"Jewel Lafontant Mankarious(April 28,1922-May 31,1997)

Was the first female deputy solicitor general of the United States,an official in the

administration of President George H.W.Bush,and an attorney in Chicago.She was also considered by President Richard Nixon as a possible nominee to the Supreme Court of the United States.Born in Chicago as Jewel Carter Staradford she was the daughter of noted Supreme Court of the United States attorney an co-founder of the National Bar Association,C.Francis Stradford.Jewel earned a bachelor's degree in political science from Oberlin College in 1943.While at Oberlin,she was captain of the volleyball team and a member of the Musical Union,Forensic Union,Cosmopolitan Club,and many other activities.Jewel began law school in 1943 and was the only African American woman in her class.In 1946,she was the first African American woman to graduate from the University of Chicago Law School.In 1947,she was admitted to the Illinois State Bar.The same year,Jewel became a trial lawyer for the Legal Aid Bureau of Chicago.She formed a law firm in Chicago in 1949 with her first husband,John W.Rogers,Sr.In 1955,President Dwight Eisenhower appointed Jewel as an assistant U.S.attorney for the Northern District Illinois.She served in that role until 1958.
In July 1960,she was delegate-at-large to the Republican National Convention.Jewel gave the seconding speech for Nixon's nomination to be the Republican candidate
for President during the 1960 Presidential election.In 1961,Jewel started a new law
firm with her daddy and second husband called Stradford,Lafontant & Lafontant.In 1963,she became the first African American woman to argue a case before the Supreme Court of the United States.Her case,Beatrice Lynum v.The state of Illinois set the precedent for the landmark Miranda v.The State of Arizona case in 1966.She ran unsuccessfully for Illinois elections in 1962 & 1970.Jewel sat on many corporate and non-profits boards,including the boards of Jewel Companies,Trans World Airline Mobil Corporation,Revlon,the Illinois Humane Society,Howard University,and Oberlin College.In 1969,Jewel tapped her to service as vice chairman of the U.S. Advisory Commission on international,educational and cultural Affairs.In 1972,Nixon appointed
Jewel to serve as a representative to the General Assembly of the United Nations.In 1973,Nixon appointed Jewel to be the first-ever female Deputy Solicitor