Lucy Somerville Howorth
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Lucy Somerville Howorth | |
---|---|
Born | July 1, 1895 Greenville, Mississippi, U.S. |
Died | August 23, 1997 Cleveland, Mississippi, U.S. | (aged 102)
Occupation(s) | Lawyer, politician, judge |
Spouse | Joseph Marion Howorth (m. 1928-1982; his death) |
Lucy Somerville Howorth (July 1, 1895 – August 23, 1997) was an American lawyer, feminist and politician. On August 18, 1917, in the State Capitol gallery in Nashville, Tennessee, she witnessed the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution being ratified, giving women the right to vote. This inspired her lifelong fight for the civil rights of minorities and women. She served in the Mississippi House of Representatives from 1932-1936. She worked on New Deal legislation.[1]
Early life
Lucy Somerville was born on July 1, 1895, in Greenville, Mississippi. The daughter of Nellie Nugent Somerville, nationally known as a temperance and woman suffrage leader and the first woman to serve in the Mississippi Legislature, she was raised in an atmosphere of female equality, a rarity at that time.[2] She attended Randolph-Macon Woman's College, now Randolph College, in Lynchburg, Virginia, (1912–16) where she was a member of Alpha Omicron Pi fraternity, Pi Gamma Mu international honor society and the Phi Beta Kappa society.[3]
After completing her B.A. she continued her education at in 1918
From 1920 to 1922, she returned to the South and enrolled in the
Political life
Howorth moved to
As a Democrat, she served Mississippians as a
Appointed by President
Activism and community involvement
In her lifetime Howorth was a member of many organizations including the National Association of Women Lawyers, Phi Delta Delta Legal Fraternity (founded 1911, merged with Phi Alpha Delta in 1972), the Professional Women's Club, and the Daughters of the American Revolution. She served as vice president of the American Association of University Women, and played a role in ending their segregationist practices in the 1940s. She was member and chairman of the United Nations League of Lawyers, and she served as the chairman of the Cleveland Public Library Commission for ten years.
Later life and legacy
Howorth co-edited her grandfather's Civil War letters, which were published under the title, My Dear Nellie (1978). Her husband died in 1982 after 54 years of marriage. She died from heart failure in Cleveland, Mississippi, on August 23, 1997, at the age of 102. The Lucy Somerville Howorth Collection is held at Delta State University and consists of some of her professional and non-professional works, personal correspondences, certificates, awards and other items of memorabilia, photos and artwork, and newspaper clippings, and a scrapbook she and her husband owned. The first biography of Howorth, published in 2006, is titled Lucy Somerville Howorth: New Deal Lawyer, Politician, and Feminist from the South and is by Dorothy S. Shawhan and Martha H. Swain.[7] The Lucy Somerville Howorth Lecture Series is held at the University of Mississippi, and brings speakers on women's studies to the campus.[8]
Howorth's portrait is part of the Mississippi Hall of Fame located in the Old Capitol Museum to honor her significant contributions to the state of Mississippi.[9]
References
- ^ Saxon, Wolfgang (1997-09-02). "Lucy S. Howorth, 102, Dies; Lawyer, Politician, Suffragist". The New York Times. Retrieved 2016-11-28.(subscription required)
- ^ "Lucy Somerville Howorth Award". Library. Retrieved 2023-10-10.
- ISSN 0022-4642.
- ^ "Lucy Somerville Howorth: Lawyer, Politician, and Feminist - 2009-03". www.mshistorynow.mdah.ms.gov. Retrieved 2024-04-12.
- ISBN 978-1-60871-007-2.
- ^ Swain, Martha H. (March 2009). "Lucy Somerville Howorth: Lawyer, Politician, and Feminist". Mississippi History Now. Mississippi Historical Society. Archived from the original on 2010-10-07. Retrieved 2011-01-08.
- ^ "LSU Press: Books - Lucy Somerville Howorth". lsupress.org. Retrieved October 24, 2022.
- ^ "The Sarah Isom Center for Women and Gender Studies". mshistorynow.mdah.state.ms.us. Retrieved October 22, 2022.
- ^ "Wayback Machine|The Mississippi Hall of Fame" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-12-22. Retrieved 2022-02-19.