By Dr. Linda C. Ashar, J.D.
Faculty Member, Business Administration

The American Civil War was a catalyst for changes in society and the justice system. In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln moved to replace the then-existing D.C. Circuit Court, because he believed its judges held loyalties to the southern states that had seceded from the rest of the U.S.

The new court, the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia, was established by an act of the 37th Congress on March 3, 1863. The court’s four Union justices were appointed by Lincoln and confirmed by the Senate. In 1936, this court was renamed the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

Lincoln’s change was an example of his efforts to move the courts toward anti-slavery and equal rights sentiments. History has shown us that such changes are neither quick nor smooth. But the essential seeds of progress were sown.

Twelve years later, a remarkable lawyer took her place in history before Lincoln’s revised court and litigated a case that was unusual for its time. This lawyer was Charlotte E. Ray, the first Black female lawyer in the United States. The case was Gadley vs. Gadley, a divorce case in which Ray represented a battered wife.

The facts of the case were not unusual. Though the husband’s conduct was extreme, such a situation of wife abuse was all too common.

Gadley vs. Gadley was noteworthy because it made its way to the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia in this era. It was unusual because a Black woman was the wife’s attorney and because the wife won the case.

Ray’s Background

Charlotte E. Ray was born on January 13, 1850, in New York City, followed shortly by her sister, Henrietta, on January 14, 1850. Their father was Charles Bennett Ray, was a Congregational minister and noted abolitionist. Charlotte’s mother, Charlotte A. Ray, was Charles’ second wife.  

The Ray family strongly believed in education. Both Charlotte and Henrietta became teachers, as well as their older sister, Florence. Henrietta and Florence were also writers, and Henrietta was fluent in several languages. Florence and Henrietta wrote their father’s biography, “Sketch of the Life of Charles B. Ray,” after his death.

Her family’s commitment to education and advocacy were formative for Charlotte E. Ray and other women pioneers like her. In their 1987 book, “Unequal Colleagues: The Entrance of Women into the Professions, 1890–1940,” Penina M. Glazer and Miriam Slater note: “It was to be education … that would allow [women professionals] to play new roles and exercise their social, moral, and intellectual concerns in new arenas.” Charlotte E. Ray defined a new arena for women in America.

While teaching at Howard University in Washington, D.C., Ray enrolled in Howard’s law school. It was a gutsy thing to do in those times, even considering the enlightened views of Howard University.

American society did not welcome women in the professional bastions of white men. Black women’s participation as equals in anything was considered unthinkable. 

In fact, Howard University was one of the few places formal education for African Americans was even possible at that time. Professor J. Clay Smith, Jr., law professor at Howard University, emphasizes the daunting context of the environment challenging Charlotte E. Ray’s ambitions: “The status of women was crippled by the archaic common law…Ray was one of the few women of her time, white or black, to achieve access to a profession that had been reserved solely for white men.

“One begins to appreciate just what an accomplishment Charlotte Ray’s admission to the bar represented by looking at the environment in which she lived. In 1857, when she was seven years of age, the Supreme Court pronounced the Dred Scott decision which held, among other conclusions, that the Negro had no rights as a citizen under the Constitution. During Ray’s childhood, John Brown, an abolitionist, who took action to free slaves by force, led the insurrection at Harper’s Ferry.”

Charlotte E. Ray and Her Law Practice

In the Reconstruction era following the Civil War, both Black and white women realized an unpleasant fact. The 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments to the Constitution did nothing to improve their freedoms and rights as citizens.

Ray was awarded her law degree in 1852. The District of Columbia admitted her to the practicing bar, having previously removed the word “male” from its requirements.

She opened a law practice, advertising in Frederick Douglass’ D.C. newspaper, “The New National Era.” One of her ads from October 1, 1874, reads, “Charlotte E. Ray, Attorney and Counsellor-at-Law and Practical Conveyancer.” 

Charlotte E. Ray’s predominant practice interest was corporate and commercial law. Professor Smith reports her reputation for “outstanding achievement and recognition as a legal authority on corporation law.” The term “practical conveyancer” in her ad for legal services refers to the transfer of title of ownership of legal interest, which is often the subject of disputes in probate and other civil matters.

The 1875 Gadley vs. Gadley Case

It was not a case of corporate law, but family law, though, that has survived as an homage to Ray’s talent in law and fearless advocacy as an important figure in African American and women’s history in the U.S. Gadley vs. Gadley is important for two reasons. One reason is the nature of the case itself. The client was Martha Gadley, whose violent husband had routinely and viciously attacked her, causing her to be hospitalized and to fear for her life.

Mrs. Gadley had been unsuccessful in obtaining a divorce. Her situation typified the plight of women victimized by their husbands.

