Women You May Not Know

Although women were banned from taking the bar exam by Iowa law, Arabella Mansfield (Belle Aurelia Babb) (1846-1911) took it anyway, passing with high scores.

When her father left the family for the California gold rush, Mansfield and her brother, Washington Irving Babb, grew close. When many men left to fight in the Civil War, universities began admitting women; Mansfield and Babb graduated Iowa Wesleyan College together—she as valedictorian, he as salutatorian.

In 1869, encouraged by her new professor husband and her brother, under whom she apprenticed, Mansfield challenged Iowa state law. The Court ruled in her favor; Iowa amended its licensing statute, becoming the first state admitting women and minorities into its bar. That same year Mansfield was sworn in as the first female lawyer in the United States.

Despite her status, Mansfield chose to teach at Iowa Wesleyan and later DePauw University, serving as the Arts and Music dean. She worked closely with Susan B. Anthony for women’s rights, chairing the Women’s Suffrage Convention in 1870 and joining the National League of Women Lawyers—which would not have existed without her—in 1893.

By Jen Hawkins