Jewel LaFontant-MANkarious Papers, 1875-1997
| Oberlin College Archives
Administrative/Biographical History
Jewel Carter Stradford was born April 28, 1922, to an upper middle class African-American family in Chicago, Illinois. Her mother, Aida Carter Stradford (d. 1972), was an artist and homemaker, and her father, C. Francis Stradford (1892-1963; A.B. 1912), was a prominent attorney on Chicago’s south side. Her grandfather, J.B. Stradford (d. 1935; Oberlin Academy 1882-85), had also been a lawyer. To understand the creator of these personal papers, who was born into a proud family of achievement, one must appreciate not only her class and race but also that she was third generation college educated.
Her father, C.F. Stradford, was a founder of the National Bar Association in 1925. He was one of a group of attorneys, including Irvin C. Mollison (Oberlin College 1916-17), who argued the case of Hansberry et al. v. Lee et al. (311 U.S. 32) before the U.S. Supreme Court. In this landmark 1940 case, the nation’s highest court abolished the restrictive covenants on the use of land that had limited racial integration in Chicago neighborhoods. Another notable experience in the legal career of C.F. Stradford was representing his father J.B. Stradford following the historically significant Tulsa race riots of 1921.
After earning a law degree from Indiana University in 1899, J.B. Stradford relocated to Tulsa, Oklahoma. There he was a prominent member of the African-American community, serving as an attorney and as the owner of the only black hotel in Tulsa. In May of 1921, J.B. Stradford led a protest against the arrest and lynching of a Jewish man. A week later, a rumor circulated that a young white woman had been assaulted. This accusation or charge set off a riot, leading the local police to arrest J.B. Stradford on charges of inciting the riot. Local authorities released him on a writ of habeas corpus filed by his son C.F. Stradford, who then assisted his father to sneak out of Oklahoma, probably saving his life.
Regarding family accounts of the aforementioned incident, Jewel Stradford later admitted that it led her to consider “being a lawyer…because you can save lives” (Jet, June 23, 1997). Apparently, by the time she reached the age of fourteen, Jewel knew that she wanted to become an attorney of law. The family resided at 4937 Washington Park Court, and she attended Englewood Public High School in Chicago. During her summers, Jewel worked in her father’s law office. Then, in the fall of 1939, she followed in the footsteps of her father, grandfather, and grandmother Bertie Wiley Stradford (d. 1904; Oberlin Academy 1876-79) by entering Oberlin College to major in political science. Dascomb Cottage, which then housed 49 young women of both races, was her residence hall. While at Oberlin, all indicators suggest that Jewel was a solid student, active in extra-curricular activities. One classmate recalled, though, that she was “a very quiet member of the class of 1943.” Clearly, Jewel was not your typical African-American coed. She spent time at the Phillis Wheatley Center and was the president of the Liberal Club, a prominent Student Senate sponsored campus organization. In addition, she was captain of her class volleyball team, secretary of the Sports Board, and a member of the Forensic Union, Cosmopolitan Club, Women’s Athletic Association, and Musical Union. In 1943, at the 110th Anniversary Commencement, Jewel graduated with an A.B. degree in political science.
Spurning the advice of others that social work was a more suitable career for a woman, she enrolled at the University of Chicago Law School. In 1946, upon her graduation, Jewel C. Stradford became the first African-American woman to receive a Doctor of Laws degree from that prestigious urban institution. Her admittance to the Illinois Bar in 1947 did not bring immediate employment or success. Jewel was unable to find a place in any of the major Chicago law firms or to obtain law office space in downtown Chicago. She was even refused membership in the Chicago Bar Association, though later on she was admitted to it. She was the second woman to serve on the local association’s board of managers. After volunteering at the Social Security Administration for six months in 1947, she became a trial attorney for the Chicago Legal Aid Society, where she handled landlord-tenant disputes from 1947 to 1953. She had to break barriers for black women the hard way.
While attending the University of Chicago Law School, she met John W. Rogers (b. 1918), a fellow student. They were married on December 7, 1946. Rogers, who later became a circuit court judge, received his law degree in 1948. The following year Jewel and John Rogers went into practice together in the law firm, Rogers, Rogers, and Strayhorn (later Rogers, Rogers, Strayhorn, and Harth).
As a law student at the University of Chicago, Jewel Stradford had been politically active. This included participating in sit-ins in Chicago restaurants with other members of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE). In a 1991 Chicago Sun-Times interview, she recalled those activist days: “Often we were spat upon and physically abused,” but the students were able to shut down a number of non-integrated restaurants. She continued her activism on behalf of civil rights over the next decade, even serving as secretary of the Chicago branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) from 1948 to 1952. Almost concurrently, from 1948 to 1954, she served on the board of directors of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
From the beginning of her legal career, Jewel Stradford Rogers understood the importance and value of developing a network of personal contacts and sponsors. She used her memberships in clubs and legal associations, and, later, on corporate boards and federal commissions, to make and sustain these contacts. Upon entering the legal profession, she joined the National Bar Association (also serving as NBA secretary from 1956-64), the Cook County Bar Association, and the Women’s Bar Association of Illinois. She later joined numerous social and business organizations, including the Northeasterners Club, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, the Economic Club of Chicago, and the Commercial Club of Chicago.
In May 1955, on the recommendation of Illinois Senator Everett Dirksen (1896-1969), President Dwight D. Eisenhower appointed Jewel Rogers assistant U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois. In this position she primarily handled immigration and deportation matters until she resigned in May 1958, following the birth of her son, John W. Rogers, Jr. Apparently, Jewel Rogers’ insistence on continuing her career rather than becoming a stay-at-home mother produced increasing tension between her and her husband, and after fourteen years of marriage they divorced in 1961.
