In January of 1946, Oklahoma native Ada Lois Sipuel Fisher — valedictorian of Chickasha's Lincoln High School and a graduate of Langston University, Oklahoma's only historically black college or university — applied to law school at the University of Oklahoma, a direct challenge to racially segregated higher education.

Not officially admitted until 1949, her struggle involved multiple courts, an effort by the Oklahoma attorney general to create an "alternative" law school, and a mass demonstration by OU students in support of her admission.

When Fisher graduated in 1951, she not only became the first Black person to graduate from law school in Oklahoma but also was among a tiny minority of women to do so, less than 5 percent nationwide.

Learn more about Ada Sipuel Fisher.

This vignette was produced by the Chancellor's Commission on Women.