The Promise of Lutie A. Lytle: An Introduction to the Tenth Annual Commemorative Lutie A. Lytle Black Women Law Faculty Workshop Iowa Law Review Issue

• Author: Angela Onwuachi-Willig
• Position: Chancellor's Professor of Law, University of California, Berkeley
• Pages: 1843-1846

The Promise of Lutie A. Lytle: An Introduction to the Tenth Annual Commemorative Lutie A. Lytle Black Women Law Faculty Workshop Iowa Law Review Issue Angela Onwuachi-Willig * It is with great pleasure and pride that I offer this introduction and welcome to this special Iowa Law Review issue in celebration of the Tenth Annual Commemorative Lutie A. Lytle Black Women Law Faculty Workshop. Named after Lutie A. Lytle, an African American woman who became the first female law professor in the nation (and, likely, in the world) in 1897, 1 the Workshop has afforded diverse law faculty an unparalleled opportunity to prepare for the job market; to develop teaching and leadership skills; to hone scholarly agendas; and to workshop articles, book proposals, and “ideas-in-progress” since its founding at the University of Iowa College of Law in July 2007. The Workshop grew, in part, out of conversations (real and virtual) that I had with other African American black women faculty about the disturbing trend that a couple of Association of American Law Schools (“AALS”) studies revealed about the experiences of faculty of color in legal academia. In particular, those AALS studies exposed a widening tenure gap between majority and minority law professors as compared to the nearly closed gender gap between male and female professors in the legal academy. 2 The data also revealed a decline in the percentages of law faculty of color hired from two * Chancellor’s Professor of Law, University of California, Berkeley School of Law. I give my sincere thanks to all of the women who have worked hard each year to ensure that the Lutie A. Lytle Workshop survives and thrives in legal academia. Special thanks for this Tenth Annual Commemorative Workshop goes to Taja-Nia Henderson, Lolita Buckner Innis, Victoria Sahani, Shaakirah Sanders, Catherine Smith, and Adrien Wing. I also thank Charles and Marion Kierscht, Dean Gail Agrawal, and the University of Iowa Provost’s Office for their kind support. Finally, I give special thanks to my husband Jacob Willig-Onwuachi and our three children, Elijah, Bethany, and Solomon for their constant love and support. 1 . Pioneering Facts About Black Women Lawyers and Law Teachers , in REBELS IN LAW: VOICES IN HISTORY OF BLACK WOMEN LAWYERS 277 (J. Clay Smith, Jr. ed. 1998); See J. CLAY SMITH, JR., EMANCIPATION: THE MAKING OF THE BLACK LAWYER 1844–1944, at 57–58 (1993). 2. Meera E. Deo, Looking Forward to Diversity in Legal Academia , 29 BERKELEY J...