Jane Bolin, of Poughkeepsie, New York, was the first black woman graduate of Yale Law School. 

She clerked in her father's law office until she passed the N.Y. bar exam. In 1937, she was named Assistant Corporation Counsel for the City of New York, serving on the Domestic Relation Court. Mayor LaGuardia then appointed her a judge of the Domestic Relations Court where she served for 40 years. 

She was the first black woman judge in the United States.