How to Empower a Woman
Vote for her!
I’m fascinated by how in 1878 Tabitha Anne Horton became the first female attorney to be admitted to the North Carolina Bar.
With no formal courses, Holton learned law from her brothers’ books. At age 23 she went with them to Raleigh to take the state bar exam. Members of the North Carolina Supreme Court tried to find a statute prohibiting a woman from taking the exam. Justice William Battle said that no Southern lady should be “permitted to sully her sweetness by breathing the pestiferous air of the courtroom.”
One of her advisors, Albion Tourgée, argued her case for 90 minutes.
[A] technicality in language should not stand in the way of social evolution. He said that allowing her to enter this profession might prevent her from falling into poverty, immorality, and vice.
The statute read that “all persons who may apply for admission to practice as attorneys” should be allowed. Tourgée argued that while legislators certainly did not have it in mind to include women, they did not specifically exclude women either.
After deliberating for 10 minutes (!) the justices admitted Horton to the bar.
In 2018 civil rights attorney Anita Earls was elected by voters and installed in the NC Supreme Court the next January. We’ve come this far.
Justice Earls said we can heal our country by coming together for the common good.
[But it also] requires a system of justice that adheres to the rule of law ... a system in which no one is above the law and justice does not depend on gender, wealth, status, political party, race, creed or color.
My personal commitment is to serve justice with a strong heart.
Tabitha Holton and Anita Earls strengthened women’s rights and opportunities by showing what one woman can achieve. Right now Lucy Inman, Carolyn Jennings Thompson and Gale Murray Adams are running for North Carolina court positions on our county’s ballot.
Meantime, the Transylvania County Democratic Convention meets on Zoom, Saturday, March 19 at 10:30 a.m. Celebrating The Year of the Woman, our keynote speaker will be NC Secretary of State Elaine Marshall. She is our state’s first woman elected executive official.
In 2017 Marshall told an audience of young women,
A woman’s perspective [is] invaluable in politics because she often has extensive knowledge about different life experiences or careers that men will not.
“We have a different voice at the table,” she said.
One last thought.
Let’s say that in 2022 former NC Supreme Court Chief Justice Cheri Beasley has a chance to win her race for the U.S. Senate, though, of course, so do others who are in the primary. In 2020 Beasley said,
We stand on the shoulders of the women who came before us and blazed the trail. Their struggles created opportunities for future generations of women to lead and to serve.
You could say that Beasley is one woman working hard to diminish the power of one Joe Manchin. Think about it.
Is she, and other women candidates, worth supporting? Take your place in the long line of women who have created opportunities for other women. Join your local Democratic Postcard Party today!
Good story. Her name was Holton, right? First spelling is HoRton....again, enjoyed it!
Kudos to all of these incredible women for furthering justice and Democracy in NC and for providing a bulwark for the weakest and poorest among us! We must support them!