Mattie Belle Davis
Encyclopedia
Mattie Belle Davis was a judge
and the first woman from Florida
elected to the American Bar Foundation
and the second woman to be elected in the US.
She was born in Ellabell, Georgia and her family moved to Miami, Florida
in 1926. She was admitted to the Florida bar in 1939. This was the era when women could not sit on juries in Florida. They were unable to do so until 1947. She was the first woman judge of Metropolitan Court of Dade County
, Florida. She was judge of that court from 1959-65. She and her husband Troy Davis went into practice and continued until his death in 1948.
March 3 is "Mattie Belle Davis day" in Dade County, an honor she was presented with in 1987.
She was instrumental in forming the Florida Association of Women Lawyers. She was the association's president 1957-58. The Florida Association of Women Lawyers Society established the Mattie Belle Davis award in 2004 in honor of her for outstanding women lawyers.
She died in 2004 at the age 0f 93.
Judge
A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as part of a panel of judges. The powers, functions, method of appointment, discipline, and training of judges vary widely across different jurisdictions. The judge is supposed to conduct the trial impartially and in an open...
and the first woman from Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
elected to the American Bar Foundation
American Bar Foundation
Established in 1952, the ' is an independent, nonprofit national research institute located in Chicago, Illinois committed to objective empirical research on law and legal institutions...
and the second woman to be elected in the US.
She was born in Ellabell, Georgia and her family moved to Miami, Florida
Miami, Florida
Miami is a city located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, the most populous county in Florida and the eighth-most populous county in the United States with a population of 2,500,625...
in 1926. She was admitted to the Florida bar in 1939. This was the era when women could not sit on juries in Florida. They were unable to do so until 1947. She was the first woman judge of Metropolitan Court of Dade County
Miami-Dade County, Florida
Miami-Dade County is a county located in the southeastern part of the state of Florida. As of 2010 U.S. Census, the county had a population of 2,496,435, making it the most populous county in Florida and the eighth-most populous county in the United States...
, Florida. She was judge of that court from 1959-65. She and her husband Troy Davis went into practice and continued until his death in 1948.
March 3 is "Mattie Belle Davis day" in Dade County, an honor she was presented with in 1987.
She was instrumental in forming the Florida Association of Women Lawyers. She was the association's president 1957-58. The Florida Association of Women Lawyers Society established the Mattie Belle Davis award in 2004 in honor of her for outstanding women lawyers.
She died in 2004 at the age 0f 93.
External links
- http://www.fcsw.net/halloffame/WHOFbios/mattie_belle_davis.htm
- http://www.fawl.org/displaycommon.cfm?an=1&subarticlenbr=78
- http://oasis.lib.harvard.edu/oasis/deliver/~sch00400
- http://digitool.fcla.edu/dtl_publish/46/10752.html]
- http://www.nawl.org/About_Us/History/Complete_History.htm