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 the 24 million African-Americans over 25 years old, some 2.8 million have bachelor’s degrees, and some 1.6 million more hold advanced degrees. You can find more facts about America from the U.S. Census Bureau, online at <www.census.gov>.