Honoree Profile: Louise Raggio

Louise Raggio graduated from Southern Methodist University Law School in 1952.The only woman in her law school class, she became the first woman criminal assistant district attorney in Dallas County, the first woman in its 100-year history elected a director of the State Bar of Texas, and the first woman trustee and chair of the board of the Texas Bar Foundation.

Fed up with having to get consent from her husband to transact her own business, in 1965 she obtained permission from the State Bar of Texas to do a massive revision of Texas laws — the most discriminatory laws concerning married women in the U.S.Her revisions gave married women the same rights and responsibilities as married men. After she successfully lobbied these laws through the conservative legislature in 1966, and Governor John Connally signed the bills into law effective January 1, 1968, truly a new day had dawned in Texas.

Raggio did not stop there. She had already successfully campaigned for Texas women to serve on juries, and later chaired a task force creating a new Family Code for Texas (believed to be the first in the USA), which she lobbied through succeeding sessions of the Texas legislature. It was later signed by succeeding governors, including Ann Richards. Because the new statutes worked so well, Texas adopted the ERA by constitutional amendment in 1975.

In 1995 Raggio received the Margaret Bent Award from the American Bar Association; she chaired the Family Law section of the State Bar and American bar, organized the Dallas Women's Lawyers Association and continues to be in active practice of the law until almost 90.

Unable to travel, her VFA medal will be received by her good friend and fellow Dallas feminist, Virginia Whitehill.

[ Event Schedule ] [ Event Flyer (PDF) ] [ Event Program (PDF) ] [ Event Photos ][ Honorees ] [ Home ]