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Article
“Some Kind of Lawyer”: Two Journeys from Classroom to Courtroom and Beyond
Kentucky Law Journal (1996)
  • Terry Birdwhistell, University of Kentucky
Abstract
In January 1996 a panel of the American Bar Association released a report concluding that "discrimination continues to permeate the structures, practices and attitudes of the legal profession." It has been a long journey in women's efforts to obtain equity in both law schools and in the legal profession generally. This article is composed of two interviews with University of Kentucky College of Law graduates: Norma Boster Adams (’52) and Annette McGee Cunningham (’80). Twenty-eight years separated Norma Adams and Annette Cunningham at the College of Law. They faced different obstacles and chose varied paths to success. While each can speak only for herself and her distinct experience, their life stories touch upon the experiences, the hopes, the setbacks and the achievements of most women who attended the U.K. College of Law. A fuller understanding of sexism and racism and for the slow process of change await further analysis by scholars. But for now, the recollections of Norma Adams and Annette Cunningham offer a glimpse into that debate.
Keywords
  • Discrimination,
  • oral history,
  • women,
  • gender,
  • woman,
  • University of Kentucky,
  • College of Law,
  • women lawyers,
  • Norma Boster Adams,
  • Norma Adams,
  • Annette McGee Cunningham,
  • Annette Cunningham,
  • race,
  • racial,
  • sexism,
  • racism,
  • legal,
  • legal education,
  • law school,
  • history
Publication Date
1996
Citation Information
Terry Birdwhistell, “Some Kind of Lawyer”: Two Journeys from Classroom to Courtroom and Beyond, 84 Ky. L.J. 1125 (1996).