Dates: 1909-1988.
Original scrapbooks in boxes 9-14 are restricted; microfilm roll 36598 must be used instead.

Biography:

Burnita Shelton Matthews

Burnita Shelton Matthews was born in Burnell, Mississippi, on December 28, 1894. She was the third of six children of Burnell and Lora Drew Barlow Shelton. Her father owned a plantation and served as chancery clerk and tax collector of Copiah County. Although Matthews had an early interest in the law, she studied voice and piano at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music and received a teaching certificate. She married Percy Matthews on April 28, 1917.

Percy Matthews was born in New Orleans and grew up in Mississippi. He graduated from Millsaps College in Jackson, Mississippi, and the Chicago-Kent College of Law. Matthews enlisted in the army in 1917, serving as a flying cadet during World War I. He served as an attorney and field investigator for the Veterans Administration after the war. Matthews was commissioned as a captain in the Judge Advocate Generals Department of the Army Reserve in 1934, and he was called to active duty in 1942 to serve as staff judge advocate at military installations around the country. He also served as staff judge advocate and senior legal officer in the Mediterranean theater, the European command headquarters, and the Africa-Middle East headquarters during World War II. Matthews retired from the military as a lieutenant colonel in 1955. He died on January 8, 1969, and was interred in Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia.

During World War I, Burnita Shelton Matthews abandoned her career as a music teacher and moved to Washington, D.C. There she worked as a clerk in the Veterans Administration while attending night classes at the law school of National University (now George Washington University). She received a bachelor of laws degree in 1919 and master of laws and master of patent laws degrees in 1920. She was admitted to the bar of the District of Columbia in 1920 and to the bars of the United States Supreme Court and Mississippi in 1924. She practiced law privately in the Washington, D.C., area for twenty-five years, and she was an instructor in the laws of evidence at Washington College of Law (now part of American University) from 1934 to 1939.

She also became involved with the National Woman's Party, actively supporting the Equal Rights Amendment and helping write much of the early literature favoring the amendment. Mississippi Governor Henry L. Whitfield chose Matthews to represent Mississippi as a fraternal delegate at the International Woman Suffrage Alliance meeting in Paris, France, in 1926. When the United States government sought to purchase the headquarters of the National Woman's Party (the "Old Brick Capitol"), Matthews served as counsel. This case established the purchase price of the property that is now the site of the United States Supreme Court building.

Matthews was appointed to the United States District Court of the District of Columbia by President Harry S. Truman on October 21, 1949. She was the first woman to be appointed as a federal district court judge. Among the more noteworthy cases over which Matthews presided during her long career are the following: Monroe v. United States (1956); Kyne v. Leedom (1958); United States v. Wise (1962); and United States v. McSurely (1972). She also refused to order the State Department to issue a passport to singer/actor Paul Robeson in 1955; signed the order that formally disbanded the Grand Army of the Republic in 1956; and presided over the 1957 bribery trial of future Teamsters Union president Jimmy Hoffa in which he was acquitted. Matthews's decision to step down as an active judge was announced on March 1, 1968.

Following her retirement, Matthews took senior judge status, and from 1969 to 1970, United States Supreme Court chief justice Warren Burger assigned her to work on the United States Court of Customs and Patent Appeals. Matthews served on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia from 1970 to 1977. She continued to serve as a United States District Court judge through September 1983.

Burnita Shelton Matthews died on April 25, 1988, following a stroke. She is buried in the Shelton family cemetery in Copiah County, Mississippi.

During her lifetime, Matthews received the following honors:

  • Woman of the Month Award of the American Woman's Club, New York City, 1950.
  • Honorary doctor of laws degree from George Washington University, Washington, D.C., 1950.
  • Citation from the District of Columbia State Federation of Business and Professional Women's Clubs, 1958.
  • Honorary doctor of laws degree from American University, Washington, D.C., 1966.
  • Woman Lawyer of the Year, Women's Bar Association, 1968.
  • Alumni Achievement Award, George Washington University, Washington, D.C., 1968.
  • Distinguished Service Award of the District of Columbia Bar Association, 1968.
 
Scope and Content Note:

This collection contains scrapbooks, correspondence, photographs, speeches, reports, publications and memorabilia documenting the legal career and personal life of Burnita Shelton Matthews. 

 
Series Identification:

Series 1: Correspondence. 1936-1937; 1949-1975 (scattered); n.d. 2 folders.

The first series contains a small amount of correspondence, most of which concerns Matthews's appointment to the federal bench. Of particular interest are a letter from President Harry S. Truman and correspondence from Chief Justice Warren Burger.

Box 1

 

Series 2: Photographs. 1909-1985 (scattered); 1987; n.d. 9 folders.

The second series contains photographs that document Matthewss personal and professional life from 1909 to 1987, including a 1932 photograph of Matthews with aviator Amelia Earhart. 

Boxes 1-2

 

Series 3: Speeches. 1930-1937; 1943; 1946; 1955; 1981; 1983; n.d. 9 folders.

The third series is composed of speeches by Matthews and others, most of which fall under the broad heading of "women and the law." 

Box 3

 

Series 4: Publications. 1920; 1924; 1928-1931; 1934-1936; 1938-1939; 1942; 1946; 1950; 1956-1976; 1978; 1983-1985; 1988. 38 folders.

The fourth series contains pamphlets and books written by Matthews and others. The majority of these publications are concerned with women's rights. This series also contains a list that documents Matthews's opinions, the text of which may be found in the Federal Reporter. 

Boxes 3-6

 

Series 5: Reports. 1934-1935; 1942-1943; 1983-1984. 5 folders.

Reports, the bulk of which document Matthews's early career with the National Woman's Party, comprise the fifth series. 

Box 6

 

Series 6: Programs. 1932; 1940; 1950; 1968. 4 folders.

The sixth series contains various programs.

Box 6

 

Series 7: Scrapbooks and Newsclippings. 1922-1943; 1949-1981; n.d. 11 bound volumes; 17 folders; 1 35 mm. positive microfilm roll.

The seventh series, the largest in the collection, contains scrapbooks and newsclippings. The eleven scrapbooks, microfilmed by the Schlesinger Library at Radcliffe College, contain newsclippings that document Matthews's career from 1949 to 1981. The other newsclippings document Matthews's early work with the National Woman's Party following the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment.

Box 7

Boxes 9-14 (restricted); microfilm roll 36598 must be used instead.

Box 15

 

Series 8: Certificates and Awards. 1920; 1924; 1949-1950; 1960; 1968; 1973; 1988. 7 folders.

The eighth series contains certificates and awards, and it includes material related to the portrait of Matthews that was put on display in the ceremonial courtroom of the United States District Court of the District of Columbia on February 1, 1973. 

Box 2; Boxes 15-16

 

Series 9: Miscellany. 1950; 1956-1965; 1974. 3 folders.

The final series contains a 78-rpm recording of Burnita Shelton Matthews, an unidentified guest list, and a transcript of Bill Moyers Journal, a television program on which Matthews appeared in 1974.

Box 16