Zephyr Abigail Moore Ramsey (January 17, 1893 – October 6, 1984) was an American lawyer. Her 1922 essay "Law and its Call to Women" has been reprinted and studied in recent years. She was one of the first Black women to be admitted to the bar in California.

Early life and education

Zephyr Abigail Moore was born in Tennessee and raised in Southern California. She is the daughter of James C. Moore and Molly Catherine H. Stoner Moore. She graduated from Pasadena High School, attended

Knoxville College Knoxville College is an unaccredited private historically black college in Knoxville, Tennessee, United States. It was founded in 1875 by the United Presbyterian Church of North America. The college is a United Negro College Fund member sch ...

(class of 1911) and Howard University Teachers' College. She earned a law degree from

Howard University School of Law Howard University School of Law (Howard Law or HUSL) is the law school of Howard University, a private, federally chartered historically black research university in Washington, D.C. It is one of the oldest law schools in the country and the old ...

in 1922. She was a founding member of Epsilon Sigma Iota. Moore wrote "Law and its Call to Women", an essay for the 1922 yearbook of Howard's professional schools. The essay continues to be printed and studied after nearly a century.

Career

Moore taught at

Livingston College Livingston College was one of the residential colleges that comprised Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey's undergraduate liberal arts programs from 1969 to 2007. It was located on Livingston Campus (originally Kilmer) in Piscataway ...

in North Carolina as a young woman. During

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, Moore worked in Washington, for the War Trade Board and for the Bureau of War Risk Insurance. She had a law practice in

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an Independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Miss ...

from 1925 to 1930. In widowhood she was one of the first Black women admitted to the bar in California, in September 1930. In 1934 she was one of the guests of honor at a "Negro Historical Program" in Pasadena. She worked for the

Federal Emergency Relief Administration The Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) was a program established by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933, building on the Hoover administration's Emergency Relief and Construction Act. It was replaced in 1935 by the Works Progre ...

during the Depression. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, she returned to Los Angeles to practice family law, and lived with her sister Elizabeth in Pasadena. Ramsey was a member of the Blackstone Lawyers Club in Los Angeles. In 1949, she was legal advisor to the newly formed Crown City Real Estate Brokers' Exchange, an organization for Black real estate brokers in Pasadena. She supported Mary Durham in a run for a County Democratic Central Committee seat in 1952. She served on the executive board of the Pasadena branch of the

NAACP The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is an American civil rights organization formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E. B. Du&nbs ...

Personal life and legacy

Moore married Chicago lawyer Fred Douglas Ramsey. Her husband died in 1930. Zephyr Ramsey died in 1984, at the age of 91, in Los Angeles. Her grave is with those of her parents and siblings, in Angelus- Rosedale Cemetery. The Harriett Buhai Center for Family Law in Los Angeles gave an annual Zephyr M. Ramsey Award from 1995 to 2012.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ramsey, Zephyr Moore 1893 births 1984 deaths People from Tennessee American women lawyers Howard University School of Law alumni