Later that same year, Jewel S. Rogers married H. Ernest LaFontant (1923-76), a native of Haiti, whom she had met in the late 1950s while he was a student at the John Marshall Law School in Chicago. After receiving his law degree in 1959, he was appointed honorary Consul for Haiti in Chicago. In 1961, the LaFontants went into practice with her father C.F. Stradford in the firm Stradford, LaFontant, & LaFontant.
In 1963, Jewel Stradford LaFontant argued for the petitioner, and won, her first case before the United States Supreme Court. In Beatrice Lynum v. State of Illinois (368 U.S. 908), LaFontant argued that the confession of her client, Beatrice Lynum, was not legally admissible (involuntary admissions) since the police had coerced Lynum and, thus, violated her “due process” by threatening to take her children. The Court agreed, and this decision became case law. The 1966 landmark constitutional law case Miranda v. the State of Arizona drew on it. Years later, in a series of 1994 interviews for Jobs for Youth/Chicago, Jewel said that she believed that this precedent-setting case was the most important one in her career as a lawyer.
During the early 1960s, Jewel became increasingly active in the Republican Party. She was a lifelong Republican, carrying on the political legacy of her parents and grandfather, J.B. Stradford. Although the issues she championed, such as civil rights and women’s rights, now belonged to the Democratic Party, and she supported a number of Democratic candidates over the years, Jewel concluded that she could likely be a more effective voice as a member of the Republican Party. She was troubled by the Democratic Party politics she saw in Chicago while Richard J. Daley (d. 1976) was mayor; and, she concluded that Chicago’s local Democrats took for granted the vote of African-Americans.
Republican party leaders saw in this attractive, prominent African-American female a rising star who could help attract minorities to it. Because they had listened to her appeals, Jewel was quickly named a member of the Illinois delegation to the 1960 Republican National Convention in Chicago. There she seconded the nomination of Richard M. Nixon for President. She was then called up to serve as a civil rights advisor for Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge during his 1960 Vice-Presidential Campaign. In 1962 Jewel LaFontant, running on the Republican ticket, became the first woman nominated for a seat on the Superior Court in Illinois. This judicial campaign was unsuccessful, as was her subsequent 1970 campaign for a seat on the Appellate Court.
State and federal officials had long recognized Jewel Stradford LaFontant’s political influence and savvy. After she stepped down as assistant U.S. District Attorney in 1958, President Eisenhower appointed her as a member of the Illinois Advisory Committee to the Federal Civil Rights Commission. This was the first of many federal commissions that she would serve on, including the U.S. Advisory Commission on International Education and Cultural Affairs, the President’s Council on Minority Business Enterprise, the National Council on Educational Research, the President’s Commission on Executive Exchange, and the Executive Committee of the President’s Private Sector Survey on Cost Control.
In 1972 President Nixon named her a representative to the United Nations General Assembly. Later that same year, Nixon made LaFontant the highest-ranking woman in his second administration when he appointed her U.S. Deputy Solicitor General. She was the first woman and the first African-American to hold such a high post in the Solicitor General’s office. As Deputy Solicitor General, LaFontant represented the United States in preparing and arguing numerous cases before the U.S. Supreme Court. In this position she would serve briefly under Erwin N. Griswold (1904-94; A.B., A.M. 1925) until he retired in 1973, after which time Robert H. Bork (b. 1927) became U.S. Solicitor General. In 1987 Ronald Reagan appointed Bork to the U.S. Supreme Court, and Jewel LaFontant was brought in to the spotlight as the only prominent African-American to support his nomination to the highest court. The U.S. Senate did not, however, confirm Bork’s nomination.
In order to spend more time with her family, Jewel made the difficult decision to resign her post as Deputy Solicitor General in 1975. Her son John Rogers, Jr. (called Johnny by his mother) was already in high school. He was always a very important part of Jewel’s life, although from the nation’s capital, it was often hard to balance the demands of being a mother against a time-consuming legal career. When he was very young, his grandmother, Aida Stradford, often took care of Johnny to allow his mother to pursue her career, but Jewel still found herself frequently having to take her young son to court with her. John, Jr. divided his time with his parents; in fact, during most of his childhood he spent the week with his mother and the weekends with his father. Earlier, when Jewel had become Deputy Solicitor General in 1973, her son decided to live with his father rather than relocate with his mother to Washington, D.C. Jewel flew back to Chicago most weekends to be with her son and husband. John Rogers, Jr. did not continue the family legal tradition and become a lawyer. Instead, following his graduation from Princeton University in 1980, he went to work in the financial world. In 1983 he founded Ariel Capital Management, and his mother, Jewel, was an active member of its board of directors from 1983 to 1997.
By mid-life, Jewel understood that she was breaking barriers of gender and race in the 1960s and 1970s. As a woman working in the male-dominated legal profession she capitalized on her background and beauty when many corporations faced public pressure to add women and minorities to their boards of directors. Jewel’s service on the male-dominated board of the Chicago Bar Association caught the attention of Wes Westopherson, president of the Jewel Companies (parent company of the Jewel Food Market chain). He was so impressed by her record that he asked her to become one of the company’s first two female board members. This board membership led to her being considered and recruited for the Board of Directors of Trans World Airlines in 1972. Over the next two decades Jewel served on about twenty corporate boards, including the Mobil Corporation, Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States, Harte-Hanks Communications, the Hanes Corporation, and the Bendix Corporation. She welcomed these opportunities to serve on corporate boards so that she could be a compelling voice for the concerns of women and minorities.
In addition to her service on corporate boards, Jewel served on the boards of a number of non-profit organizations (including the Illinois Humane Society and Chicago’s Provident Hospital) and was a trustee of Oberlin College, Howard University (Washington, D.C.), Lake Forest College (Illinois), and Tuskegee Institute (Alabama). During her service on the Oberlin Board of Trustees, from 1981 to 1986, the Board dealt with social issues such as South African divestment. She was not, however, an active trustee since her corporate board memberships created an assortment of scheduling conflicts and thus she missed many meetings.
