Arabella Mansfield
Encyclopedia
Iowa
Iowa is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland". It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New...
bar
Bar association
A bar association is a professional body of lawyers. Some bar associations are responsible for the regulation of the legal profession in their jurisdiction; others are professional organizations dedicated to serving their members; in many cases, they are both...
in 1869. She was allowed to take the bar exam and passed with high scores, despite a state law restricting applicants to white males over 21. Shortly after Mansfield passed the exam, Iowa amended its bar licensing statute and became the first state to allow women and minorities into its bar.
She was born on a family farm in Burlington, Iowa
Burlington, Iowa
Burlington is a city in, and the county seat of Des Moines County, Iowa, United States. The population was 25,663 in the 2010 census, a decline from the 26,839 population in the 2000 census. Burlington is the center of a micropolitan area including West Burlington, Iowa and Middletown, Iowa and...
as the second child to Mary Moyer and Miles Babb. Her older brother, Washington Irving Babb, born in 1844, was Mansfield’s lifelong friend. While she was still young, her father left to California for the gold rush
Gold rush
A gold rush is a period of feverish migration of workers to an area that has had a dramatic discovery of gold. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, Brazil, Canada, South Africa, and the United States, while smaller gold rushes took place elsewhere.In the 19th and early...
. In 1852, he became superintendent of the Bay State Mining Company. The two children and their mother then moved to Mount Pleasant, Iowa
Mount Pleasant, Iowa
Mount Pleasant is a city in and the county seat of Henry County, Iowa, in the United States. The population was 8,668 in the 2010 census, a decline from 8,751 in the 2000 census. It was founded in 1835 by pioneer Presley Saunders.- History :...
. ( Clara Foltz, the first female west coast lawyer, also grew up in Mount Pleasant around this time.)
In 1862, Mansfield began college at Iowa Wesleyan College
Iowa Wesleyan College
Iowa Wesleyan College is a private four-year liberal arts college of the United Methodist Church located Mt. Pleasant, Iowa.Iowa Wesleyan is recognized as a pioneer in higher education in America. Founded in 1842, it ranks as the oldest coeducational college located west of the Mississippi River...
in Mount Pleasant and began using the name Arabella (previously, she had gone by Belle). With many men leaving to fight in the civil war, universities were admitting more women students and teachers. She graduated in three years as valedictorian
Valedictorian
Valedictorian is an academic title conferred upon the student who delivers the closing or farewell statement at a graduation ceremony. Usually, the valedictorian is the highest ranked student among those graduating from an educational institution...
; Washington was salutatorian
Salutatorian
Salutatorian is an academic title given, in the United States and Canada, to the second highest graduate of the entire graduating class of a specific discipline. Only the valedictorian is ranked higher. This honor is traditionally based on grade point average and number of credits taken, but...
in the same class.
Mansfield then taught at Simpson College
Simpson College
Simpson College is a four-year, coeducational liberal arts institution situated in Indianola, Iowa, USA, and affiliated with the United Methodist Church. Simpson, which has been fully accredited by North Central Association since 1913, is a small school with approximately 1,400 full-time students...
in Indianola, Iowa
Indianola, Iowa
As of the census of 2000, there were 12,998 people, 4,748 households, and 3,261 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,414.7 people per square mile . There were 4,981 housing units at an average density of 542.1 per square mile...
, before returning to Mount Pleasant one year later to marry her college sweetheart John Melvin Mansfield. He was a professor at Iowa Wesleyan, and encouraged her in her legal studies. Arabella Mansfield studied law in brother's law office before passing the bar in 1869.
In 1869, Iowa became the first state in the union to admit women to the practice of law, with the Court ruling that women may not be denied the right to practice law in Iowa and admitting Mansfield to the practice of law. Mansfield was sworn in at the Union Block
Union Block (Mount Pleasant, Iowa)
The Union Block of Mount Pleasant, Iowa was built by William McCandless in 1861. Historically it was used as offices and by the county courts. In the Union Block in 1869, Arabella A. Mansfield became the first woman in the United States awarded a license to practice law. The third floor housed the...
building in Mount Pleasant
Mount Pleasant, Iowa
Mount Pleasant is a city in and the county seat of Henry County, Iowa, in the United States. The population was 8,668 in the 2010 census, a decline from 8,751 in the 2000 census. It was founded in 1835 by pioneer Presley Saunders.- History :...
that year. Although admitted to the bar, she never actually practiced law, instead focusing on teaching and other activist work. She taught at Iowa Wesleyan, then at DePauw University
DePauw University
DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana, USA, is a private, national liberal arts college with an enrollment of approximately 2,400 students. The school has a Methodist heritage and was originally known as Indiana Asbury University. DePauw is a member of both the Great Lakes Colleges Association...
in Greencastle, Indiana
Greencastle, Indiana
Greencastle is a city in Greencastle Township, Putnam County, Indiana, United States, and the county seat of Putnam County. It was founded in 1821 by Scots-Irish American Ephraim Dukes on a land grant. He named the settlement for his hometown of Greencastle, Pennsylvania...
, where she became Dean of the School of Art in 1893 and Dean of the School of Music in 1894. In 1893, she joined National League of Women Lawyers.
Mansfield was also active in the women’s suffrage movement, chairing the Iowa Women’s Suffrage Convention in 1870, and worked with Susan B. Anthony
Susan B. Anthony
Susan Brownell Anthony was a prominent American civil rights leader who played a pivotal role in the 19th century women's rights movement to introduce women's suffrage into the United States. She was co-founder of the first Women's Temperance Movement with Elizabeth Cady Stanton as President...
. Dying in 1911 in Aurora, Illinois
Aurora, Illinois
Aurora is the second most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois, and the 112th largest city in the United States. A suburb of Chicago, located west of the Loop, its population in 2010 was 197,899. Originally founded within Kane County, Aurora's city limits have expanded greatly over the past...
, Mansfield did not live to see the movement’s ultimate achievement, passage of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits any United States citizen to be denied the right to vote based on sex. It was ratified on August 18, 1920....
in 1920.
In 1980, Arabella Mansfield was inducted into the Iowa Women's Hall of Fame. In 2002 the Iowa Organization of Women Attorneys established the Arabella Mansfield Award to recognize outstanding women lawyers in Iowa.
See also
- Ada KepleyAda KepleyAda Harriet Miser Kepley was the first American woman to graduate from law school.Ada Harriet Miser was born in Somerset, Ohio, in 1847. Her family moved to St. Louis, Missouri in 1860, and in 1867, Ada married Henry B. Kepley, who had his own law practice in Effingham, Illinois...
, first female law school graduate - Carrie Chapman CattCarrie Chapman CattCarrie Chapman Catt was a women's suffrage leader who campaigned for the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution which gave U.S. women the right to vote in 1920...
, contemporaneous Iowan leader of women's suffrage movement - FeminismFeminismFeminism is a collection of movements aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights and equal opportunities for women. Its concepts overlap with those of women's rights...
- Gertrude RushGertrude RushGertrude Elzora Durden Rush was the first African-American female lawyer in Iowa, admitted to the Iowa bar in 1918. She helped found the National Bar Association in 1925.- Life and career :...
, Iowa's first African-American lawyer - History of feminismHistory of feminismThe history of feminism involves the story of feminist movements and of feminist thinkers. Depending on time, culture and country, feminists around the world have sometimes had different causes and goals...