JEWEL LAFONTANT

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY: April 28, 2024 the magnificent Jewel Lafontant, born in Chicago, April 28th 1922. After majoring in politics at Oberlin College, she became first African-American to graduate from the University of Chicago Law School. This tireless attorney handled thousand of cases for the downtrodden and co-founded the Congress of Racial Equality. In 1955, President Dwight Eisenhower named her Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois. Jewell was delegate at the 1960 Republican National Convention and gave the seconding speech nominating Richard Nixon for the presidency. Three years later, she became the first African-American woman to argue a case before the U.S. Supreme Court. Twice she ran for appellate judge. Richard Nixon appointed her vice chairman of the U.S. Advisory Commission on International, Educational and Cultural Affairs. In 1972, the President selected her representative to the United Nations General Assembly and she was again delegate to the Republican National Convention. Following year, Lafontant was named Deputy Solicitor General, the first woman at that post. President George H. Bush appointed her Ambassador-at-Large and U.S. Coordinator for Refugee Affairs. She served on nonprofit boards, such as Howard University and Tuskegee Institute, as well as many corporate boards. https://rumble.com/v3qk92a-oscar-gifford-south-dakotas-first-congressional-delegate.html