In 1976, her husband H. Ernest LaFontant died, and Jewel LaFontant became president and senior partner of the law firm, Stradford, LaFontant, Fisher, & Malkin. This firm was the successor of the firm Stradford, LaFontant, & LaFontant, which Jewel LaFontant had founded with her father and husband. The firm later became LaFontant, Wilkins, Jones, & Ware, and Jewel LaFontant served as its president until she left it in 1983 to join the firm Vedder, Price, Kaufman, & Kammholz. With offices in Washington, D.C. and New York as well as Chicago, this law firm had the resources to better serve her increasingly corporate clientele and to support her comfortable lifestyle.
Jewel LaFontant had been friends with George H.W. Bush since meeting him in 1972 when he was U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations General Assembly. She subsequently supported him in his 1980 bid for president and was one of his close advisors during his 1988 campaign. As a member of both the State of Illinois and the National Finance Committees, she worked on the party’s behalf to solicit donations and organize fundraisers. She also attended the 1988 Republican National Convention in New Orleans as a delegate member for Illinois. Following his election as president, George Bush rewarded her party support and her many achievements by naming Jewel Ambassador-at-Large and Coordinator of Refugee Affairs for the State Department.
Soon after moving to Washington, D.C. to take up this post, Jewel Stradford LaFontant married her third husband, the Egyptian-born Naguib S. MANkarious (1927-2000). MANkarious, an international business consultant, became a U.S. citizen in 1980. The two of them met in 1987 when she was recruited to become the first female member of the Rotary Club of Chicago. MANkarious then was serving as Vice-President. He followed her to Washington and proposed, and they were married in December 1989.
As Coordinator of Refugee Affairs, Ambassador LaFontant-MANkarious monitored refugee situations worldwide, offered recommendations to President Bush and the U.S. Congress regarding refugee policies, particularly admittance to the U.S., and met with foreign officials, including the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. She held this position during a time when there were massive outpourings of refugees from the former Soviet Union and when Mozambican refugees were flooding into Malawi and South Africa. This public service required her to travel extensively to meet with foreign officials and to view firsthand the conditions in refugee centers around the world. She used these visits to focus public attention on the plight of refugees. When President Bush left office in 1993, Jewel returned to Chicago where she joined the law firm of Holleb & Coff.
Throughout her distinguished career, Jewel received many honors for her professional success as well as her dedication to social causes. She was the recipient of more than a dozen honorary doctorates, most notably from Oberlin College (1979), Howard University (1973), and Roosevelt University (1990). She was the second North American woman to be named a fellow of the International Academy of Trial Lawyers in 1984, and she received numerous awards recognizing her legal work, including the Cook County Bar Association Achievement Award (1956), the Abraham Lincoln Marovitz Award (1989) from B’nai B’rith International, and the Wiley A. Branton Issues Symposium Award (1991) from the National Bar Association. Awards honoring her humanitarian work include the 1994 International Humanitarian Award from the CARE Foundation, the Opportunities Industrialization Centers of America Humanitarian Award (c. 1982), and the 1992 Award for Internationalism from the American Women for International Understanding.
Jewel LaFontant-MANkarious died of breast cancer in Chicago on May 31, 1997. Naguib MANkarious subsequently married Marilyn Miglin, the widow of wealthy developer Lee Miglin, who was slain by a serial killer in Chicago on May 4, 1997.
For more information about Jewel LaFontant’s life and career up to 1978, see chapter “Jewel Stradford LaFontant” in Women Lawyers at Work by Elinor Porter Swiger (New York: Julian Messner, 1978).
Sources Consulted
Student files of Jewel Stradford LaFontant-MANkarious and J.B. Stradford (RG 28).
Jobs for Youth/Chicago Interviews of Jewel LaFontant-MANkarious, May 27 and June 23, 1994 (transcripts in Series XXI).
Jewel LaFontant-MANkarious Papers (OCA 30/310), Series IV. Biographical Files and Series XVIII. Publicity and Public Relations.
Swiger, Elinor Porter. Women Lawyers at Work. New York: Julian Messner, 1978.
BIOGRAPHICAL TIMELINE
1922, April 28 Born, Chicago, Illinois
1943 Graduated from Oberlin College; A.B. in Political Science
1946 Married John Rogers
Awarded Doctor of Law degree from the University of Chicago Law School
1947 Admitted to Illinois Bar
1947-53 Trial lawyer, Legal Aid Bureau of United Charities of Chicago
1948-52 Secretary, Chicago branch of NAACP
1948-54 Board of Directors, American Civil Liberties Union
1949 Chosen as member of United Nations Study Group from Chicago YMCA
1949 Opened law firm with husband John in Chicago: Rogers, Rogers, and Strayhorn
1955-58 Became first black woman named Assistant U.S. Attorney (for the Northern District of Illinois)
