19 Facts About Dorothy Kenyon

Dorothy Kenyon was a New York attorney, judge, feminist and political activist in support of civil liberties.

Dorothy Kenyon was born in New York City, to Maria Wellington and William Houston Dorothy Kenyon, a patent attorney.

Dorothy Kenyon grew up on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, with a family summer home in Lakeville, Connecticut.

Dorothy Kenyon studied economics and history at Smith College, graduating in 1908.

Dorothy Kenyon felt that she "misspent" the years 1908 to 1913 as a "social butterfly".

Dorothy Kenyon graduated from New York University School of Law in 1917 and was admitted to the New York Bar in the same year.

Dorothy Kenyon began her legal career in 1917 as a law clerk in the New York firm Gwinn and Deming.

From 1919 to 1925, Dorothy Kenyon worked for the firm of Pitkin, Rosenson, and Henderson in New York City.

For most of her career, Dorothy Kenyon devoted a great deal of her energy to advocating for social justice and a variety of liberal and progressive causes such as the New Deal, women's rights, the labor movement, and consumer cooperatives.

Dorothy Kenyon was appointed as a member of the New York City Comptroller's council on taxes for the relief of the unemployed in 1934.

Dorothy Kenyon gained national prominence as a feminist activist in 1938 when she was named the US representative to the League of Nations Committee for the Study of the Status of Women, a group of seven lawyers charged with studying women's legal status internationally.

Dorothy Kenyon resumed her commitment to improving women's status around the world through her work as the US delegate to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women from 1946 to 1950.

Already well-known in academic, legal, and political circles, in 1950 Dorothy Kenyon made national news when Senator Joseph R McCarthy named her as the first person to be investigated by the Tydings Committee.

McCarthy alleged that Dorothy Kenyon had been a member of 29 Communist front organizations.

Dorothy Kenyon joined the pro Equal Rights Amendment forces, and teamed with much younger feminists in the emerging women's liberation movement where she participated in the 1971 Women's Strike for Equality and in the burgeoning movement to legalize abortion.

In 1966, Murray and Dorothy Kenyon successfully argued White v Crook, a case in which the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled that women have an equal right to serve on juries.

Dorothy Kenyon had lengthy and intense romantic relationships with various men throughout her adult life, including Walcott Pitkin, Elihu Root Jr.

Dorothy Kenyon participated in various aspects of President Johnson's War on Poverty and at age 80, she worked tirelessly and almost single-handedly to establish legal services for the poor on the Lower West Side of Manhattan.

Dorothy Kenyon was an active advocate for social justice until her death on February 12,1972,5 days before her 84th birthday.