Wednesday Open Line


On this date in 1872, America’s third female law student was graduated. But this third was a first. Charlotte Ray was a freeborn African-American. With her degree from historically black Howard University, she shortly began her law practice in Washington, D.C., and was the first woman accredited to argue a case before the Supreme Court. When Charlotte Ray graduated, university degrees were a rarity in all of America. Today, among African-Americans over 25, some 3 million have bachelor’s degrees, and an additional 1.5 million hold advanced degrees. You can find current data on the country’s economy by downloading the new “America’s Economy” mobile application at <www.census.gov/mobile>.