1956-64 Secretary, National Bar Association
1958 Birth of son John W. Rogers, Jr.
1960 Became alternate delegate at 1960 Republican National Convention: seconds Richard Nixon’s nomination for
the Presidency
Served as Civil Rights Advisor to Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge during his campaign for Vice-President
1961 Divorced first husband, John Rogers
Married second husband, H. Ernest LaFontant
Formed law firm Stradford, LaFontant, & LaFontant with H. Ernest LaFontant and her father, C. Francis
Stradford
1962 Endorsed by the Women’s Bar Association of Illinois as qualified to sit as Judge of the Superior Court
Appointed to the Advisory Committee to the Fair Employment Practices Commission
Unsuccessful campaign for Superior Court in Cook County, Illinois
1962-66 Advisor, Illinois State Treasurer’s Office, Inheritance Tax Division
1965-67, 1970-73 Member of President’s Council on Minority Business Enterprise
1969-73 Appointed by Nixon as vice-chairman of the U.S. Advisory Commission on International Educational and
Cultural Affairs
1970 Unsuccessful campaign for the Illinois Appellate Court
1971-73 Member, Board of Directors, Jewel Companies, Inc. (one of the first two women directors of this company)
1972 Appointed by Nixon as representative to the United Nations
1972-85 Member, Board of Directors, Trans World Airlines
1973 Appointed United States delegate to the United Nations General Assembly
1973-75 Named by Nixon to the post of Deputy Solicitor General of the United States (becoming the first woman to
hold this position)
1975-85 Member, Board of Directors, Continental Bank
1975-86 Member, Board of Directors, Transworld Corporation
1976 Second husband H. Ernest Lafontant died
1976-83 President and senior partner of Chicago law firm, Stradford, LaFontant, Fisher, & Malkin (later, LaFontant,
Wilkins, Jones, & Ware)
1977-1980s Member, Board of Directors, The Equitable
1979-86 Member, Board of Directors, Pantry Pride
1981-89 Member, Board of Directors, Mobil Corporation
1983-89 Senior partner at Vedder, Price, Kaufman, & Kammholz (Chicago and Washington, D.C.)
1983-88 Member, Board of Directors of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce
1983-97 Member, Board of Directors, Ariel Capital Management
1984 Second North American woman to be named a fellow of the International Academy of Trial Lawyers
1985 Admitted to Washington, D.C. Court of Appeals
1985-1990s Member, Board of Directors, Revlon, Inc.
1988-1990s Became first woman chosen for GenCorp’s board of directors
Member, Board of Directors, Midway Airlines
1989-1993 Member of the State Department as Ambassador-at-Large and Coordinator for Refugee Affairs under
President George Bush
1989 Married third husband, Naguib Soby MANkarious
1993 Became partner at Holleb & Coff, a Chicago law firm
1997, May 31 Died, Chicago, Illinois
Author: Melissa Gottwald Forms of Material (links to similar genres)awards
certificates
letters (correspondence)
manuscripts
moving images - videotapes
photographs - negatives (photographic)
photographs - photographic prints
posters
prints (visual works)
publications
records (documents)
scrapbooks
sound recordings - phonograph records
speeches
Administrative InformationAlumni and trustee files on Jewel LaFontant-MANkarious are filed in Record Group 28.
Also in Record Group 28 are alumni files on J. B. Stradford (Academy 1882-85) and C. Francis Stradford (A.B. 1912).
Jewel LaFontant correspondence may be found in the S. Frederick Starr Papers, Record Group 2/12.
Videotapes of an oral history interview of Jewel LaFontant are in Record Group 37.
This interview was used in the 1997 revised version of the videotape “Following the Morning Star: Breaking the Color Barrier in Higher Education,” also in Record Group 37.
For material related to the Oberlin Board of Trustees, see Record Group 1.
The papers of Jewel LaFontant-MANkarious document an African American woman's legal career, social and economic status, corporate board memberships, political activities, and service as U.S. Ambassador-at-Large and Coordinator of Refugee Affairs. The papers include correspondence, handwritten notes, speeches and addresses, news clippings, and photographs and other non-textual material; the bulk of the historical material dates from the late 1970s to her death in 1997. There is very little material related to her days as a student at Oberlin College (1939-43), and there is no material from her childhood and her studies at the University of Chicago Law School (1943-46).
LaFontant-MANkarious’ start in the legal profession is largely undocumented, as is her legal work for the United States as Assistant U. S. Attorney (1955-58) and Deputy Solicitor General (1973-75). Her time as Assistant Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois is documented by a scrapbook she kept from 1955 to1958; this scrapbook includes newspaper clippings and correspondence (primarily congratulatory notes received following her appointment). Documentary material related to her role as Deputy Solicitor General include correspondence (including letters from Presidents Richard M. Nixon and Gerald R. Ford), news clippings, and Supreme Court publications for cases in which LaFontant represented the United States. For records relating to these two federal appointments, researchers are referred to the National Archives and Records Administration.
The files relating to her legal career document her partnerships in four law firms: LaFontant, Wilkins, Jones, & Ware (originally Stradford, LaFontant & LaFontant), Vedder, Price, Kaufman & Kammholz, and Holleb & Coff. The record contains general information about the law firms as well as client files. The client files in Series XI constitute a very small number of LaFontant-MANkarious’ legal clients, and they date from the late 1970s to 1993. In addition, a logbook of her legal cases and an index card file of clients provide an overview of the clients and types of cases she worked on from 1965 to the early 1980s.
While there are considerable correspondence files, they document primarily LaFontant-MANkarious' later career from the late 1970s to 1996. These files include incoming and outgoing correspondence and provide insight into her legal practice, political activities, social status, and her membership on corporate boards and presidential commissions. In addition, these files illustrate the network of personal contacts that she cultivated through her work on corporate boards and other organizations.
LaFontant-MANkarious was active in a number of legal associations. Foremost among them was the National Bar Association and the International Academy of Trial Lawyers. She was also a member of numerous social and business organizations, such as the prestigious Economic Club of Chicago. Although she joined many of these organizations early in her career, the bulk of the material on her club and association memberships dates from 1979 to 1996. These files include correspondence, committee files, and files on various events sponsored by the clubs and associations.
Files relating to corporate board appointments show her interest in social and legal issues dealt with by the boards. No material exists from the first corporate board she was on, the Jewel Companies, although comments that she made on her experience can be found in a number of articles in the Publicity and Public Relations files. Her files from other boards, including Mobil Corporation, Revlon, Inc., and Ariel Capital Management, contain correspondence, minutes and agendas, and committee files.
