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Quick Facts
- NAME: Charlotte E. Ray
- OCCUPATION: Civil Rights Activist, Women's Rights Activist, Lawyer
- BIRTH DATE: January 13, 1850
- DEATH DATE: January 04, 1911
- EDUCATION: Howard University School of Law, Institution for the Education of Colored Youth
- PLACE OF BIRTH: New York, New York
- PLACE OF DEATH: Woodside, New York
- Full Name: Charlotte E. Fraim
- Originally: Charlotte E. Ray
- AKA: Charlotte Fraim
- AKA: Charlotte Ray
- AKA: C.E. Ray
Best Known For
Charlotte E. Ray was the first female African-American lawyer in the United States.
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Play NowCharlotte E. Ray. (2013). The Biography Channel website. Retrieved 02:08, May 24, 2013, from http://www.biography.com/people/charlotte-e-ray-11380.
Charlotte E. Ray. [Internet]. 2013. The Biography Channel website. Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/charlotte-e-ray-11380 [Accessed 24 May 2013].
"Charlotte E. Ray." 2013. The Biography Channel website. May 24 2013, 02:08 http://www.biography.com/people/charlotte-e-ray-11380.
"Charlotte E. Ray," The Biography Channel website, 2013, http://www.biography.com/people/charlotte-e-ray-11380 [accessed May 24, 2013].
"Charlotte E. Ray," The Biography Channel website, http://www.biography.com/people/charlotte-e-ray-11380 (accessed May 24, 2013).
Charlotte E. Ray [Internet]. The Biography Channel website; 2013 [cited 2013 May 24] Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/charlotte-e-ray-11380.
Charlotte E. Ray, http://www.biography.com/people/charlotte-e-ray-11380 (last visited May 24, 2013).
Charlotte E. Ray. The Biography Channel website. 2013. Available at: http://www.biography.com/people/charlotte-e-ray-11380. Accessed May 24, 2013.
Synopsis
Charlotte E. Ray was born in New York City on January 13, 1850. She graduated from the Howard University School of Law in 1872 and became one of the first women admitted to the District of Columbia Bar, as well as the first female African-American lawyer. Active in the suffrage movement, Ray was a member the National Association of Colored Women. She died in 1911.
Contents
Early Years
Born in New York City on January 13, 1850, Charlotte E. Ray is best known as the first female African-American lawyer. Decades before she would win that distinction, however, Ray grew up in a large family as one of seven children. Her father, Charles, was a minister and an activist in the abolitionist movement. He edited the Colored American, an abolitionist publication, and helped in the underground railroad, which aided escaped slaves in their efforts to find freedom in the North.
Education was very important to Ray's family. During the 1860s, Ray attended the Institution for the Education of Colored Youth in Washington, D.C. The institution was one of only a handful of places that offered a quality education to young, African-American women. By the end of the 1860s, she had become a teacher at the preparatory school associated with Howard University. Ray then applied to the university's law program as C.E. Ray, using only her initials. Some thought that she used her initials as a way of disguising her gender since the university did not accept women into the program, but her exact intentions remain unknown. In any case, Ray gained admittance to the program.
Legal Pioneer
Ray excelled at her studies at the Howard University School of Law, especially in corporate law. According to Notable Black American Women, one of her classmates described her as "an apt scholar." In 1872, Ray earned her law degree, becoming the first female African-American attorney. She continued to break new ground for women and African Americans that year, becoming one of the first women admitted to the District of Columbia Bar. She was also the first woman permitted to argue cases in front of the U.S. Supreme Court in the capital.
After her graduation, Ray started her own law office, specializing in commercial law. To attract clients, she advertised in a newspaper run by Frederick Douglass, a leader in the abolitionist movement. Unfortunately, Ray only practiced for a few years because of the widespread prejudices of the time. It was too difficult for her, as an African American and a woman, to attract enough clients to keep her practice going.
Later Life
In 1879, Ray moved to New York, where she worked as a teacher in the Brooklyn public schools. She married soon after, taking her husband's last name, Fraim. Ray championed a number of social causes outside of her classroom, becoming involved in the women's suffrage movement and joining the National Association of Colored Women.
Ray died on January 4, 1911, in Woodside, New York. While she only practiced law for a few years, she demonstrated that African-American women could excel in this field. Her achievements helped inspire others to reach for other seemingly impossible goals.
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