This tiny clipping on June 26, 1873 caught my attention, and although this woman was from Rockford I decided to follow this story where it would lead me. Perhaps back in 1873 it caught the eye of a young girl in Bloomington and encouraged her to challenge the status quo.
Alta Hulett was the daughter of a doctor, but her family included prominent attorneys. After completing high school in Rockford, IL at the age of 16, Alta taught school for a short time. She decided however, that the law would be her profession. She studied law at home and in the law offices of William Lathrop for one year before attempting the Illinois Bar Exam. All the time that she was pursuing this goal, Alta was aware that another woman, Myra Bradwell, had completed studies, passed the exam and been refused a license to practice solely because of her sex. Alta was not deterred, but completed her work, passed the exam and made her application in 1871. As expected, Alta was refused a license to practice law.
Myra Bradwell had appealed the decision of the Bar Association and waited for that august body to change its mind. Alta decided to attack the problem from another angle. With the assistance of her mentor, William Lathrop, she drafted a proposed law and had it introduced in the Illinois Legislature. This proposed law would make it illegal to refuse anyone employment because of their sex. She argued to the legislature that a woman had the same mental capabilities of a man and should not be precluded from any employment. The legislature passed the law, with two amendments, and Alta May Hulett took the bar exam again and was admitted as an attorney in Illinois in 1873.
Alta's story has an abrupt ending. She moved to California where she continued her work as an attorney, but her life was cut short at the age of 22 when she died of an inherited heart condition.
Because Alta was such an extraordinary figure in history her story is told in several places. Here are just a couple of those links:
https://www.isba.org/committees/women/newsletter/2004/02/theremarkablelifeandtimesofaltamayh
https://www.chicagobar.org/barnone/sect2.html