LaFontant-MANkarious’ activities in local, state, and federal politics are illustrated in the Files relating to Political Activities and in the Scrapbooks. Documentation also exists on her unsuccessful races on the Republican ticket for judge of the Superior Court of Illinois in 1962 and for Appellate Court judge in 1970. Material on these campaigns includes news clippings, correspondence, flyers, and photographs, as well as financial records for the 1970 campaign. Many of the files in Series XII show her support and involvement in the campaigns of other Republican party candidates. She was a longtime friend of George Bush and was a close advisor during his 1988 presidential campaign. Her campaign involvement is particularly well documented in the form of correspondence and committee files for the Illinois and national finance committees.
Jewel LaFontant-MANkarious served on presidential commissions under five presidents. There is unfortunately little information about most of these appointments. The best documented are two Ronald Reagan era appointments, the President’s Private Sector Survey on Cost Control (1982-86) and the President’s Commission on Executive Exchange (1983-88). Material related to these appointments include correspondence, minutes and agendas, reports, certificates, and brochures about the commissions.
The files relating to her service as Ambassador-at-Large and Coordinator of Refugee Affairs include statements and reports, correspondence, and background material about refugees in specific areas. Daily schedules from 1991 illustrate the range of activities required by this position. These files document her responsibilities in developing refugee policies for the United States, working with foreign governments to aid refugees, and promoting public awareness of refugee issues.
Of interest to the Oberlin community are the subject files on Oberlin College. These files contain book reports written as an Oberlin student in 1940-41, correspondence with college administration (1949-97), and information regarding fundraising for the College during 1986 to 1988. A draft of her 1990 Honors Day address titled “Confidence – the Individual Spirit” is in the speeches and talks in Series XIX. Photographs of LaFontant-MANkarious and a number of her classmates are in the non-textual materials in Series XXII. The file on the Oberlin Board of Trustees in Series VI includes only material directly related to Jewel LaFontant-MANkarious. The file primarily contains correspondence about the scheduling conflicts that made it impossible for her to attend most of the Board meetings. A comprehensive record of Board activities during this period is in OCA Record Group 1, Records of the Oberlin Board of Trustees.
Her work as a trustee or advisory board member at institutions including Howard University (District of Columbia), Tuskegee Institute (Alabama), and Lake Forest College (Illinois), was extensive. Unfortunately this service is not well represented. A small amount of correspondence and related material is filed in Series VI.
Jewel LaFontant-MANkarious' involvement in civil rights causes is largely undocumented except for newspaper clippings. They comprise the only material in this collection related to these social concerns. Her later humanitarian interests are documented by material relating to events that she helped organize, such as the 1995 UNICEF Day of the African Child celebration, as well as by the awards she received in recognition of her efforts.
General biographical information about Jewel LaFontant-MANkarious is filed in Series IV. This material includes articles about LaFontant-MANkarious, resumes, and biographical sketches, as well as passports from her time as Ambassador-at-Large. Of particular interest to those researching her life and career are transcripts and audiotapes from two 1994 interviews that she gave to participants in a Chicago Jobs for Youth program. These interviews were intended to provide material for a proposed biography of LaFontant-MANkarious to be written by McKinley Olson. In the interviews she discusses her legal career, political activities, board memberships, civil rights activities, and her marriages and family history. These transcripts and the related correspondence are filed in the subject files in Series XXI; the audiotapes of the interviews are in the non-textual material in Series XXII.
Biographical material on many of her relatives may also be found in Subseries 2 of Series IV. These files cover the Stradford family, including her parents; of particular interest is the file on her grandfather, J.B. Stradford (OC Academy 1882-85), who was involved in the 1921 race riots in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Financial documents contained in Series XIII illustrate the economic resources available to LaFontant-MANkarious during her formative years. The biographical files in Series IV also contain extensive information on her mother’s family, the Vaughans, including correspondence with members of the Nigerian branch of the family and a brief family history written by LaFontant-MANkarious’ mother Aida Carter Stradford. Additional information on both the American and Nigerian descendants of Scipio Vaughan may be found in an article which appeared in the February 1975 issue of Ebony; a copy of this issue is filed in the Publicity and Public Relations files (Series XVIII).
The Papers of Jewel LaFontant-MANkarious are arranged in twenty-two series:
Series I. Ambassador-at-Large Files, 1981-96, n.d. (2.65 l.f.)
Series II. Address Books and Calendars, 1972, 1978-92, 1995, n.d. (0.8 l.f.)
Series III. Awards and Certificates, 1969-95, n.d. (2.26 l.f.)
Series IV. Biographical Files, 1915-16, 1943-97, n.d. (0.8 l.f.)
Subseries 1. Jewel LaFontant-MANkarious
Subseries 2. Family Members
Series V. Club and Association Membership Files, 1954-60, 1972, 1979-96, n.d. (1.0
l.f.)
Series VI. College/University Boards of Trustees and Advisory Board Files, 1978-94,
n.d. (0.2 l.f.)
Series VII. Committee Files, 1987-88, 1993-96, n.d. (0.2 l.f.)
Series VIII. Corporate and Non-Profit Board Files, 1970-97, n.d. (2.4 l.f.)
Series IX. Correspondence, 1940s-1996, n.d. (2.6 l.f.)
Series X. Event Files, 1971-91, 1993-95, n.d. (0.4 l.f.)
Series XI. Files relating to Legal Career and Practice, 1965-96, n.d. (3.7 l.f.)
(some files in Series XI are restricted due to confidential information)
Series XII. Files relating to Political Activities, 1959, 1962, 1970, 1972, 1978-89, 1993-
96, n.d. (1.2 l.f.)
