Lila Fenwick, lawyer
Lila Althea Fenwick – an American lawyer, human rights advocate and United Nations official – died on April 4, 2020 due to Covid-19.
She was the first black women to graduate from Harvard Law School.
Fenwick was born in Manhattan, New York, on May 24, 1932. Her parents, John and Hilda Fenwick, had immigrated to the United States from Trinidad. She received her bachelor’s degree from Barnard College in
1953 before enrolling at Harvard Law School.
A student in the class of 1956, Fenwick matriculated into the school’s fourth class that admitted women. She then completed her studies at the London School of Economics.
During her career, Fenwick was a private practice lawyer and later became chief of the U.N. Human Rights Section. She held the position ...