ERIC HOLDER

Eric Holder entered national prominence when he joined the Department of Justice as part of the Attorney General's Honors Program. He was assigned to the newly formed Public Integrity Section in 1976 and was tasked to investigate and prosecute official corruption on the local, state and federal levels. In 1988, Mr. Holder was nominated by President Reagan to become an Associate Judge of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. He was confirmed by the Senate and his investiture occurred in October of that year. Over the next five years, Judge Holder presided over hundreds of civil and criminal trials and matters. Many of the trials involved homicides and other crimes of violence.

In 1993, President Clinton nominated Mr. Holder to become the United States Attorney for the District of Columbia. He was confirmed later that year and served as the head of the largest United States Attorneys office in the nation for nearly four years. He was the first black person to serve in that position. In 1997, President Clinton appointed Mr. Holder to serve as Deputy Attorney General, the number two position in the United States Department of Justice. He became the first African-American to serve as Deputy Attorney General.

CHARLOTTE RAY

Charlotte Ray was the first African American woman lawyer in the United States and the first woman admitted to the bar in the District of Columbia. She became a teacher at Howard University when it was only two years old and later earned a law degree in 1872 from the school. Ray was admitted to the bar in the District of Columbia, which had recently changed its laws to omit "male" from the requirements for the bar. As a "colored woman lawyer" she was unable to sustain a successful private practice. Her history after graduation is difficult to trace, though a few events are known. She participated in the woman suffrage movement, at least briefly. She moved back to New York City where she taught public school in Brooklyn for a few years. She married, though little is known of her husband except his surname, Fraim.