Subseries 1. Local Level (Chicago/Cook County)
Subseries 2. State Level (Illinois)
Subseries 3. Federal Level
Series XIII. Financial Records, 1942-45, 1956-59, 1962-96, n.d. (1.1 l.f.)
Series XIV. Handwritten Notes, 1979-88, n.d. (0.1 l.f.)
Series XV. Personal Desk Files (as arranged in office), 1984-92, n.d. (0.4 l.f.)
Series XVI. Public Service Files, 1959, 1970-72, 1976, 1981-89, n.d. (0.4 l.f.)
Series XVII. Publications, 1875-84, 1939-95, n.d. (1.2 l.f.)
Series XVIII. Publicity and Public Relations, 1943, 1947-64, 1970-97, n.d. (0.6 l.f.)
Series XIX. Scrapbooks, 1943-93, n.d. (4.78 l.f.)
Series XX. Speeches and Talks, 1949-55, 1979-96 (0.8 l.f.)
Subseries 1. Speeches and Talks by Jewel LaFontant-MANkarious
Subseries 2. Speeches and Talks by Others, 1983-87, 1991-93, 1996, n.d.
Series XXI. Subject Files, 1940-50, 1979-89, 1993-97, n.d. (0.4 l.f.)
Series XXII. Non-textual Materials
Subseries 1. Artifacts (6.4 l.f.)
Subseries 2. Photographs, c. 1900s-1997, n.d. (1.0 l.f.)
Subseries 3. Recordings (Audio and Visual), 1979, 1982, 1990-94, n.d. (1.45 l.f.)
Subseries 4. Miscellaneous, 1980, 1986, 1990, 1993 (.1 l.f.)
SERIES DESCRIPTIONS
Series I. Ambassador-at-Large Files, 1981-96, n.d. (2.65 l.f.)
The files from LaFontant-MANkarious' years as Ambassador-at-Large and Coordinator for Refugee Affairs are not comprehensive, but do provide a good overview of her activities. Daily schedules for 1991 illustrate Ambassador LaFontant-MANkarious’ activities in this post. Fact-finding missions to refugee areas in foreign lands and discussions with foreign diplomats were two important aspects of this position. These files include material from visits to Africa, Nepal, Geneva, London, Paris, and Rome. Also included in this series are files related to her continued involvement with refugee issues after leaving the post of Ambassador-at-Large.
Series II. Address Books and Calendars, 1972, 1978-92, 1995, n.d. (0.8 l.f.)
This series contains address books, meeting schedules, and appointment books. There are no appointment books for 1981 and 1984. Daily schedules for 1991 are filed in Series I. Ambassador-at-Large Files.
Series III. Awards and Certificates, 1969-95, n.d. (2.26 l.f.)
LaFontant-MANkarious received numerous awards and honors throughout her career, and this series contains correspondence and programs for a number of these awards. The Raoul Wallenberg Humanitarian Award presented to Jewel LaFontant-MANkarious and Naguib S. MANkarious by the Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem in 1995 is well documented. This series also contains certificates from presidential appointments and honorary degree diplomas.
Series IV. Biographical Files, 1915-16, 1943-97, n.d. (0.8 l.f.)
Subseries 1. Jewel LaFontant-MANkarious
These files contain general biographical material on Jewel LaFontant-MANkarious. Included are resumes, news clippings, a memorial pamphlet, and passports. Additional news clippings may be found in Series XVII. Publicity and Public Relations.
Subseries 2. Family Members
These files contain correspondence and newspaper clippings related to LaFontant-MANkarious' family, including her parents C. Francis and Aida Stradford and her grandfather J. B. Stradford (Academy 1882-85). Also of note is the material on her mother’s family, the Vaughans, which includes accounts of the lives of Scipio Vaughan and James Churchwill Vaughan. The series also contains material on the Award and Scholarship established by the Illinois Attorney General in honor of LaFontant-MANkarious’ father, C. Francis Stradford, Sr. (A.B. 1912). Financial records of C. Francis and Aida Stradford are filed in Series XI. Financial Records.
Series V. Club and Association Membership Files, 1954-60, 1972, 1979-96, n.d.
(1.0 l.f.)
This series contains material related to memberships in legal, social, and business organizations. The amount and type of material on each club or association varies. Materials found in these files include membership directories, newsletters, correspondence, and committee minutes. While she joined many of these associations early in her career, these files include very little material prior to 1983. While serving as Ambassador-at-Large from 1989 to 1993, LaFontant-MANkarious was forced to either resign memberships or become an inactive member, and there is little material from this period.
Series VI. College/University Boards of Trustees and Advisory Board Files,
1978-94, n.d. (0.2 l.f.)
LaFontant-MANkarious served on the Board of Trustees at Oberlin College (1981-86), Howard University, Tuskegee Institute, and Lake Forest College. She also served on advisory boards for the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University and at the Center for Far Eastern Studies and the Law School at the University of Chicago. These files include correspondence, programs, minutes, and agendas for these boards.
Series VII. Committee Files, 1987-88, 1993-96, n.d. (0.2 l.f.)
This series contains correspondence and minutes related to the American Refugee Committee, the Citizens Committee of the Juvenile Court (Chicago), and the Forest Preserve of Cook County (Illinois) Citizen’s Advisory Committee. Files on the Martin Luther King, Jr., Federal and State Holiday Commissions are filed in Series XV. Personal Desk Files; also found in Series XV is material relating to the 1988 Special Commission on the Administration of Justice in Cook County (Illinois).
Series VIII. Corporate and Non-Profit Board Files, 1970-97, n.d. (2.4 l.f.)
