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.