Bessie Margolin papers

Bessie Margolin was born on February 24, 1909 in the Brownsville neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York. Following the death of her mother, Margolin and her siblings were admitted to the Jewish Orphan’s Home in New Orleans, which entitled her to an education at the nearby Isidore Newman Manual Training School. After two years at Newcomb College, Margolin transferred to Tulane University, receiving both her B.A. degree in history and her law degree in 1930. She graduated from Tulane Law School with the second highest academic average and the only woman in her class, was Civil Law Editor of Tulane’s Law Review and was awarded Tulane’s Order of the Coif. She spent the next three years at Yale Law School, the first two as a research assistant to law professor Ernest Lorenzen and the last as a Sterling Fellow which culminated in her award of J.S.D. (doctor of juridical science). Following a summer job with noted former suffragist Doris Stevens, Margolin joined the legal department of the newly created Tennessee Valley Authority. In 1939, she transferred to the United States Labor Department, working to enforce the newly enacted Fair Labor Standards Act. She steadily rose in the ranks at the Labor Department, earning promotions to Assistant Solicitor in 1942, and to Associate Solicitor in 1963, apposition she held until her retirement in 1972. Following World War II, she spent six months in Nuremberg, Germany, on loan to the Army, where she drafted the rules that established the American Military Tribunals for Nazi war crimes.

Margolin’s skill in writing appellate briefs and arguing in the appellate courts enabled her to earn increasing responsibility for the Labor Department’s trial and appellate litigation arising under the Fair Labor Standards Act, including arguing cases at the United States Supreme Court. Margolin, who in 1945 became the 25th woman ever to argue at the Supreme Court, would go on to present a total of 24 arguments, and prevail in 21 of them. When Congress enacted the Equal Pay Act in 1963, the first federal legislation granting rights to women workers, the Labor Department’s court enforcement of the law was assigned to Margolin who argued and won the first circuit court appeals under the law. Although she earlier rejected the title “feminist,” she became an outspoken advocate for women’s rights, giving speeches across the country, and was a founding member of the National Organization for Women. For her service and contributions to the welfare of America’s working men and women, Margolin received every award the Labor Department offered. Margolin died in Arlington, Virginia in 1996