(* some files are restricted due to confidential information)
This series documents LaFontant-MANkarious’ service on the boards of directors of corporations and non-profit organizations. These files include correspondence, minutes, news clippings, committee information, and U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission disclosure forms. Also filed here are a 1982 list of her board memberships and a 1985 meeting schedule listing all of her board activities. Files relating to the lawsuit Cenci v. Mobil Corporation are restricted and permission of the archivist is required.
Series IX. Correspondence, 1940s-1996, n.d. (2.6 l.f.)
Although the date span of this series is from the 1940s to 1996, the bulk of the correspondence dates from the late 1970s to 1996. These files are arranged by type of correspondence (e.g. congratulatory letters, invitations, personal, and professional correspondence) and then chronologically. Official correspondence includes both incoming and outgoing correspondence with U. S. Presidents, Ambassadors, and other U.S. government officials, as well as state officials of Illinois. Correspondents include George Bush, Barbara Bush, Ronald Reagan, Richard Nixon, and Illinois Secretary of State Jim Edgar. (Additional letters from Richard Nixon are in the 1972-75 scrapbook in Series XIX.) Personal correspondence consists of primarily incoming letters, many handwritten, that do not concern LaFontant-MANkarious' professional associations. The professional correspondence includes both incoming and outgoing letters concerning her legal work, corporate board memberships, and other associations.
Series X. Event Files, 1971-91, 1993-95, n.d. (0.4 l.f.)
These files represent a small number of the many events in which LaFontant-MANkarious was involved. Among the events represented here is a Carnaval Ball held as a fundraiser by the DuSable Museum in 1986; Jewel LaFontant and banker Clark Burrus were the queen and king of the Carnaval Ball. The 1994 Chicago celebration of UNICEF Day of the African Child, honoring Archbishop Desmond Tutu, is documented by correspondence and other planning material and by news articles following the event. In 1985 Jewel LaFontant and Irv Kupcinet were co-chairs of the planning committee for a Tribute to Ruth Love, former Chicago General Superintendent of Schools. The material on the U.S. Department of Labor’s Women’s Round Table held in Chicago in 1984 includes correspondence as well as a typescript of the proceedings of this event which was chaired by Jewel LaFontant.
Series XI. Files relating to Legal Career and Practice, 1965-96, n.d. (3.7 l.f.)
(* some files are restricted due to confidential information)
This series contains information about law firms in which LaFontant-MANkarious was a partner as well as files relating to some of her legal cases. There is ample material, primarily correspondence and handwritten notes, regarding the firm LaFontant, Wilkins, Jones, & Ware and the agreements reached when she left in 1983 to join Vedder, Price, Kaufman, & Kammholz. There is also general information about Vedder, Price, Kaufman, & Kammholz and about Holleb & Coff, the firm LaFontant-MANkarious joined when she left her post as Ambassador-at-Large and Coordinator of Refugee Affairs in 1993. Client files, dated 1970-93, contain correspondence, notes, legal documents, and supporting materials. Both corporate and individual clients are represented; these files include only a small number of the client’s represented by Jewel LaFontant-MANkarious throughout her career. This series also contains correspondence, writings, and Jewel LaFontant's testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee relating to the 1987 Supreme Court Nomination of Robert H. Bork. Due to confidential information, permission of the Archivist is required to use the client files.
Series XII. Files relating to Political Activities, 1959-62, 1970, 1972, 1978-89,
1993-96, n.d. (1.2 l.f.)
These files illustrate Jewel LaFontant-MANkarious’ involvement in the Republican party on the local, state, and federal levels, and include general correspondence as well as material relating to specific political figures. These files contain campaign flyers from her unsuccessful campaigns for Illinois Superior Court Judge in 1962 and for Appellate Court Judge in 1970; material from the 1970 campaign also includes financial documentation. Also included are correspondence, committee files, and meeting notes documenting her involvement in George Bush’s 1988 Presidential campaign.
Series XIII. Financial Records, 1942-45, 1956-59, 1962-96, n.d. (1.1 l.f.)
Included in this file unit are various financial records of both Jewel LaFontant-MANkarious and her parents, Cornelius Francis and Aida Stradford. This sampling of receipts, combined with LaFontant-MANkarious' financial statements for select years, document the lifestyle of an upper middle class African American professional woman. Found here also are Expense Reports, Investment Files, and Real Estate Contracts. Some documents report on her financial difficulties in maintaining her accounts. Financial records belonging to C.F. and Aida Stradford, such as a 1942 Deed of Property and homeowner's insurance policies, document an urban middle class African American family in the middle of the 20th century. Arranged alphabetically by folder title, thereunder chronologically.
Series XIV. Handwritten Notes, 1979-1988, n.d.
This file contains handwritten notes on subjects such as LaFontant-MANkarious’ political activities, corporate board memberships, and legal cases. Also included here are messages LaFontant-MANkarious wrote to her secretary, asking her to find information or to write letters. Only a few of these notes are dated.
Series XV. Personal Desk Files (as arranged in office), 1984-92, n.d. (0.4 l.f.)
These files reflect the arrangement of LaFontant-MANkarious’ files in her office. Legal documents and agreements regarding Ariel Capital Management, the company founded by her son John W. Rogers, Jr., are located here. These files also include correspondence, minutes, and brochures relating to the Chicago Tourism Council (1984-89, n.d.), the Martin Luther King, Jr., Federal Holiday Commission and Illinois Holiday Council (1985-89, n.d.), and the Special Commission on the Administration of Justice in Cook County (1988). An additional file contains information on the Law Club of the City of Chicago (1983-89).
Series XVI. Public Service Files, 1959, 1970-72, 1976, 1981-89, n.d. (0.4 l.f.)
This series contains files on federal and state commissions and boards on which Jewel LaFontant-MANkarious served, as well as files on the United States Chamber of Commerce. Although she served on a number of federal boards from the 1950s through 1989, only a handful are represented here. These files include correspondence, minutes and agendas, reports, and brochures.
