Today in History: August Dates Worth Celebrating
August is not officially Law Month, yet many remarkable days in legal history occurred in August throughout the years. On today’s date, August 9th in 1995, Roberta Cooper Ramo became the first woman to hold the office of president of the American Bar Association. She later became the first woman president of the American Law Institute. Another important date to legal practitioners include August 26, 1920, the day the 19th Amendment of the US Constitution was ratified, granting women the right to vote. On August 28, 1963 more than 250,000 people gathered in Washington, DC, and heard Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Eight years later on August 26, 1971, the first “Women’s Equality Day,” was established by Presidential Proclamation through a Joint Resolution of Congress. Each year, August 26 is designated as Women’s Equality Day. On August 6, 1965 the Voting Rights Act was extended to African American women. Another significant August date to be remembered is August 10, 1993, the day the Hon. Ruth Bader Ginsburg was sworn in as the second woman and 107th Justice to serve on the United States Supreme Court.
