My mother loved the original “Perry Mason” show and watched it on TV every week. He was very real to her, and she often commented how thrilling it was to see him solve the case at the end. One day, she announced to me and my dad that she had waited long enough and it was time for her to do what she really wanted—go to law school. It was the early 1960’s, and frankly everyone in our local community was pretty shocked, including my father and me.

Time was at a premium for my mom, since she kept her full-time job while attending law school. Of course, neither my dad or I made it any easier for her, as we both sensed we were moving down my mom’s priority scale. Although I didn’t know it at the time, I did do one helpful thing–I read law school cases out loud to her while she did my hair. I didn’t mind too much because the cases and their weird but interesting facts made it easier to ignore the pulling and tugging that was part of the daily braiding ritual. Sometimes we would talk about the cases too. My mother would ask me how I think they should be resolved and then she would say what she thought and why. I was fascinated with my mother’s explanations about how the law worked. Seemed even better than Perry Mason who had the same outcome every week!

Now, these reading sessions were not the first time my mother was learning the cases. She had already read them at least twice, prepared a typed outline, and now she was hearing them orally. She said my reading really helped her get prepared for class. She also had world famous lecture notes that classmates clamored for: she took her notes in “shorthand” (what looked to me to be a series of undecipherable swirls, curlicues and cave markings that only she understood) and then typed them up in plain English. I remember watching her at the typewriter while she pointed out, “You should learn shorthand and how to type. You can always get a job.”

Not surprisingly, my mother finished law school among the top students in her class. She started working at a very fancy downtown Boston law firm, which had never hired a Black lawyer before, much less a Black woman in her 40s. They assigned her to do client wills and estates. She did it for a while but hungered to move to a different area of the law. She went on to work as an Assistant Attorney General for the first African American Attorney General of Massachusetts, The Honorable Edward W. Brooke, who would go on to become a US Senator from Massachusetts.

My mother found her next opportunity through a close friend who was also a woman lawyer in Washington DC. Her friend told her that Congress had created several federally subsidized housing programs meant to transform inner cities across the nation. Local churches and community organizations could be project sponsors. There would be big opportunities to do well while doing good! My mother in another surprise move picked up and left Boston and moved to Washington, DC to specialize in the new federal housing programs. She worked on a number of multifamily housing developments which to this day still house families in the Washington, DC area.

After working for a small firm in Washington DC doing subsidized project development, my mother struck out on her own and founded her own law firm with a colleague from law school. Another daring and surprise move. She worked day and night, 7 days a week to try and make it work. It was hard but she did it. Her law firm lasted for more than 20 years until she died suddenly in 1998. She had been working on a client matter when she had a massive stroke. She often said she wanted to die “with her boots on.”

When I was young, there were times when I was angry at my mother for not being around all the time like my friends’ moms. But I learned that that was a small price to pay for the privilege of seeing someone despite many odds and unsupportive local opinion successfully pursue a dream. It never occurred to me that a woman should not work, go to graduate school or have a meaningful career. She didn’t teach me how to study; she showed me how to study so that you really know the subject matter. What a role model I had! And truly what a difference it made as I pursued my own legal career. I had someone who understood what I was doing and could actually give me helpful advice. My own private mentor.

Perhaps one of the greatest gifts my mother gave me was the confidence that while you might not have it all, you could get close. That it would all turn out ok (including the kids) even when it seemed there simply wasn’t enough time to do anything right. Just stay focused and do the best you can.

My mother inspired a number of other women besides me to go into law. I continue to meet people today who tell me how she helped them or how they looked up to her for succeeding in a very demanding career at a time when women in professional jobs were relatively scarce and generally faced hostility from many angles.

My mother was gone too soon but her legacy continues to inspire and resonate. In a world where there is more complexity but also more acceptable choices she remains a role model for women today.