Attorney for Racial Justice

By Gwendolyn Etter-Lewis. Illustrated by Luthando Mazibuko

Elsie Austin was the first African-American woman to graduate from the University of Cincinnati School of Law in 1930. She declared her belief in Baha’u’llah in 1934 and went on to become the first African-American woman to serve as assistant attorney general for the state of Ohio. For a decade afterward, she was a foreign service diplomat and worked tirelessly on cultural and educational projects in several African countries. This book gives a fictionalized account of Elsie Austin’s life based on the author’s research of and interviews with her. It is hoped that the reader will gain an appreciation for this champion of racial justice and how she rose during her lifetime to become a Change Maker.