Bessye Anita Warren Bennett

Bessye Anita Warren Bennett (1938–2000) was Connecticut’s first African American female lawyer.[1][2]

She was born on June 16, 1938 in Prairie View, Texas to educators Dr. Samuel Bennett and Juanita McBroom.[3] Bennett graduated from Radcliffe College in Boston, Massachusetts in 1954, and married John Bennett (a Harvard University student at the time) shortly thereafter. By 1964, the couple eventually settled with their children in Hartford, Connecticut. Since she was working as an educator, Bennett earned a master's degree in education at Trinity College.[2]

Bennett went on to graduate from University of Connecticut School of Law in 1973, and in the following year, Bennett was admitted as the first African American female to practice law in Connecticut. She worked as a corporate attorney (the first African American female to do so) before establishing her own practice in 1985. She achieved yet another historical first when she served as the Deputy Town Counsel for Bloomfield, Connecticut.[2]

She died on May 16, 2000 in Hartford.[3][4]

See also

References
  1. Normen, Elizabeth J. (2014-01-27). African American Connecticut Explored. Wesleyan University Press. ISBN 9780819574008.
  2. Green, Constance Belton (2014). "The Trailblazing Bessye Bennett" (PDF). Connecticut Explored.
  3. "Bessye Warren Bennett (1938-2000)". Find a Grave.
  4. Courant, Hartford. "BENNETT, BESSYE (WARREN)". courant.com. Retrieved 2019-08-29.
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