Yale University has many notable alumni, including Jane Bolin, the first African-American woman to graduate from the institution’s law school. Her father, Gaius Bolin, also was a lawyer and the first African-American graduate of Williams College. She was born in 1908.

With a JD in hand, Bolin continued to be a pioneer as the first African-American woman to join the New York City Bar Association and the first to work in the city’s legal department.

In 1939, she broke ground yet again as the first African-American woman to be a judge in the United States. Her appointment was to a family court in New York City, where she had a 10-year term. Bolin moved on to the New York State Board of Regents, while also having membership with the NAACP, the National Urban League and the Child Welfare League of America. She died in 2007.