Series XVII. Publications, 1875-84, 1939-95, n.d. (1.2 l.f.)
This series contains books and pamphlets collected by Jewel LaFontant-MANkarious. Several of these publications mention LaFontant-MANkarious’, others were gifts and include notes from friends and organizations including the Great Lakes Naval Training Center. Additional publications, not directly connected to LaFontant-MANkarious, are included here as a sample of the types of publications she collected or received.
Series XVIII. Publicity and Public Relations, 1943, 1947-64, 1970-97, n.d. (0.6 l.f.)
The bulk of this series consists of newspaper clippings and magazine articles about Jewel LaFontant-MANkarious dating from her 1943 graduation from Oberlin until her death in 1997. Additional news clippings are in Series IV. Biographical Files and Series XIX. Scrapbooks. This series also contains articles written by LaFontant-MANkarious’, press releases, and newspaper clippings about her husband Naguib S. MANkarious and her son John W. Rogers, Jr.
Series XIX. Scrapbooks, 1943-93, n.d. (4.78 l.f.)
This series contains scrapbooks and photograph albums either compiled by or given to LaFontant-MANkarious. Many of the scrapbooks contain newspaper clippings and other memorabilia from her early career, including her unsuccessful 1962 and 1970 campaigns for judgeships. There are several albums related to visits to Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, and Japan as a member of the Mobil Corporation Board of Directors. There is also a photograph album from her visit to Malawi in March of 1990 as Ambassador-at-Large and Coordinator of Refugee Affairs.
Series XX. Speeches and Talks, 1949-55, 1979-96, n.d. (0.8 l.f.)
Subseries 1. Speeches and Talks by Jewel LaFontant-MANkarious
These files contain drafts and final versions of speeches and talks by Jewel LaFontant-MANkarious, as well as correspondence and programs for events she spoke at, and background material used in writing her remarks. The speeches and talks, dated 1980-96, include college commencement addresses, tributes and eulogies, award acceptance speeches, and addresses given at events such as legal association meetings.
Subseries 2. Speeches and Talks by Others, 1983-87, 1991-93, 1996, n.d.
These speeches were made by colleagues of LaFontant-MANkarious or were given at events attended by LaFontant-MANkarious. In addition, some of these speeches, such as the undated remarks to the Harvard University Class of 1935 reunion, were used by LaFontant-MANkarious in writing her own speeches.
Series XXI. Subject Files, 1940-50, 1979-89, 1993-97, n.d. (0.4 l.f.)
This series, arranged alphabetically by subject, contains files on a number of subjects, including her Chicago and Washington condominiums and social and educational organizations that interested LaFontant-MANkarious. This series also contains files on Oberlin College, including book reports written as a student in 1940-41, material relating to her fundraising work on behalf of the college (1986-88), and general correspondence (1979-97). Materials relating to her service on the Oberlin Board of Trustees (1980-87) are filed in Series VI, and a draft of her 1990 Oberlin Honors Day address is in Series XX.
Series XXII. Non-textual Materials
Subseries 1. Artifacts (6.4 l.f.)
This series contains a wide variety of objects. These objects include everything from ceramic plates and wooden sculptures to a coral necklace and paperweights. Some of the artifacts were gifts from various government and world officials; others are of a more mundane origin. Also included are plaques and other awards including a pewter plate given to LaFontant-MANkarious as winner of the Wiley A. Branton Award for leadership in civil, social and economic justice from the National Bar Association in 1991.
Subseries 2. Photographs, c. 1900s-1997, n.d. (1.0 l.f.)
This series contains both black and white and color prints, as well as a small number of negatives. Included are formal and informal photographs of Jewel LaFontant-MANkarious, dating from her childhood to shortly before her death in 1997. Also included are photographs of LaFontant-MANkarious’ family, including her parents C. Francis and Aida Stradford, her son John W. Rogers, Jr., her third husband Naguib S. MANkarious, and her cousins Ayo Vaughan-Richards and Lady Kofo Ademola (wife of Nigerian Chief Justice Sir Adetokunbo Ademola). There are numerous photographs (many of which are autographed) of Jewel LaFontant-MANkarious with notable people including U. S. Presidents and First Ladies (Richard M. Nixon, Ronald and Nancy Reagan, George and Barbara Bush), United Nations Secretary General Butros Butros Ghalli, and U. S. Secretary of State James A. Baker III. Photographs of events include Jewel LaFontant’s 1989 wedding to Naguib S. MANkarious, the 1988 wedding of her son John W. Rogers, Jr., to Desiree Glapion, as well as several receptions hosted by LaFontant-MANkarious in her Washington home while she was Ambassador-at-Large, including a September 18, 1991, reception for King Mswati III of Swaziland.
Subseries 3. Recordings (Audio and Visual), 1979, 1982, 1990-94, n.d.
(1.45 l.f.)
Consists of audio and visual recordings of events in which LaFontant-MANkarious participated and interviews she gave, including the 1994 Jobs for Youth interviews. Additional videotapes include American Success Stories: Jewel LaFontant (Encyclopaedia Britannica Educational Corporation, n.d.) and a videotape made during Ambassador LaFontant-MANkarious’ 1990 visit to Southern Africa. This subseries also includes a phonograph record, Lionel Hampton presents Tito Puente and his Latin Jazz Ensemble performing “Bush for President.” Ten of the videotapes are unidentified.
Subseries 4. Miscellaneous, 1980, 1986, 1990, 1993 (1 oversize folder, Goodrich Room cabinet 2, drawer 2)
Consists of four woodblock prints, First Annual Refugee Day, 1990 (exhibit title panel), and a poster (with correspondence) relating to Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Nakasone’s remarks , 1986, concerning minority groups in the US.