BARBARA ARONSTEIN BLACK

Barbara Aronstein Black, dean of the Columbia University Law School, was the first woman named to head one of the nation's leading law schools. A Columbia Law School alumna, she was appointed to the George Welwood Murray professorship in legal history at her alma mater in 1984. Less than two years later, after Columbia Law Dean Benno Schmidt, Jr., accepted the presidency of Yale University, Black was asked to become head of the Columbia Law School.
Always a good student, she went to Columbia Law from Brooklyn College, she says, primarily because her father and two brothers were in law. At Columbia she met Professor Charles L. Black, Jr., whom she married in 1954. In 1956, she left Columbia to begin raising their family.
Nearly ten years later, she returned to academia when she began studying for the doctorate in history at Yale University. In 1974 she became lecturer in history at Yale. Two years later she was named assistant professor of history, and, in 1979, she was promoted to associate professor of law.
Among her many accomplishments, she has been president of the American Legal History Society and a member of the board of trustees of the Law and Society Association, served as editor of the Columbia Law Review, and been a member of the editorial board for Law and History Review. A recipient of the Federal Bar Association Prize of Columbia Law School, Dean Black was awarded the honorary degree Doctor of Laws by New York University in 1986.
BLACKWELL RECIPIENTS
May 16, 2021
Librarian of Congress Carla HaydenFebruary 3, 2021
Supreme Court Associate Justice Ruth Bader GinsburgJanuary 22, 2015
Dr. Janet L. YellenNovember 10, 2013
The Most Reverend Doctor Katharine Jefferts SchoriOctober 27, 2011
Eunice Kennedy Shriver-
April 23, 2009
Rabbi Sally J. Priesand -
April 24, 2008
Dr. Wangari Maathai Sc.D.'94, P '94, P '96 -
April 27, 2007
Dr. Priscilla A. Schaffer '64, Sc.D. '94 -
September 7, 2004
Bishop Barbara Clementine Harris September 9, 2003
Loretta C. FordSeptember 4, 2001
Madeleine K. AlbrightMay 15, 1998
Billie Jean KingFebruary 10, 1996
Wilma MankillerSeptember 23, 1993
Barbara JordanSeptember 27, 1991
Margaret Chase SmithFebruary 22, 1991
Dr. Antonia C. NovelloFebruary 19, 1988
Barbara Aronstein BlackOctober 9, 1985
Cicely SaundersMarch 8, 1985
Sandra Day O’ConnorFebruary 11, 1984
Hannah Holborn GrayFebruary 26, 1982
Agnes George de MilleFebruary 15, 1980
Mary Douglas LeakeySeptember 30, 1977
Mary S. CalderoneOctober 3, 1975
Antonia BricoJanurary 23, 1974
Frances Keller HardingMay 28, 1973
Judith Graham PoolJune 8, 1972
Marian AndersonApril 10, 1972
Mary LaskerJune 13, 1971
Mina ReesJune 14, 1970
Helen Brooke TaussigJune 15, 1969
Georgiana SibleyJune 16, 1968
Constance Baker MotleySeptember 8, 1967
Catharine MacfarlaneJuly 10, 1966
Fe del MundoJune 13, 1965
Annette LeMeitour-KaplunJune 14, 1964
Margaret MeadJune 9, 1963
Marty MannJune 10, 1962
Frances PerkinsJune 18,1961
Leona BaumgartnerJune 12, 1960
Miki SawadaJune 14, 1959
Elisabeth Luce MooreSeptember 27, 1958
Gwendolyn Grant Mellon