Louise Ballerstedt Raggio has empowered me to continue the fight for equality for all women, because her actions have had such an impact on so many. While I only met her a handful of times early in my involvement with Dallas Women Lawyers Association, I am grateful for the times I did and the chances I had to help honor her. She is best known for spearheading the Marital Property Act of 1967; her stories of how she did so are equally impressive. She did not yell, stomp or call names; she was simply persistent, and clever. She describes, when interviewed as a Texas Trailblazer, about how she went to Bar Association events, spoke to men whose support she wanted, and if they told her that evening that they agree to be supportive she immediately sent letters to them the next day confirming their support. “I didn’t start out to change the world,” she said, and “really didn’t intend to graduate from law school.” But graduate she did, fortunately, and “then I just kept on going.”
I think of that on tough days, and try to also just keep on going.
– CHRISTINA JUMP
Senior Civil Attorney at Constitutional
Law Center for Muslims in America
