Lila Fenwick

Lila Althea Fenwick (May 24, 1932 – April 4, 2020) was an American lawyer, human rights advocate, and United Nations official. She was the first black woman to graduate from Harvard Law School.[1][2][3]

Lila Fenwick
Born24 May 1932 
Manhattan 
Died4 April 2020  (aged 87)
Manhattan 
Alma mater
OccupationLawyer, human rights defender 
Employer

Early life and education

Fenwick was born in Manhattan, New York City, on May 24, 1932.[1] Her parents, John and Hilda Fenwick, were immigrants to the United States from Trinidad.[1] She earned a bachelor's degree in history from Barnard College in 1953,[4][5] before enrolling at Harvard Law School.[1] A student in the class of 1956, Fenwick matriculated into the school's fourth class that admitted women.[2] She then completed her studies at the London School of Economics.[1]

Career

During her career, Fenwick was a private practice lawyer in the Bronx,[6] and chief of the U.N. Human Rights Section, focused on indigenous peoples, migration, gender, race, and religious discrimination issues.[7] She retired from the United Nations in 1973, before her section's headquarters moved to Geneva.[2][8] She also co-founded the Foundation for Research and Education in Sickle Cell Disease with Doris Wethers and Yvette Fay Francis-McBarnette.[9][10] Harvard's Black Law Students Association offers a Ruffin-Fenwick Trailblazer Award, named for Fenwick and for George Lewis Ruffin.[11]

Personal life

Fenwick died at her home in Manhattan on April 4, 2020, from complications of COVID-19,[12] at the age of 87.[1][9]

References
  1. Griffin, Kelsey J. (April 21, 2020). "Lila Fenwick, First Black Female Graduate of Harvard Law School, Dies at 87". Harvard Crimson. Archived from the original on April 24, 2020. Retrieved April 24, 2020.
  2. "200 years of race at HLS". The Harvard Law Record. February 19, 2003. Retrieved April 18, 2020.
  3. Coquillette, Daniel R. On the battlefield of merit : Harvard Law School, the first century. Kimball, Bruce A., 1951–. Cambridge, Massachusetts. ISBN 978-0-674-08906-8. OCLC 925305783.
  4. "Women to Hear Aide With U.N." The Tribune. November 16, 1964. p. 3. Retrieved December 24, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. Lim, Solby (Fall 2020). "A Groundbreaking Protector of Human Rights". Barnard College. Retrieved December 24, 2020.
  6. Nichols, Vondel (September 20, 1958). "Camera Reporter". The New York Age. p. 36. Retrieved December 24, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. "In Memoriam: Lila Althea Fenwick, 1932-2020". Journal of Blacks in Higher Education. April 24, 2020.
  8. Sollors, Werner (1993). Blacks at Harvard: A Documentary History of African-American Experience At Harvard and Radcliffe. NYU Press. ISBN 9780814739778.
  9. Green, Penelope (April 13, 2020). "Lila Fenwick, Who Broke a Barrier at Harvard Law, Dies at 87". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved April 18, 2020.
  10. Roberts, Sam (February 10, 2019). "Dr. Doris Wethers, 91, Dies; Led Fight Against Sickle Cell". The New York Times: 24N – via ProQuest.
  11. Hubbard, Crystal (April 27, 1995). "Harvard BLSA seeks solutions to violence". Bay State Banner: 7 – via ProQuest.
  12. Zaretsky, Staci (April 15, 2020). "First Black Woman To Graduate From Harvard Law Dies From Coronavirus Complications". Above the Law. Retrieved December 24, 2020.
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