Clara Foltz Criminal Justice Center
She wrote the law that let her practice, then the idea that lets the poor have a lawyer.
Listen to this place’s story in Peplos.
How the story begins
She told people her husband was dead. He was not. Jeremiah Foltz, a Union soldier she had married at fifteen, had left her in San Jose with five children. Sewing and taking in boarders did not pay enough. Clara Foltz decided on the law, and California's statute said any "white male citizen" could practice. So she wrote a bill to change it. It narrowly passed both houses, and it would die on the governor's desk unless he signed by midnight.
The rest is in the app. Peplos plays the full story when you reach the place. You can also listen ahead of time.
Visiting
210 West Temple Street, Downtown. A working criminal courthouse with security at the door. See it from the street.
Sources
- Los Angeles Public Library, Who the Heck is Clara Shortridge Foltz?
- Women Lawyers Journal, Honoring California's First Woman Lawyer, 2002
- Los Angeles City Historical Society, Clara Shortridge Foltz
- KQED via KHSU, The West's first lady lawyer
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