Rosa Gerhardt

Rosa Gerhardt
Born	(1898-03-29)March 29, 1898
Died	January 5, 1975(1975-01-05) (aged 76)
Education	Cumberland School of Law
Occupation	Attorney

Rosa Gerhardt (March 29, 1898 – January 5, 1975) was an American attorney from Mobile, Alabama, where she served as president of the Mobile Bar Association, the first woman in Alabama to hold the position at a local or state bar association.[1][2]

Early life

Gerhardt was born on March 29, 1898, in Camden, Alabama, the fourth of nine children of Marcus and Esther Gerhardt.[1] The family moved to Mobile in 1914. Rosa graduated from Mobile High School the same year.[1]

Career

Gerhardt taught at Dauphin Island Elementary School before moving to Washington, D.C., where she worked during World War I, before moving back to Mobile to work as a legal assistant to Gregory L. Smith.[1] After working for Smith for nine years, after he died, she enrolled at Cumberland University's law school in Lebanon, Tennessee, and graduated with honors in June 1930.[1] She passed the Alabama Bar Examination, becoming the second female attorney in Mobile.[1]

In 1933, Gerhardt was a delegate to the Alabama convention to ratify the Twenty-first Amendment to the United States Constitution.[3] She also was a member of the Mobile Business and Professional Women's Club, and served as club president in 1941.[1]

References

1. "Rosa Gerhardt". Alabama Women's Hall of Fame. Retrieved August 30, 2019.
2. Rickman, Sarah Byrn (August 2, 2009). Nancy Batson Crews: Alabama's First Lady of Flight. University of Alabama Press. p. 174. ISBN 9780817355531.
3. Brown, Everett Somerville (2003). Ratification of the Twenty-first Amendment to the Constitution of the United States: State Convention Records and Laws. The Lawbook Exchange. pp. 12–19. ISBN 9781584772781.