"Violette Neatley Anderson" (July 16-1882-December 24 1937)

Activists lawyer,and the first woman of color to be admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court (active in women's clubs and the Chicago Urban League),born Violette Neatley in London,England, to Marie JordiNeatley,a thirty-two-year old German-Swiss woman,and Richard E.Neatley (sometimes spelled Neatly),a thirty-four-year-old Jamican of African descent.She moved with her parents to America in 1885,settling in Chicago,where her father worked as a day laborer.Violette graduated from North Division High School in 1899,leaving her parents' apartment on Wells Street in North Town to marry Amos Preston Blackwell.They remained in North Town,at 473 Park Avenue.Her husband worked as a valet and in 1900 informed the census (which recorded him as black) that he was born in Canada,as were his parents.A divorced man of the same name,working as railway porter in 1910,reported he was born in Virginia to parents born in Kentucky.Violette attended Chicago Athenaeum from 1902 to 1903.Her mother was widowed before 1910.Her marriage to Amos lasted seven years,ending in divorce in 1906 on grounds of cruety.The same year ,in December,she married Dr.Daniel H.Anderson,a general practice physician,recorded by the census,as mulatto,born in Wisconsin to an Irish immigrant mother and a father born in Ohio.Beginning work as a court reporter in 1905,she developed her own business,also offering stenography and shorthand services.The Crisis reported that "all the colored lawyers and many white noted lawyers" employed her.During this period of her life,she served as president of the Elite Social Charity Club and as secretary of the Alba Rose Club.She joined St.Thomas Episcopal Church,spiiritual home to the more socially and financially prominent African-American families in Chicago.