Burnita Shelton Matthews

Burnita Shelton Matthews (December 28, 1894 – April 25, 1988) was a judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. From Copiah County, Mississippi, she was the first woman appointed to serve on a U.S. district court.

Burnita Shelton was born near Hazlehurst, Mississippi on December 28, 1894. Her father was a planter and chancery court judge. She had a brother, John L. Shelton. After attending local schools, she went to the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, as her father wanted her to be able to support herself by teaching music. Her brother was sent to law school.

During World War I, she moved to Washington, DC, took the civil service exam, and gained a position at the Veterans Administration. In 1917 she enrolled in the night school of the National University Law School (today the George Washington University Law School). She earned her degree and passed the District of Columbia bar in 1920. She married lawyer Percy A. Matthews.

Burnita Matthews met with resistance; she was rejected by male professional lawyers' associations, and the District of Columbia Bar Association returned her application and check for dues. Matthews and other women formed their own professional associations, including the Woman's Bar Association of the District of Columbia and the National Association of Women Lawyers.

After the VA told her they would never hire a woman lawyer for their legal department, she founded the law firm of Matthews, Berrien, and Greathouse with two other women attorneys, who were also National Woman's Party members.

Matthews worked closely with the suffragist National Woman's Party, eventually serving as the organization's counsel. She represented the party in its effort to prevent condemnation of its Washington headquarters by the federal government; the land was condemned in order for the U.S. Supreme Court to be constructed on the site. Matthews successfully obtained the largest condemnation settlement awarded by the U.S. government at the time, $299,200.

...
Wikipedia