On this date (December 28) in 1894, Burnita Shelton Matthews was born. Despite her Bachelor of Laws and Master of Laws degrees, she was barred from joining professional lawyers' associations. Instead, she joined other women lawyers to establish the National Association of Women Lawyers. In 1921, she began serving as counsel to the National Woman's Party (NWP), helping to pass statutes that allowed women to serve as jurors in Washington, D.C., and gave women the right to sue in South Carolina without a husband's permission. She also won the lawsuit when the NWP headquarters land was condemned to build the Supreme Court (swipe to see the building). The NWP headquarters moved down the street, and the party received the largest condemnation award at that time from the federal government. President Harry S. Truman appointed Matthews to the United States District Court for DC in 1949, making her the first woman to become a judge in the district court system. Images from the Prints and Photographs Division. Image: Woman lawyer uses profession to aid rights of women. Photo by Underwood & Underwood, 1925. Image: Nat'l Hdqrs. Woman's Party. Glass-plate negative from Bain News Service, between 1920 and 1925.