Claim: Caroline Burnham Kilgore was the first woman lawyer in Philly and had an easy path to be allowed to take the bar.
Evidence: She was a school teacher and began to study law in 1875, when such narrow prejudice existed against woman receiving the benefit of a university course, that accompanying the refusal of her application for admission to the Law School of the University of Pennsylvania, was the courteous observation of the dean, that the time for him to resign would be when negroes and women were admitted. Kilgore persevered sixteen years before she became a recognized member of the bar. After studying privately, Kilgore asked to take the bar exam in 1873 and 1874, but was refused.