As Women’s History Month [2021] nears its end, the Lucille Stewart Beeson Law Library would like to highlight a resource that explores the contributions that women have made to the foundation of Cumberland School of Law. The Centennial of Cumberland Women: A Narrative Account of the Progress of Education of Women in the South, written by B. Frank Burns, presents information about the roles of women at Cumberland University between the years of 1893 and 1993.

In 1847, Cumberland School of Law was established at Cumberland University in Lebanon, Tennessee. (In 1961, the law school moved to its current home in Birmingham, Alabama.) In The Centennial of Cumberland Women, Burns writes about the first women who were admitted into the law program at Cumberland University, and he, also, writes about the last woman who received her law degree from the program in Lebanon. (Her name was Peggy Ford Williams, who went on to serve as chief counsel of the Tennessee Department of Agriculture). In the book, Burns, also, provides information about the women who served on the faculty when the law program was at Cumberland University.

The full-text of The Centennial of Cumberland Women is found online.  For additional information about the history of Cumberland School of Law, please visit the Archives & Special Collections Resource Guide (prepared by Della Holland Darby).

If you have any questions about the resources available at the Lucille Stewart Beeson Law Library, please do not hesitate to contact us.