Catherine Roraback facts for kids
Catherine Gertrude Roraback (September 17, 1920 – October 17, 2007) was a civil rights attorney in Connecticut.
Early life and family
Roraback, commonly known as "Katie", was born in Brooklyn, New York to Reverend Albert Edward Roraback and Gertrude Remsen Ditmars on September 17, 1920. Her parents were married in Brooklyn on June 24, 1914. Her father, Albert Roraback was a Congregational Minister of the Church of the Evangel in Brooklyn. Albert Roraback graduated from Yale Divinity School in 1905 and became a pastor at the Church of Evangel in 1910. Reverend Roraback was initially from Canaan, Connecticut, where his father, Alberto T. Roraback, was the chief justice of the Supreme Court of Connecticut.
Among Catherine's well-known relatives was her great-uncle, political boss J. Henry Roraback, who controlled the Connecticut Republican Party from 1912 to 1937, serving as the party's chairman. The Republican Party successfully unified and controlled most affairs throughout the state in the 1920s under Roraback's leadership. At the time, he was considered the most influential man in Connecticut. He was a strong influence in the creation of Connecticut's Candlewood Lake, which is used today to generate electricity. Ironically, amidst the struggle for suffrage at the beginning of the 20th century, J. Henry Roraback opposed the bill that would grant women's suffrage in the United States. This stance contrasted significantly with Catherine's deep involvement in women's rights and her promotion of feminism that came to be her legacy.
Catherine Roraback was also a cousin Andrew Roraback, a state politician and judge from Connecticut. Her family ties to political leaders in Connecticut are extensive and were a powerful influence on her career, as was the influence of her parents, both of whom were social activists.
Roraback attended Mount Holyoke College, from which she graduated in 1941, and Yale Law School, in where she graduated in 1948. She was the only woman in her graduating class at Yale.
Career
In 1955, Roraback took over her family's solo practice in Canaan, Connecticut. She inherited the practice from her uncle, J. Clinton Roraback, who was a trial lawyer. The practice was founded in 1873 by her grandfather, Alberto Roraback. She continued the solo practice in Canaan until her death in 2007. Throughout her early career, she participated in many controversial cases, such as a Smith Act trial in Connecticut in the 1950s, in which she defended members of the Communist party such as Ladislaus "Laddie" Michalowski, a Progressive organizer whom Roraback represented in front of the House Un-American Activities Committee.
Roraback is best known for representing Estelle Griswold and Dr. C. Lee Buxton in the famous 1965 Supreme Court case, Griswold v. Connecticut, which created the precedent of the right to privacy. She is also known for such cases as the New Haven Black Panther trials of 1971, in which she defended Black Panther member Ericka Huggins after she was accused of murder. Roraback dealt with issues such as women's rights and racial discrimination.
Awards and honors
Throughout her career, Catherine Roraback participated in many historically significant groups. She co-founded the Connecticut Civil Liberties Union, an organization that works to secure the rights of citizens as listed in the Bill of Rights. Roraback also served as president of the National Lawyers Guild from 1973 to 1985, an association of lawyers that describes itself as "defending human rights". She served on the Connecticut Women's Education and Legal Fund and was a board member emeritus of the American Civil Liberties Union.
Roraback received numerous awards for her legal and humanitarian actions throughout her life. Among these are induction into the Connecticut Women's Hall of Fame, an esteem also received by Katharine Hepburn and Helen Keller. She is also the namesake of the Catherine Roraback Law Scholarship Fund of the Litchfield County Bar Association.
Later life
After trying many cases throughout the civil rights movement, Catherine Roraback continued her practice in Canaan, Connecticut, continuing to defend civil rights. Her practice also served to help in smaller affairs including criminal defenses and divorces. She continued to defend, as she called them, the "dissenters and the dispossessed". Roraback died at Noble Horizons living facility in Salisbury, Connecticut, of undisclosed causes on October 17, 2007.
