Do you ever think about being the first to do something? Jane Bolin, Ida Gray and Maria of Curaçao never knew they’d raise an army of judges, dentists and rebels. But they did. Their futures were lost in a haze. These three women did not enjoy privilege. They suffered under the weight of oppression. But they couldn’t let it stand. They set out to change the future. But they never knew what role they were to play. Or how anyone would remember them. For their efforts, one was to break barriers, one was to become a role model, and one was to die. This is the story of when an uncertain future led three very different women to revolution…
Jane Bolin: The First Judge
Jane Bolin could not walk the streets of Poughkeepsie knowing she was safe. She tried not to show any fear but as the daughter of an interracial couple, fear was all she knew. Turned away from ‘whites only’ establishments became her normal routine. Little did she know that one day she would be the judge of others.
She was born on April 11th, 1908. New York. Her father, Gaius, was the first black person to graduate from Williams College. He was an inspiration for Bolin. He practised law for some 50 years but could do little for his daughter facing harassment every day.
She knew the price to pay for so-called ‘insolence’. She saw the black men hang. Their crime? What crime? But Bolin could not opt out of being a victim. Vassar College prevented her from enrolling. No black students allowed.
So at 16, Bolin enrolled at Wellesley College. Even here she was one of only two black students. She hardly enjoyed her time here. The white students were relentless in their hatred of her. All because she was black. And so Bolin and the only other black student decided to stick together.
They lived in a house off campus.
Just about everyone she met discouraged Bolin. Her career adviser at Wellesley College told her not to apply to Yale Law School. You’re black. And a woman. They’ll never accept you.
But Bolin was not discouraged and, in 1931, she became the first black woman to graduate from Yale. Thoughts of discrimination were never far from her mind. She passed the New York state bar examination in 1932. Her proud father hired her in no time at all.
This was only for a short while. The judge’s chair was calling her name. Bolin moved on to practice law with her new husband, Ralph. She ran for the New York State Assembly in 1936. Although she lost, it bolstered her political reputation.
On July 22nd, 1939 at the New York World’s Fair, Mayor La Guardia appointed Bolin as a judge of the Domestic Relations Court. For the next 20 years, she was the only black female judge in America. She remained a judge of the court for 40 years until she was forced to retire aged 70.
During her time, Bolin worked to encourage racially integrated child services and ensure that judges assigned probation officers without regard for race or religion, and publicly funded child care agencies accepted children without regard to ethnic background.
She remained an ardent activist for children’s rights and education throughout her life. She also sought to combat racial discrimination from religious groups by helping to open a special school for black boys in New York City.
After a life of ground-breaking achievements, Jane Bolin died on January 8th, 2007 at the age of 98.
Ida Gray: The First Dentist
Ida Gray relied on her experience to open doors that she would, otherwise, not have been able to walk through. For most children, the dentist was the nightmare, not the dream. Perhaps not many children dream of becoming a dentist, nor the very first.
But Gray was not most children.
She was born March 4th, 1867 in Clarksville, Tennessee. We don’t know where her father was as she grew. Gray was raised by her mother until she died when Gray was in her early teens. She was left in the care of her aunt, Caroline.
She expected Gray to contribute to the family’s income. Gray found the odd job here and there, working as a seamstress and in the dental office of Jonathan and William Taft. I have no idea if that’s THE William Taft, President of America, but I would bet there’s not much difference between pulling teeth and leading the free world…
Gray always dreamt of being a dentist. And so she enjoyed her time working at the dentist’s office. This was often the work of white women in the late 1880s. But Gray was working for Jonathan Taft. As I’m sure you know, a big name in the dentist game.
As dean of the Dental College of Michigan, he was an avid supporter of admitting women to dental school. Under his deanship, the first woman graduated in 1880. It was William Taft who provided Gray with her dental mentorship as she worked for the brothers.
They promised to do whatever they could so Gray could achieve her dream. And she did. She passed the entrance exam and found herself in the dental college. In 1890, she graduated.
In doing so, she became America’s first black woman to graduate with a Doctor of Dental Surgery. It was not just a proud moment in her life, but a significant moment for black women across America.
Gray opened a private dental practice in Cincinnati in 1890, only months after she graduated. Well, time waits for no woman. She remained at this practice until 1895 when she married Spanish-American War veteran Sanford Nelson.
The couple moved to Chicago where Gray set up a practice serving men and women. Of all races. There was no segregation here, as there was in so many other dental practices. Gray was the commander of her dental practice.
