FARAI CHIDEYA, host: And now we remember woman whose life was filled with firsts. She was the first black woman to graduate from Yale Law School, the first black woman to join the New York City Bar Association and the first black female judge in the United States. She was Jane Bolin, and she died on January 8th at the age of 98. Based in Poughkeepsie, New York, the Bolin family had been movers and shakers since the end of slavery, says historian Lorraine Roberts(ph).</s>Ms. LORRAINE ROBERTS (Historian): Her father was the first black graduate of Williams College. He came back here and became the first black lawyer in Poughkeepsie. So there are a lot of firsts in that family.</s>FARAI CHIDEYA, host: Jane Bolin attended Wellesley College and then Yale Law School. She was one of three women and the only black student at Yale. After law school, Bolin worked for her dad, her husband and finally for the city of New York. In 1939, Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia made her a judge in the domestic relations court, which later became family court. Bolin served there until 1978 when she retired at the age of 70. Lorraine Roberts says Bolin was known for her open mind.</s>Ms. LORRAINE ROBERTS (Historian): Her father was the first black graduate of Williams College. He came back here and became the first black lawyer in Poughkeepsie. So there are a lot of firsts in that family.</s>FARAI CHIDEYA, host: But Bolin never made a big deal of all her firsts. In 1993, she told The New York Times, everyone else makes a fuss about it but I didn't think about it and I still don't. My work was my primary concern.
Jane Bolin was the first black woman to graduate from Yale Law School, the first black woman to join the New York City Bar Association, and the first black female judge in the United States. Bolin died Jan. 8 at the age of 98.