Jane Matilda Boli

BOLIN, JANE MATILDA

Jane Matilda Bolin was the first black woman judge in the United States.

Bolin was born April 11, 1908, in Poughkeepsie, New York, to Gaius C. Bolin and Matilda Emery Bolin. Her father, who was born to a Native American mother and a black father, was the first African American graduate of Williams College. He went on to become a lawyer and practiced law in Poughkeepsie for more than 50 years. Bolin’s mother was born in England and immigrated to the United States with her parents.

Bolin was raised in a middle-class family. She attended public elementary and secondary schools. After graduation from high school she entered Wellesley College and soon was named a Wellesley scholar, one of the top 20 women in her class. She received her bachelor of arts degree, with honors, in 1928.

Shortly after her graduation from college
Bolin announced her intention to attend Yale
Law School. Her father was at first opposed to
the idea because he felt that the law was a profession
unsuited to women. He let his daughter
know he would prefer her to pursue teaching,
but she was determined to become a lawyer.
Bolin graduated from Yale Law School in 1931,
the first African American woman to do so.
Bolin was admitted to the New York bar in
1932 and began her legal career with her father
and brother’s law firm in Poughkeepsie. In 1933
she married Ralph E. Mizelle, also an attorney,
and they settled in New York City.
Bolin’s judicial career commenced just a few
years after she and her husband began practicing
law together. On April 7, 1937, she was named
assistant corporate counsel in New York City’s
law department. She served two years in that
position before being summoned, to her complete
surprise, to the office of Mayor Fiorello La
Guardia. On July 22, 1939, La Guardia
appointed Bolin justice of the Domestic Relations
Court of the City of New York (later called
the family court), making her the first black
woman judge in the United States. She presided
over family court cases for four consecutive tenyear
terms, until she reached the mandatory
retirement age of 70.
In her many years on the bench Bolin saw
the full spectrum of domestic cases: serious
crimes, including homicides, committed by
juveniles; nonpayment of family support;
spouse battering; child neglect; lack of supervision
for children; ADOPTION; and PATERNITY.
Upon her retirement in 1978 she noted that during
her years as a judge, she had viewed a steady
increase in violent behavior among young people.
Asked if she could suggest solutions to the
problem, Bolin responded that the answers were very complex and that she could not accept the
“easy answers” psychiatrists and social workers
were handing out, “saying it’s because of the
wars . . . or the violent programs on television”
From the beginning of her career Bolin was
determined to fight racial prejudice in any way
she could. She worked to bring about changes in
the way PROBATION officers were assigned to
cases in family court.When she became a judge
black probation officers were assigned exclusively
to cases involving black families; through
Bolin’s efforts, probation officers were eventually
assigned without regard to race or religion.
She also instituted a requirement that private
social service agencies receiving public funds
accept children without regard to ethnic background.
“They used to put a big N or PR on the
front of every [file], to indicate if the family was
black or Puerto Rican,” she recalled, because the
agencies were segregated.
Bolin has been described as a militant, but
quiet, fighter for justice. She earned a reputation
as a courageous, no-nonsense, hard worker who
never shirked an assignment. In addition to
being a committed professional, Bolin served on
the boards of a number of organizations: the
New York Urban League, the National Association
for the Advancement of Colored People
(NAACP) and its New York chapter, the Harlem
Tuberculosis Committee, the legislative committee
of the United Neighborhood Houses, the
Wiltwick School for Boys, the Dalton School,
and the Harlem Lawyers’ Association. She was a
member of the Committee on Children of New
York City, the Scholarship Service and Fund for
Negro Students, and the Committee against Discrimination
in Housing.
Bolin and her first husband had one child,
Yorke Bolin Mizelle, who was born in 1941 and
became a New York businessman. Asked how
she combined motherhood, community activities,
and a high-pressure career, Bolin said, “I
didn’t get all the sleep I needed, and I didn’t get
to travel as much as I would have liked, because
I felt my first obligation was to my child.” Bolin’s
first husband died in 1943. In 1950, she married
Walter P. Offutt Jr., a minister, who died in 1974.
In recognition of her many accomplishments
and contributions to the field of FAMILY
LAW, Bolin has received many awards, including
honorary doctor of law degrees from Morgan
State University, Western College for Women,
Tuskegee University, Hampton University, and
Williams College.However, asked to recount her most memorable experience, she did not speak
of her many achievements. Rather, she told the
story of a child who was in trouble and whose
mother asked Bolin to send the child to the same
institution where she had spent some time.
When Bolin said she preferred to help the
mother keep her child at home, the woman told
her the institution had helped her, and she
wanted the same help for her child. Bolin listened
to the mother’s reasoning and complied
with her wishes.
After her retirement, Bolin worked as a family
law consultant and did volunteer tutoring in
math and reading with public school children.

FURTHER READINGS
Drachman, Virginia G. 1998. Sisters in Law: Women Lawyers
in Modern American History. Cambridge: Harvard Univ.
Press.
Harrington, Mona. 1994. Women Lawyers: Rewriting the
Rules. New York: Knopf.
Hine, Darlene C., ed. 1993. Black Women in America: An Historical
Encyclopedia. Brooklyn: Carlson.
Smith, Jessie C., ed. 1992. Notable Black American Women.
Detroit: Gale Research.