Lavinia Marian Fleming Poe (1890–1974) was the first African American woman lawyer in Virginia, passing the bar exam in 1925.
Lavinia Marian Fleming Poe | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Lavinia Marian Fleming August 13, 1890 |
| Died | March 20, 1974 (aged 83) |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | Howard University |
| Occupation | Attorney |
Biography
editBorn Lavinia Marian Fleming on August 13, 1890 in Warwick County, Virginia to Archer R. Fleming, a blacksmith and former slave, and Florence M. Carter. She primarily grew up in Newport News, Virginia.[1] In 1910 she married Abram James Poe, becoming Laviania Marian Fleming Poe. She was married and had two children when she decided to become a lawyer. Poe moved her family to Washington, D.C. where she worked as a bank teller and enrolled in Howard University Law School.[2] She passed the Virginia bar in 1925, becoming the first African American woman to do so.[3][4]
She returned to Newport News where she began a practice. In 1927 she gained the necessary credentials to argue in front of the Supreme Court of Appeals in Virginia. Her practice continued through the 1960s.[2]
Poe was a member of the National Association of Women Lawyers and she served as secretary to the Old Dominion Bar Association for 13 years.[2] She died on March 20, 1974.[1]
In 2018 the Virginia Capitol Foundation announced that Poe's name would be included on the Virginia Women's Monument's glass Wall of Honor.[5]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ a b "Poe, L. Marian (1890-1974), lawyer". American National Biography. doi:10.1093/anb/9780198606697.article.1101076. Retrieved 16 February 2019.
- ^ a b c Wallenstein, Peter (1993). ""These New and Strange Beings": Women in the Legal Profession in Virginia, 1890-1990". The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography. 101 (2): 209–212.
- ^ "Lavina Marian Fleming Poe, 1st Black woman lawyer in Virginia, 1925". J. Clay Smith Selected Photographs. 15 December 2016. Retrieved 16 February 2019.
- ^ Smith Jr., J. Clay (1999). Emancipation: The Making of the Black Lawyer, 1844-1944. University of Pennsylvania Press. p. 236. ISBN 9780812216851.
- ^ "Wall of Honor". Virginia Women's Monument Commission. Retrieved 3 April 2022.