Martha Griffiths
Encyclopedia
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
lawyer and judge before being elected to the United States House of Representatives
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
in 1954. Griffiths was the first woman to serve on the powerful House Committee on Ways and Means and the first woman elected to the United States Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
from Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
as a member of the Democratic Party
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
. She was also the person most responsible for including the prohibition of sex discrimination under Title VII in the Civil Rights Act of 1964
Civil Rights Act of 1964
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was a landmark piece of legislation in the United States that outlawed major forms of discrimination against African Americans and women, including racial segregation...
. In 1982, Griffiths was also the first female elected as Lieutenant Governor of Michigan
Lieutenant Governor of Michigan
The Lieutenant Governor of Michigan is the second-ranking official in U.S. state of Michigan, behind the governor, and one of four great offices of state...
. Matilda Dodge Wilson was appointed the first female Lieutenant Governor of Michigan in 1939.
Martha Edna Wright was born in Pierce City, Missouri
Pierce City, Missouri
Pierce City is a city in Lawrence County, Missouri, United States. The population was 1,385 at the 2000 census. In 2010, the town annexed down Missouri Route 97 into Barry County to a point just north of US Route 60.-Geography:...
. She attended public schools, and went on to graduate with a B.A.
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
from the University of Missouri
University of Missouri
The University of Missouri System is a state university system providing centralized administration for four universities, a health care system, an extension program, five research and technology parks, and a publishing press. More than 64,000 students are currently enrolled at its four campuses...
in 1934. She choose to continue her education by studying law and graduated from the University of Michigan Law School
University of Michigan Law School
The University of Michigan Law School is the law school of the University of Michigan, in Ann Arbor. Founded in 1859, the school has an enrollment of about 1,200 students, most of whom are seeking Juris Doctor or Master of Laws degrees, although the school also offers a Doctor of Juridical...
in 1940. She married Hicks George Griffiths (b. 1910), a lawyer and a judge as well as chairman of the Michigan Democratic Party
Michigan Democratic Party
The Michigan Democratic Party is the state-level party of the United States Democratic Party in Michigan. It is based in Lansing. Mark Brewer is the current Party Chair.-Current officeholders:...
from 1949–1950.
She worked as a lawyer in private practice then in the legal department of the American Automobile Insurance Co. in Detroit from 1941–1942 and then as the Ordnance District contract negotiator from 1942-1946. She was elected to the Michigan House of Representatives, serving from 1949 to 1953. In 1953, she was appointed as recorder and judge of the Recorder's Court
Recorder's court
The Recorder's Court, in Detroit, Michigan was a state court of limited jurisdiction which had, for most of its history, exclusive jurisdiction over traffic and ordinance matters, and over all felony cases committed in the City of Detroit...
in Detroit and sat as judge from 1953–1954--the first woman to do so.
In 1954, Griffiths was elected as a Democrat
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
from Michigan's 17th congressional district
Michigan's 17th congressional district
Michigan's 17th congressional district is an obsolete United States congressional district in Michigan. The first Representative to Congress elected from the 17th district, George Anthony Dondero, took office in 1933, after reapportionment due to the 1930 census. The district was dissolved...
to the 84th Congress
84th United States Congress
The Eighty-fourth United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, DC from January 3, 1955 to January 3, 1957, during the third and...
and was subsequently re-elected to the nine following Congresses, serving from January 3, 1955 to December 31, 1974 in the U.S. House. She sat as a delegate at the Democratic National Convention
Democratic National Convention
The Democratic National Convention is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years since 1832 by the United States Democratic Party. They have been administered by the Democratic National Committee since the 1852 national convention...
in 1956
1956 Democratic National Convention
The 1956 National Convention of the Democratic Party nominated former Governor Adlai Stevenson of Illinois for President and Senator Estes Kefauver of Tennessee for Vice President. It was held in the International Amphitheatre on the South Side of Chicago, Illinois August 13–17 1956. Unsuccessful...
as well as in 1968
1968 Democratic National Convention
The 1968 Democratic National Convention of the U.S. Democratic Party was held at the International Amphitheatre in Chicago, Illinois, from August 26 to August 29, 1968. Because Democratic President Lyndon Johnson had announced he would not seek a second term, the purpose of the convention was to...
. She was not a candidate for re-election to the 94th Congress
94th United States Congress
The Ninety-fourth United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, DC from January 3, 1975 to January 3, 1977, during the administration...
in 1974. During her time in Congress, Griffiths sponsored the Equal Rights Amendment
Equal Rights Amendment
The Equal Rights Amendment was a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution. The ERA was originally written by Alice Paul and, in 1923, it was introduced in the Congress for the first time...
, one of only a few proposed amendments to pass in Congress and be sent to the states for ratification.
After her congressional service, Griffiths returned to the practice of law and then served as the 57th Lieutenant Governor of Michigan
Lieutenant Governor of Michigan
The Lieutenant Governor of Michigan is the second-ranking official in U.S. state of Michigan, behind the governor, and one of four great offices of state...
from 1983 to 1991 on the ticket of Governor James Blanchard. She was inducted into the Michigan Women's Hall of Fame
Michigan Women's Hall of Fame
The Michigan Women's Hall of Fame honors distinguished women, both historical and contemporary, who have been associated with the U.S. state of Michigan. It is housed in the Michigan Women's Historical Center and Hall of Fame building, located at 213 W. Malcolm X St. in downtown Lansing, Michigan...
in 1983 and to the National Women's Hall of Fame
National Women's Hall of Fame
The National Women's Hall of Fame is an American institution. It was created in 1969 by a group of people in Seneca Falls, New York, the location of the 1848 Women's Rights Convention...
a decade later in 1993. She retired to her home in Armada, Michigan, where she lived until her death in 2003.