Lafontant-MANkarious, Jewel, 1922-1997

Jewel Stradford LaFontant-MANkarious was born April 28, 1922 to an upper middle class African-American family in Chicago, Illinois. The influence of her father and grandfather, both lawyers, led her to choose a career in law. After receiving an A.B. in political science from Oberlin College in 1943, she entered the University of Chicago Law School and, in 1946, became the first African-American woman to graduate from that institution. From 1955-58 she served as Assistant U.S. District Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois. She returned to private practice until 1972 when President Richard M. Nixon appointed her as Deputy U.S. Solicitor General; she served in this position until 1975. During the 1970s she joined numerous corporate boards as they responded to public pressure to add woman and minority directors. In the 1970s and 80s she became increasingly active in Republican Party politics. She served in President George Bush's administration as Ambassador-at-Large and Coordinator of Refugee Affairs, 1989-93. She served as a trustee of a number of colleges and universities, including Oberlin College, 1980-86. She married John W. Rogers (b. 1918) in 1946. They had one child, John W. Rogers, Jr. (b. 1958), and they divorced in 1961. Her second marriage (1961-76) was to H. Ernest LaFontant (1923-76). She married her third husband, Naguib S. Mankarious (b. 1927), in 1989. Jewel Lafontant-MANkarious died of breast cancer in Chicago in 1997.

Lawyer Jewel Lafontant-MANkarious was born on April 28, 1922 in Chicago, Illinois to Aida Arabella and C. Francis Stradford, an attorney and co-founder of the National Bar Association. Lafontant-MANkarious was raised in Chicago and graduated from Englewood High School. She went on to receive her A.B. degree in political science from Oberlin College in 1943, and her J.D. degree from the University of Chicago Law School in 1946. Lafontant-MANkarious was the first African American woman to graduate from the University of Chicago Law School.

In the late 1940s, Lafontant-MANkarious and her then husband, John Rogers, Sr., went into practice together in the law firm of Rogers, Rogers, and Strayhorn. Lafontant-MANkarious also worked as a trial attorney for the Chicago Legal Aid Society, where she handled landlord-tenant disputes from 1947 to 1953. In 1955, during President Dwight D. Eisenhower's administration, she became the first African American woman to serve as assistant U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Illinois. Following that post, she was appointed by President Richard Nixon as the first African American deputy solicitor general in 1973. During President George H. W. Bush's administration, from 1989 to 1993, Lafontant-MANkarious assumed the roles of U.S. ambassador-at-large and U.S. coordinator for refugee affairs. She also served as the vice chairperson of the U.S. Advisory Commission on International, Educational and Cultural Affairs.

During her career, Lafontant-MANkarious served on more than twenty corporate boards, including Jewel Companies, Inc., Continental Bank, Mobil Corporation, Revlon, Inc., Ariel Capital Management, and Pan American Airlines. She served as secretary of the National Bar Association from 1956 to 1964, and was active in the Cook County Bar Association, Delta Sigma Theta sorority, the Commercial Club of Chicago, the Economic Club of Chicago, and the Chicago branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

Lafontant-MANkarious received many awards, including the Cook County Bar Association Achievement Award; the University of Chicago citation for public service; the CARE Foundation's International Humanitarian Award; and numerous honorary degrees.

Jewel Lafontant-MANkarious was interviewed byThe HistoryMakerson February 5, 1993.

Lafontant-MANkarious passed away on May 31, 1997 at age 75. Her son is John Rogers, Jr., founder and chief executive officer of Ariel Investments.