by Dick Mac
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Jane Matilda Bolin was born in Poughkeepsie, NY, on April 11, 1908, and died in Queens, NY, on January 8, 2007, at the age of 98, of unspecified causes.
Jane Bolin was the first black woman to graduate from Yale Law School (1931), the first to join the New York City Bar Association (1932), the first to join the New York City Law Department, and became the first black woman judge in the United States (1939).
Bolin was on the board of the National Urban League, the NAACP, and the Child Welfare League
Her concerns for the women and children of New York led to social justice breakthroughs in her efforts to eradicate racism from public policy. She mandated that children of color receive the same consideration for public funds as their white counterparts. She worked with Eleanor Roosevelt to decrease juvenile crimes with her work in support of the Wiltwyck School. Wiltwyck was as an alternative to incarceration for emotionally disturbed boys of color who were disproportionately sentenced to prison. As we know today: despite her noble efforts, boys of color are still incarcerated at a much higher rate than their white counterparts.
As a judge, Bolin eliminated the assignment of probation officers based on ethnicity, and she required private child-care agencies to help children regardless of their background.
Hardly a flamboyant representative of black American history, she was a very successful woman who effected much change, and inspired many women in the legal field.
#blackhistorymonth #BlackLivesMatter #WorkForChange