Janet Mary Riley (September 20, 1915 – July 5, 2008) was an American civil rights activist and first female law professor in New Orleans. Riley dedicated her career to social justice reform, where her proposed "equal management" in reference to community property law was adopted by the Louisiana legislature in 1978 and formally incorporated into the

Civil Code A civil code is a codification of private law relating to property, family, and obligations. A jurisdiction that has a civil code generally also has a code of civil procedure. In some jurisdictions with a civil code, a number of the core ar ...

in 1980. In addition, Janet Mary Riley heavily involved herself with activism regarding the civil rights movement.

Education

Riley obtained a B.A. from Ursuline College, the sister college to

Loyola University New Orleans Loyola University New Orleans is a Private university, private Jesuit university in New Orleans, New Orleans, Louisiana. Originally established as Loyola College in 1904, the institution was chartered as a university in 1912. It bears the name o ...

and, years later, a B.S. in

Library science Library science (often termed library studies, bibliothecography, and library economy) is an interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary field that applies the practices, perspectives, and tools of management, information technology, education, and ...

from

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 nea ...

. She later earned a law degree from

Loyola University New Orleans College of Law Loyola University New Orleans College of Law is a private law school in New Orleans, Louisiana affiliated with Loyola University New Orleans. Loyola's law school opened in 1914 and is now located on the Broadway Campus of the university in the hi ...

and an

L.L.M A Master of Laws (M.L. or LL.M.; Latin: ' or ') is an advanced postgraduate academic degree, pursued by those either holding an undergraduate academic law degree, a professional law degree, or an undergraduate degree in a related subject. In mos ...

from the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United S ...

Academic and legal career

Riley taught in the New Orleans Public School System for a short time following her first college degree. After receiving her Library science degree, she became a librarian at the

New Orleans Public Library The New Orleans Public Library (NOPL) is the public library service of the city of New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. History The system began in 1895 in the Fisk Free and Public Library in a building on Lafayette Square. Abijah Fisk was a ...

and later an assistant at Loyola's library. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, Riley, like many other women at the time, supported her community by joining the war's cause. She became a librarian in the special services, and returned to her job at Loyola after the war. In 1945 she began to oversee Loyola's law library, also taking law courses in the evening, graduating with a J.D. in 1952 and being admitted to the bar in 1953. She was then offered a position as law faculty, but at a lower salary than what she'd made as a librarian. Riley took the job as she would be on a 10 month salary (instead of 12) and could aspire to professor status, whereas as a librarian she could only hope to reach assistant professor. She was subsequently hired as a full-time law professor, making her the first female law professor in New Orleans, and only the seventh in the nation. As a professor, Riley encountered sexist behavior from her male legal students, who did not expect to see a woman in the classroom, as well as from colleagues, where she would often hear an opinion she'd expressed (and that had been ignored) later lauded when it came from another (male) colleague. Riley served on the legal team that defended four people, three of them African-American, who were arrested for sitting at a "whites only" lunch counter at McCrory's in 1960. Riley wrote the brief for the case, Lombard vs. Louisiana, and it was eventually overturned by the Supreme Court, setting a precedent for striking down segregation laws and practices. In 1971, after she began to teach Community property law, Riley published the case book ''Louisiana Community Property: Cases and Material on Louisiana Property Law of Marriage''. As a result, in 1973 she was asked to chair the subcommittee studying the matrimonial regimes section of the

Louisiana Civil Code The ''Louisiana Civil Code'' (LCC) constitutes the core of private law in the State of Louisiana. The Louisiana Civil Code is based on a more diverse set of sources than the laws of the other 49 states of the United States: substantive law between ...

. At the time, the Louisiana Civil Code "Head and Master" rule gave the husband sole control over community property. Riley actively campaigned for change in the law, speaking to women's groups and at conferences. The Equal Management Law was eventually passed in 1979, and took effect in 1980.

Activism

In addition to her legal work concerning Community property and segregation, Riley also volunteered with the Civil Rights Movement. She served on the Commission on Human Rights of the Catholic Committee of the South, led by Jesuit sociologist, author, social reformer, and Loyola colleague Joseph H. Fichter, S.J. The Commission helped implement the 1953

Archdiocese In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associate ...

's order forbidding any further racial segregation in Catholic Churches. In 1947 she served on the Board of Editors for the Louisiana Library Association ''Bulletin'', where she advocated for the admission of African American librarians without limitation to the association. She was also a member of the Community Relations Council, a biracial group focused on the integration of public spaces such as playgrounds and restaurants in New Orleans.

Personal life

Riley was a member of a

pontifical A pontifical ( la, pontificale) is a Christian liturgical book containing the liturgies that only a bishop may perform. Among the liturgies are those of the ordinal for the ordination and consecration of deacons, priests, and bishops to Holy O ...

secular institute In the Catholic Church, a secular institute is a type of institute of consecrated life in which consecrated persons profess the Evangelical counsels of celibate-chastity, poverty and obedience while living in the world, unlike members of a relig ...

called The Society of Our Lady of the Way where members took vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience.

Legacy

established the Janet Mary Riley Distinguished Professorship in 2002 from funds donated by Riley and her colleagues. On May 13, 2005, Riley received an Honorary Degree from the

. Riley's personal papers are held at the

Special Collections & Archives. Riley's life and work were the subject of an exhibit, "Janet Mary Riley: A Voice for Social Justice in Louisiana," in Special Collections & Archives; a lecture by historian Janet Allured, "Janet Mary Riley: An Angel With Teeth;" and a "Letters Read" event.

References

External links

Recording of Letters Read event of Janet Mary Riley letters

Digital exhibit for "Janet Mary Riley: A Voice for Social Justice in Louisiana

Finding aid for the Janet Mary Riley Papers at Loyola University New Orleans

Oral history interview with Janet Mary Riley on the Louisiana Bar Foundation website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Riley, Janet Mary 1915 births 2008 deaths American Roman Catholics Loyola University New Orleans alumni Louisiana State University alumni Loyola University New Orleans College of Law alumni University of Virginia School of Law alumni American civil rights activists American women academics American legal scholars Lawyers from New Orleans American women legal scholars 20th-century American lawyers 20th-century American women 21st-century American women