“First Women in Delaware County”

Month … “First Women in Delaware County” with a spotlight on Carrie Burnham Kilgore, the first woman admitted to the Bar in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and a live reenactment of her argument before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court for women’s voting rights.

A dynamic panel of some of our first female attorneys, judges and presidents of the Delaware County Bar Association shared their stories with attendees …

Caroline Burnham Kilgore was the first woman admitted (1881) and to have graduated (1883) from the University of Pennsylvania Law School; the first woman admitted to the Pennsylvania Bar, and the first woman to argue before the Supreme Court of the United States.

SHE was a woman who refused to take “no” for an answer. The first time Kilgore applied to the University of Pennsylvania Law School (now the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School), in 1871, the dean threatened to resign if she was admitted, and she was denied acceptance.

That was not the only barrier Kilgore, who already held a medical degree, tried to break that year; she also attempted to vote. The Nineteenth Amendment had not yet been passed, and election officials in Philadelphia declined to accept her ballot. Kilgore asked the Court of Common Pleas to compel the

continued from page 11

acceptance of her ballot, but it turned her down as well.

That gave Kilgore the opportunity to test her claim in a higher court. She took her case all the way to the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. The Court sat en banc to hear her argue that women, being citizens, were entitled to suffrage.

The right to vote, Kilgore contended, “is the peculiar right incident to and inseparable from citizenship. Take it away from all the people, and the government dies; take it away from any portion of the people, and just to that extent the government, as republican, is destroyed. Deny to me, one of the citizens of Pennsylvania, the exercise of the right of suffrage and this guarantee becomes a dead letter. My interest in the Republic is destroyed; to me the government becomes an absolute sovereign — I am its subject — my life, liberty, and property, all are at its mercy.”

When she had finished, the judges declined to hear her adversary’s argument. It would have been a waste of time; they were already prepared to rule against Kilgore.

The defeat did not deter her from spending the rest of her life working to expand the franchise and improve the lives of women. She was an ardent advocate for women workers as a member of the International Workingmen’s Association and stayed active in the National Woman Suffrage Association.

She also saw the admission of women to the study and practice of law as being essential to advancing women’s rights. After her first rejection from the Law School and two years of private study, Kilgore applied for admission to the Pennsylvania Bar. Here, too, she was denied. The Pennsylvania State Board of Examiners said there was “no precedent for examination of a woman for admission to the Bar.” Nevertheless, she persisted.

After a 10-year struggle that culminated in the passage of state legislation enabling women to enter the legal profession, in 1881 she was finally admitted to the Law School. In 1883, she became the Law School’s first woman graduate. Bar admission soon followed — making Kilgore the first woman admitted to the Pennsylvania Bar — and eventually Kilgore became the first woman to argue before the Supreme Court of the United States.

“The Marker Lady” … Robyn Young is a women’s historian dedicated to sharing women’s history with the general public through Hera’s House, A Traveling Women’s History Show. Through her efforts since 2001, Young has received approval from the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission for 20 roadside historical markers throughout Pennsylvania.

Young has also received approval for the installation in 2020 of two historical markers for suffragists in Pennsylvania from the Pomeroy Foundation to be placed on the National Votes for Women Trail.

In this year, 2022, Young has been working on a Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission nomination for a Delaware County marker for Caroline Burnham Kilgore, who in 1886 became the first woman admitted to practice law in Pennsylvania.

The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC) administers a program of historical markers to capture the stories of people, places, events, and innovations that have affected the lives of Pennsylvanians over the centuries. More than 2,500 cast aluminum markers feature subjects such as Native Americans, early settlers, government and politics, athletes, entertainers, artists, struggles for freedom and equality, factories and businesses, and a multitude of other noteworthy topics.

PHMC is temporarily pausing its Historical Marker Program. Ongoing supply chain issues, from sourcing raw materials to workforce availability, are impacting all areas of manufacturing across the country. These delays in marker production are exacerbated by the fact that during the pandemic several marker dedications were postponed, resulting in a backlog of approved markers to be fabricated.

Great interest in the marker program continues, as last year alone, the number of marker nominations submitted nearly doubled. PHMC is committed to ensuring that any markers pending review can be manufactured and installed prior to considering new nominations.

With this increase in volume and the uncertainty of the production schedule, PHMC will not be accepting new marker nominations after the current round scheduled for consideration in December, 2022.

During this temporary hiatus, PHMC marker staff will focus on repairing and maintaining damaged markers and will be reviewing the marker program in the interest of continuous improvement.

For further details, visit PHMC at www.pahistoricpreservation.com.