There’ll be none of that discrimination nonsense in here, thank you…
Gray had already become America’s first black female dentist, but in Chicago, she became the city’s first black dentist, man or woman. She was an ardent supporter of equality and women’s rights, participating in several women’s organisations.
We know she retired from her dental practice in the mid-1930s. She, much like Jane Bolin, lived a life of ground-breaking achievements and inspired so many to follow in her footsteps. And all it took for her to achieve her dream was for someone to give her a chance.
Ida Gray died on May 3rd, 1953 at the age of 86.
Maria of Curaçao: The Slave Rebellion
We don’t know much about Maria of Curaçao. We don’t know when she was born but we know in the early 18th century, she worked as a cook for the Dutch West India Company. They owned a plantation in St. Maria, Curaçao.
Maria plotted a revolt. There were hardly any rebellions in the 18th and 19th centuries. But Maria set out to change all this. She plotted her revolt with the enslaved on the plantation. In particular, the newly arrived slaves.
They were far more likely to risk it all to escape.
It was the final days of the summer of 1716. September 15th. Maria’s rebellion began. We don’t know how Maria planned all this. Or what her endgame was. What we do know is that several dozen slaves on the plantation rebelled and killed some of the white staff.
The rebellion lasted 10 days until the military from Willemstad ended the revolt. Under torture, Maria’s lover, an enslaved man named Tromp, confessed that Maria had planned the rebellion as she wanted revenge on the plantation’s owner.
He had killed her spouse.
The only evidence used to tie Maria to the rebellion was the statement from Tromp extracted under torture. Maria always claimed her innocence. Torture is an unreliable way to extract information but we know Maria and Tromp were a couple. The authorities could not prove or disprove her involvement. But it needn’t matter.
A confession was all the authorities needed. They sentenced Maria to death. On November 9th, 1716, she was burnt alive.
Maria of Curaçao could have led a rebellion of the enslaved. So many people did. Even if she didn’t, her story is one of courage and determination. She saw a wrong and set to put it right, seeing the obstacles in front of her that had to be defeated. No matter what her involvement was, she knew it had to end.
Her revolt was a rebellion. Ida Gray’s revolt was in her fierce determination. And Jane Bolin’s revolt was ascending to a place where she would be the one making judgments. Their revolutions and the people they inspired are different, but what connects them is their courage.
They stood by their convictions, even Maria who shouted for the freedom of the enslaved as she was burnt. Their strength was in their actions. Their fight indomitable.
Epilogue
On July 22nd, 1939, Jane Bolin was sworn in as a judge in New York City, a position she would hold for the next 40 years. In 1931, she became the first black woman to graduate from Yale and by 1939, she was sworn in as America’s first black female judge. Her life was one of courage and commitment to take on the often discriminatory laws of a nation.
Her revolution was a desire to change those laws.
Ida Gray was the first black American woman to become a dentist and Chicago’s first black dentist. She became a role model for women to follow. Her life was one of fierce determination to achieve her childhood dream of becoming a dentist, in a nation where no one had done that before.
Her revolution was a desire to follow her dream and prove that no barrier is too great to overcome.
In 1716, Maria of Curaçao burned to death for leading a slave rebellion. How involved she was is beside the point. It was a cause that mattered to her more than anything. She banked on the hope of newly arrived slaves and their desperation to escape but it was all for nothing. Her life was one cut tragically short when she decided enough was enough.
Her revolution was a desire to free those who should have never been shackled and to stand up for what is right, no matter what the consequences may be.
There are many types of revolution and many ways to make a stand. These three women became icons of hope and empowerment. Their actions echo through history as an everlasting reminder of what it takes and what it costs to change the world.
Jane Bolin said in 1958:
Those gains we have made were never graciously and generously granted. We have had to fight every inch of the way – in the face of sometimes insufferable humiliations.
Toodle-Pip :}{:
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Image Credits
https://www.biography.com/political-figure/jane-bolin, https://handeaux.tumblr.com/post/676341272657690624/ida-gray-a-pioneering-cincinnati-dentist-who, https://blackthen.com/maria-curacao-slave-revolt-1716/
Post Sources
https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/rollins-ida-gray-nelson-1867-1953/, https://blackthen.com/maria-curacao-slave-revolt-1716/, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_(rebel_leader), https://www.ohsu.edu/womens-health/women-who-inspire-us-ida-gray-nelson-rollins, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Bolin, https://ignitenational.org/blog/the-life-and-legacy-of-judge-jane-bolin, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ida_Gray, https://www.executedtoday.com/2019/11/09/1716-maria-of-curacao-slave-rebel/, https://allthatsinteresting.com/jane-bolin
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