Daisy D. Perkins

{{short description|American lawyer}}

Daisy D. Perkins was Ohio’s first African American female lawyer.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1lOIjQUG4aoC&pg=PA422|title=Emancipation: The Making of the Black Lawyer, 1844-1944|last=Smith|first=John Clay|date=1999|publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press|isbn=9780812216851|language=en}}{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pZfbPhaSrzAC&pg=PT839|title=The History of Ohio Law|last1=Benedict|first1=Michael Les|last2=Winkler|first2=John F.|date=2004|publisher=Ohio University Press|isbn=9780821415467|language=en}}

Perkins’ father was John Perkins, a runaway slave who opened a barber shop after settling in North Baltimore, Ohio. She lost her mother at fourteen months of age.{{Cite web|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/baltimore-afro-american-may-30-1924-p-1/|title=Woman Attorney a Candidate in Columbus|last=|first=|date=May 30, 1924|website=Baltimore Afro American Newspaper|language=en|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2019-08-29}} Perkins went on to attend Findlay College with the financial support of her sisters.{{Cite web|url=https://www.thenbxpress.com/memorial-fund-established-to-repair-historical-graves/|title=Memorial Fund Established to Repair Historical Graves – TheNBXpress.com|language=en-US|access-date=2019-08-29}}

She relocated to Columbus, Ohio and became an autodidact in law. Her legal tutelage was provided by M.B. Earnhart, a Caucasian judge. In 1919, after having taken the bar examination seven times, she became the first African American female admitted to practice law in Ohio.{{Cite web|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/steubenville-herald-jun-26-1919-p-9/|title=TWO FROM JEFFERSON COUNTY SUCCESSFULLY PASS THE RECENT STATE BAR EXAMINATION|last=|first=|date=June 26, 1919|website=Steubenville Herald Newspaper|language=en|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2019-08-29}} Later, she became a lawyer for the Office of the Columbus Prosecutor.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n3Xn7jMx1RYC&pg=PA1584|title=The American Midwest: An Interpretive Encyclopedia|last1=Cayton|first1=Andrew R. L.|last2=Sisson|first2=Richard|last3=Zacher|first3=Chris|date=2006-11-08|publisher=Indiana University Press|isbn=9780253003492|language=en}}