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Tracy Thomas
SCHOLAR OF CONSTITUTIONAL LAW AND LEGAL HISTORY
The First Woman Judge: The Life and Legacy of Florence Allen (University of California Press 2026) explores how Florence Allen was the first woman judge many times over—first federal appellate court judge, first elected to a state supreme court, and first shortlisted to the US Supreme Court. During Allen’s forty years on the bench, the country swung between progressivism and conservatism, with passage of a constitutional amendment for women’s voting rights, two world wars, the Red and Lavender Scares, and the New Deal.
Throughout these changes, women as a group used their new political standing to transform the courts in both form and substance, first by becoming active agents in the justice system, and then by developing theories of public law, social justice, and fair process. In addition to exploring Allen’s fascinating legal life, author Tracy Thomas uses her story to recount the larger history of how women infiltrated the legal system as judges, lawyers, jurors, and legislators to demand a more representative system of justice for the welfare of all.
Elizabeth Cady Stanton and the Feminist Foundations of Family Law (New York University Press 2016) extends the discussion of Stanton’s impact on modern-day feminism by analyzing her intellectual contributions to—and personal experiences with—family law. Stanton’s work on family issues has been overshadowed by her work (especially with Susan B. Anthony) on woman’s suffrage. But throughout her fifty-year career, Stanton emphasized reform of the private sphere of the family as central to achieving women’s equality. By weaving together law, feminist theory, and history, Thomas explores Stanton’s little-examined philosophies on and proposals for women’s equality in marriage, divorce, and family, and reveals that the campaigns for equal gender roles in the family that came to the fore in the 1960s and ’70s had nineteenth-century roots. Using feminist legal theory as a lens to interpret Stanton’s political, legal, and personal work on the family, Thomas argues that Stanton’s positions on divorce, working mothers, domestic violence, childcare, and many other topics were strikingly progressive for her time, providing significant parallels from which to gauge the social and legal policy issues confronting women in marriage and the family today
"Excellent new book . . . eminently readable yet deeply substantive." —Paula S. Monopoli, Professor of Law, Director, Women, Leadership & Equality Program, University of Maryland
"Tracy Thomas delivers particularly insightful analysis. . . . particularly timely in the twenty-first century when we witness a century and a half of supposed progress being either rolled back . . . or exposed as still subject to institutional or industry sexism. . . . Thomas skillfully weaves a sophisticated exploration." — Rebecca Fraser, Professor of American History & Culture, University of East Anglia
Feminist Legal History: Essays on Women and the Law (New York University Press 2011) represents feminist legal historians’ efforts to define their field, by showcasing historical research and analysis that demonstrates how women were denied legal rights, how women used the law proactively to gain rights, and how, empowered by law, women worked to alter the law to try to change gendered realities. Encompassing two centuries of American history, thirteen original essays expose the many ways in which legal decisions have hinged upon ideas about women or gender as well as the ways women themselves have intervened in the law. An introductory chapter by editors Tracy Thomas and Tracey Jean Boisseau provides the pivotal history and theoretical context for the book.
"Superb interdisciplinary collection . . . . [with an] illuminating introduction." — Amy Dru Stanley, Professor of History, University of Chicago
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