"Edith Spurlock Sampson' (October 13 1901?-October 8 1979)

Edith was born in Pittsburgh on October 13,1901.She grew up in a working class family,one one of seven children,and attended Pittsburgh,Peabody High School.Upon graduation,she married Rufus Sampson,a field agent for Tuskegee University.After working briefly for Charties in Pittsburgh She decided to enroll in the New York University School of Social Work.One of her instructors,George W. Kirchwey,a Columbia University Law School professor,suggested she pursue a career in law after he noticed her doing exceptionally well in his criminology class.She and her husband moved to Chicago to care for two children left by her deceased sister.Edith attended evening classes at the John Marshall Law School.In 1927 she became the first woman to receive a Master of Law degree from Loyola University.Edith went to work for Cook County in 1927.She worked as a probation officer and then assistant referee in juvenile court,a post she held for eighteen years.In 1934,She established her own practice and became one of the first women to argue before the U.S. Supreme Court.By 1947 she was appointed state's attorney (prosector)for Cook County.She was also affiliated with the Chicago Professional Women's Club,the Afro-World Fellowship,and the Women's Progressive Committee,serving for a time as president of each organization.She worked with the NAACP the League of WomenVoters,the National Council of Negro Women,and the Chicago Urban League.In 1950 Edith became the first African American named to the permanent United States delegation to the United Nations.While working at the UN, She went on several international lecture tours and held membership on the U.S. delegation to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization(NATO).In 1962,at the age of 61,Edith was elected a judge on the Chicago Municipal Court.With that election she became the first black women in the United States elevated to the bench by popular vote.She retired from the bench in 1978 and died one year later.