{{Short description|American lawyer (1932–2020)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=November 2020}} {{Infobox person/Wikidata|fetchwikidata=ALL|dateformat=mdy|image=LilaFenwick1958.png}}

'''Lila Althea Fenwick''' (May 24, 1932 – April 4, 2020) was an American lawyer, human rights advocate, and United Nations official. She was the first black woman to graduate from Harvard Law School.<ref name=hc>{{cite news |first=Kelsey J. |last=Griffin |title=Lila Fenwick, First Black Female Graduate of Harvard Law School, Dies at 87 |url=https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2020/4/21/lila-fenwick-obituary/ |work=Harvard Crimson |date=April 21, 2020 |access-date=April 24, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200424124223/https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2020/4/21/lila-fenwick-obituary/ |archive-date=April 24, 2020 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://hlrecord.org/200-years-of-race-at-hls/|title=200 years of race at HLS|date=February 19, 2003|website=The Harvard Law Record|language=en-US|access-date=April 18, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Coquillette, Daniel R.|title=On the battlefield of merit : Harvard Law School, the first century|others=Kimball, Bruce A., 1951–|isbn=978-0-674-08906-8|location=Cambridge, Massachusetts|oclc=925305783}}</ref>

== Early life and education == Fenwick was born in Manhattan, New York City, on May 24, 1932.<ref name="hc" /> Her parents, John and Hilda Fenwick, were immigrants to the United States from Trinidad.<ref name="hc" /> She earned a bachelor's degree in history from Barnard College in 1953,<ref>{{Cite news|date=1964-11-16|title=Women to Hear Aide With U.N.|pages=3|work=The Tribune|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/48337198/the-tribune/|access-date=2020-12-24|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Lim|first=Solby|date=Fall 2020|title=A Groundbreaking Protector of Human Rights|url=https://barnard.edu/magazine/fall-2020/groundbreaking-protector-human-rights|access-date=2020-12-24|website=Barnard College|language=en}}</ref> before enrolling at Harvard Law School.<ref name="hc" /> A student in the class of 1956, Fenwick matriculated into the school's fourth class that admitted women.<ref name=":0" /> She then continued her studies at the London School of Economics.<ref name="hc" />

== Career == During her career, Fenwick was a private practice lawyer in the Bronx,<ref>{{Cite news|last=Nichols|first=Vondel|date=1958-09-20|title=Camera Reporter|pages=36|work=The New York Age|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/48336844/the-new-york-age/|access-date=2020-12-24|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> and chief of the U.N. Human Rights Section, focused on indigenous peoples, migration, gender, race, and religious discrimination issues.<ref>{{Cite journal|date=April 24, 2020|title=In Memoriam: Lila Althea Fenwick, 1932–2020|url=https://www.jbhe.com/2020/04/in-memoriam-lila-althea-fenwick-1932-2020/|journal=Journal of Blacks in Higher Education}}</ref> She retired from the United Nations in 1973, before her section's headquarters moved to Geneva.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite book|last=Sollors|first=Werner|title=Blacks at Harvard: A Documentary History of African-American Experience At Harvard and Radcliffe|publisher=NYU Press|year=1993|isbn=9780814739778}}</ref> She also co-founded the Foundation for Research and Education in Sickle Cell Disease with Doris Wethers and Yvette Fay Francis-McBarnette.<ref name=":1">{{Cite news|last=Green|first=Penelope|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/13/obituaries/lila-fenwick-dead-coronavirus.html|title=Lila Fenwick, Who Broke a Barrier at Harvard Law, Dies at 87|date=April 13, 2020|work=The New York Times|access-date=April 18, 2020|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Roberts|first=Sam|date=February 10, 2019|title=Dr. Doris Wethers, 91, Dies; Led Fight Against Sickle Cell|journal=The New York Times|pages=24N|id={{ProQuest|}} }}</ref> Harvard's Black Law Students Association offers a Ruffin-Fenwick Trailblazer Award, named for Fenwick and for George Lewis Ruffin.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Hubbard|first=Crystal|date=April 27, 1995|title=Harvard BLSA seeks solutions to violence|journal=Bay State Banner|pages=7|id={{ProQuest|}}}}</ref>

== Personal life == Fenwick died at her home in Manhattan on April 4, 2020, from complications of COVID-19,<ref>{{Cite web|last=Zaretsky|first=Staci|date=April 15, 2020|title=First Black Woman To Graduate From Harvard Law Dies From Coronavirus Complications|url=https://abovethelaw.com/2020/04/first-black-woman-to-graduate-from-harvard-law-dies-from-coronavirus-complications/|access-date=2020-12-24|website=Above the Law|language=en-US}}</ref> at the age of 87.<ref name="hc" /><ref name=":1" />

== References == {{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fenwick, Lila}} Category:1932 births Category:2020 deaths Category:United Nations officials Category:Alumni of the London School of Economics Category:Harvard Law School alumni Category:Barnard College alumni Category:American people of Trinidad and Tobago descent Category:American expatriates in England Category:Lawyers from Manhattan Category:Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in New York (state) Category:American women lawyers Category:American lawyers {{authority control}}