a law degree and passing the bar at a time when Black women were denied virtually every form of professional opportunity — was a radical act of excellence that opened a door that would never fully close again.