There was very little relief to be found, if any, in the U.S. legal system for such a case, because married women at the time had few legal rights, especially against their husbands. Undaunted, Ray filed the case in the D.C. Supreme Court on June 3, 1875, as Martha Gadley v. Daniel Gadley, No. 4278 Eq. Doc. 14, Petition for Divorce.

The second important point of this case is its preservation of Charlotte E. Ray’s skillful advocacy on behalf of Martha Gadley. In her petition to the court, Ray described in compelling detail the husband’s habitual drinking and his violent treatment of his wife, including an attack with an ax.

Ray also described how Mr. Gadley had locked Mrs. Gadley out of their home and failed to support her. She won the case for Mrs. Gadley.

Unfortunately, gaining the respect of the esteemed judges of the D.C. courts, her law degree and the acceptance of the District of Columbia bar could not attract enough paying clients for a Black woman attorney to make a living in 1870s America. Ultimately, Ray left law practice and returned to teaching in New York, where she continued to be an advocate for women’s rights.

Later, she married, taking the last name of Fraim. On January 4, 1911, Ray died of pneumonia at age 60. There is no record that she had children.

Being the First Black Female Lawyer in the US Was the Equivalent of a Moon Landing

Charlotte E. Ray’s life of achievement, including her education and short but significant law practice, is an important signpost in U.S. culture where race continues to be a divisive factor. Her work was no easy feat as a Black woman in the 1870s.  Her accomplishment as the first Black female lawyer in the turbulent aftermath of the American Civil War was the equivalent of a moon landing. 

The D.C. courts’ acceptance of women was exceptional for that era. While Ray was pursuing her law degree in 1872, the U.S. Supreme Court held that same year that the 14th Amendment did not afford a woman the right to practice law in the state of Illinois, in the case Bradwell v. Illinois.

If the states did not deem women fit for such work, that was OK with the U.S. Supreme Court. Bradwell, a white woman, eventually succeeded in admission to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court in 1892.  

Probably due to the similarity of court names, there is confusion in some writings that mention Charlotte E. Ray was admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court. She was not admitted as a lawyer in the U.S. Supreme Court, nor is there any indication she sought admission to that court. Ray’s victory in the Gadley case was in the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia, the equivalent at that time of a federal trial and appellate court in the District.

Related link: Why Organizations Benefit from a Chief Diversity Officer

Ray Was Deeply Committed to Woman’s Suffrage and Equal Rights

Although Ray could not maintain an active law practice for economic reasons, she continued to teach and also participated in the women’s suffrage movement gaining momentum across America. Evidence of her advocacy for women’s rights and racial equality is found in her association with the National Women Suffrage Association (NWSA) and the National Association of Colored Women (NACW).

For example, her attendance is noted at the NWSA National Convention in 1876. Her alliance with the NWSA shows a commitment to concerns of equality for women beyond suffrage rights.

The NWSA was formed in 1869 when the woman’s suffrage movement split into two factions. The other group was the American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA).

This division erupted due to a political and philosophical difference caused by the 14th and 15th Amendments, newly adopted in Civil War reformation. The 14th Amendment reaffirmed liberty and due process and applied federal constitutional protections to the states.

The 15th Amendment, the greater controversy for women, ensured nonwhite male citizens the right to vote, but not nonwhite women or any women. Most states and their courts, as well as the U.S. Supreme Court in Bradwell, refused to interpret these Amendments to include women.

The NWSA wanted a universal suffrage amendment, whereas AWAS did not want to see the 15th Amendment compromised by the women’s activism. Although the two organizations would reunite in 1890 as the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA), the two groups were at loggerheads over the best way to promote their cause during most of Ray’s life. 

The NWSA was more aggressively activist. In addition to getting the right for women to vote, the NWSA engaged in advocacy for many rights for women, as exemplified in its publication, “The Revolution.” These rights included controversial women’s issues as the right to an education, gainful employment, divorce, birth control and unionization.

Related link: Women’s Rights: Reckoning with the Past in the Present

Ray Remains a Role Model for Justice, Dignity, and the Advancement of Black and Other Women

In her lifetime, Charlotte E. Ray was a role model and advocate for the recognition of Black women and the advancement and equality of all women. She lived in a time when Blacks and women were struggling against enormous sociocultural and economic impediments.

Frederick Douglass admonished in his public 1875 Centennial speech that “the colored race is capable of living more than a life of dependence, and can think and speak for itself.” The focus of Douglass’ speech was freedom achieved for Black “men.” The woman’s movement claimed this independence for women of all races.

The example that Ray brings to us in U.S. history is one of the courage and resolve to seize opportunities, prize personal achievements, value education, advocate for social progress, and stand up for others, like Martha Gadley, who need a voice for equality and justice. Her life embodied values that are critical not only for law, but in all life’s endeavors for a better world.