Charlotte E. Ray (1850-1911)

November 16, 2010 
/ Contributed By: Taryn Darling

Charlotte E. Ray was the first black woman attorney in the United States and the first woman to practice law in Washington, D.C. Ray was born on January 13, 1850, in New York City to her mother, Charlotte Augusta Burroughs Ray, and her father, a prominent abolitionist, Charles Bennett Ray, who also served as pastor of the Bethesda Congregational Church and as editor of one of the first newspapers published by and for African Americans, The Colored American.

Ray attended one of the few schools in the country that educated African American girls: Myrtilla Minerโ€™s Institution for the Education of Colored Youth in Washington, D.C., subsequently known as the Miner Normal School. She graduated in 1869.

That same year Ray began teaching at Howard University, just two years after the HBCU was established. While on the Howard faculty, she was accepted into the newly established Howard School of Law where she attended classes in the evenings. She graduated with her Howard Law degree on February 27, 1872, as its first woman graduate.

Although women were not members of the bar of the District of Columbia, Ray took her bar exams as โ€œC.E. Rayโ€ securing her admission to the bar without disclosing that she was a woman.ย  As a result she became the first female member of the District of Columbia bar.

In 1872 Ray opened a law practice specializing in commercial law in Washington D.C. One of her most recognized cases was her representation of Martha Gadley, an African American woman who petitioned for divorce from an abusive husband. Gadleyโ€™s petition was denied in 1875, but Ray agreed to take the case on appeal to the District of Columbiaโ€™s Supreme Court. She successfully overturned the lower courtโ€™s ruling by arguing that the husbandโ€™s habitual drunkenness and extreme violence endangered his wifeโ€™s life and entitled her to a divorce.

Despite her success, Ray was unable to obtain sufficient cases for representation, so she subsequently closed her practice in 1879 and returned to New York City to work as a teacher in the Brooklyn public school system. Ray was an active advocate for social justice. She attended the National Woman Suffrage Associationโ€™s (NWSA) annual convention in New York City in 1876 and she joined the National Association of Colored Women (NACW) in 1895. In 1897 she relocated to the Woodside neighborhood in Queens, New York where she lived until her death on January 4, 1911 at the age of 60.

Rayโ€™s contributions to the practice of law continue well after her death. There are at least two annual awards given in her name: The Annual Charlotte E. Ray Award from the Greater Washington Area Chapter of the Women Lawyers Division of the National Bar Association and the MCCA Charlotte E. Ray Award, presented to a woman lawyer for her exceptional achievements in the legal profession and extraordinary contribution to the advancement of women in the profession.

About the Author

Author Profile

Taryn M. Darling graduated from the University of New Hampshire with a major in Psychology and a double minor in Race, Culture, and Power and in Fine Arts. After relocating to Seattle and working as a social worker, Ms. Darling attended the Seattle University School of Law where she earned her Juris Doctorate cum laude. Ms. Darling is a founding member of Opsera Law PLLC, where she advises small business owners and practices in the areas of litigation, bankruptcy, and appeals. Ms. Darling is a regular volunteer for the King County Debt Clinic. She is an invited member of the William Dwyer Inn of Court. She is also a participating member of the American Bar Associationโ€™s Business Law Section, a content director for the Business Bankruptcy subcommittee, and the Managing Editor of the Business Law Todayโ€™s Bankruptcy & Finance section at the American Bar Association. Ms. Darling has been named a Super Lawyer every year consecutively since 2017 by Super Lawyers Magazine. Ms. Darling is a lifetime student and appreciates the opportunity to educate herself and to contribute to BlackPast.org.

CITE THIS ENTRY IN APA FORMAT:

Darling, T. (2010, November 16). Charlotte E. Ray (1850-1911). BlackPast.org. https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/ray-charlotte-e-1850-1911/

Source of the Author's Information:

Peg A. Lamphier and Rosanne Welch, eds., Women in American History: A Social, Political, and Cultural Encyclopedia and Document Collection, Volume One: Precolonial North American to the Early Republic (Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, LLC, 2017), https://books.google.com/books?id=DxLUDQAAQBAJ&lpg=RA1-PA346&dq=gadley%2520vs%2520gadley&pg=RA1-PA346#v=onepage&q=gadley%2520vs%2520gadley&f=false; Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Life Upon These Shores: Looking at African American History, 1513-2008, (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2013), https://books.google.com/books?id=vGSODQAAQBAJ&lpg=PA173&dq=%2522Institution%2520for%2520the%2520Education%2520of%2520Colored%2520Youth%2522%2520charlotte%2520ray&pg=PA173#v=onepage&q=%2522Institution%2520for%2520the%2520Education%2520of%2520Colored%2520Youth%2522%2520charlotte%2520ray&f=false; Erin Blakemore, โ€œCharlotte E. Rayโ€™s Brief But Historic Career as the First U.S. Black Woman Attorneyโ€ History.com August 14, 2018, https://www.history.com/news/charlotte-e-ray-first-black-woman-attorney.

Further Reading