The Jean Ledwith King collection has been arranged into three series: Topical Files; Conferences and speaking engagements; and Organizational Activities. Files from court cases in which Jean King participated as attorney are not part of this finding aid. Such files, kept separate because of the presence of attorney-client privileged communications, are presently unavailable for research.
Jean Ledwith King has a record of achievement as an attorney, teacher, political activist, and advocate for women. She was born in Chicago, Illinois on March 16, 1924. She received her A.B. in English from the University of Michigan (1948), her M.A. in History from the University of Michigan (1953), and her J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School (1968) where she was also assistant editor of the Michigan Law Review. She was admitted to the bar in 1970.
In addition to her career as an attorney, Jean King has long been politically active as a life-long Democrat involved in local, state, and national party politics. She began in 1959 serving as precinct captain and ward chair in Ann Arbor's Fifth Ward. She has also served as secretary of the Second Congressional District Committee beginning in 1962. In 1967, she was elected to the Democratic State Central Committee as representative from the Second Congressional District. In 1970, she and five other women founded the Women's Caucus of the Michigan Democratic Party. This caucus was the first women's caucus in a major political party. In 1976, the caucus achieved an equal division of males and females on the Michigan national delegation, a model for the rules adopted in 1980 by the national party. Through these and other activities, Jean King became an expert on organization and get-out-the-vote. She thoroughly understands party structure and functioning, and has repeatedly demonstrated ability to anticipate and articulate issues.
The cause of women's rights has been a focus of Jean King's career. In 1970, She was an organizer of FOCUS on Equal Education for Women which filed an administrative complaint with the US Department of Health, Education, and Welfare against the University of Michigan for sex discrimination in admissions, financial aid, academic and non-academic employment, curriculum, athletics, extra curricula activities and services to students. The result was the withholding of $15 million dollars in Federal contracts until the university agreed to eliminate the discriminatory practices. The cause of discrimination and unequal treatment of women engaged in various sports and athletic endeavors became a noteworthy part of her practice.
In 1977, she chaired the Michigan delegation to the International Women's Year Conference in Houston in November of 1977. The Michigan delegation distinguished itself as being the most representative of the women of a state. This delegation was also acclaimed to be one of the best organized and effective groups at the conference.
Jean King has many interests and causes to which she is devoted. She has been a teacher, lecturing widely on the general topic of women and the law, as well as teaching courses at the University of Michigan Institute of Labor and Industrial Relations in 1974, at Washtenaw Community College (beginning in 1974), and Eastern Michigan University (beginning in 1985). She was a member of numerous professional organizations, serving as officer on many of them. These include the Washtenaw County Bar Association, the State Bar of Michigan, the Michigan Trial Lawyers Association, the Washtenaw Trial Lawyers Association, the Women Lawyers of Michigan. She was an active member of the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan where she served as state vice president (1982-1989); the Washtenaw County branch of the ACLU where she was chair (1982-1989) and long-time member of its Executive Board. A pro-choice activist, Jean King was co-chair of the Michigan Abortion Referendum Campaign in 1972 and founder of the Religious Coalition for Abortion Reform in 1973.
In 1974, she drafted an administrative complaint relating to the sex discrimination in the Houghton-Mifflin text books used in the schools of Kalamazoo, Michigan. As a result o this complaint, the publisher almost immediately issued a supplement and began to revise its books. From this case, King authored a pamphlet entitled "Sex Discrimination in a Elementary Reading Program." In another instance, she argued that common law gave women the right, free of court intervention, to determine their own legal names, and she challenged Michigan's Secretary of State to allow women to use their maiden names on their drivers' licenses. After she personally directed a state-wide campaign joined by thousands of Michigan women, the Secretary of State capitulated.
As an attorney, Jean King has championed the cause of anti-discrimination, equal rights for women, and racial justice. Her courtroom victories have been noteworthy. In one example, a major class action suit (1974-1981) invoking Title VII of the 1965 Civil Rights Act, Jean King helped secure a settlement of $450,000 for 75 female employees of the Kelvinator Company who were judged to be the victims of discrimination (sex, race, and handicap). In addition, her argument that damages under the Michigan Civil Rights Act were not precluded by the workers' compensation law was accepted in a precedent that remains one of the most important weapons in the fight to eliminate sex discrimination in the workplace.
