Transcript
A (0:00)
There's this moment in one of the recent movies about Ruth Bader Ginsburg's life. The movie's called on the Basis of Sex. The women in the class of 1959 at Harvard Law are invited to a dinner at the Dean's house, and they are asked to justify taking up a spot at Harvard Law School.
B (0:20)
This is only the sixth year women have had the privilege to earn a Harvard Law degree. This little soiree is our way of saying, welcome. My wife Harriet and I are very glad all nine of you have joined us.
A (0:34)
Sam Waterston as Dean Erwin Griswold at the head of a grand table.
B (0:40)
Let us go around the table and each of you ladies report who you are, where you're from, and why you're occupying a place at Harvard that could have gone to a man.
A (0:51)
A couple of women take their turn, each rising to their feet to answer the question. And then, I'm Bruce Ginsburg from Brooklyn. And why are you here, Ms. Ginsburg?
B (1:12)
Mrs. Ginsburg?
A (1:14)
Actually, my husband Marty is in the second year class. I'm at Harvard to learn more about his work so I can be a more patient and understanding wife. That's pretty much how the real Ruth Bader Ginsburg answered Dean Griswold's question that night. Back in 1956, even if you don't follow every opinion and dissent from the high court, you probably already know that she was being a little facetious. This studious, feeling, fierce feminist becomes the second woman to sit on the US Supreme Court. But back in 1956, she was not yet a three initial icon. Ruth was one of nine women among about 500 men in that class at Harvard Law School. So as I watched that movie scene, I kept wondering, who were the other women at that table, the classmates chuckling in the background at Ginsburg's response to the dean? How did they come to be sitting at that table? How did they answer that question about why they were there taking the place of a man and what became of them? If your classmate is Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the history begins and ends with her. But even her story about what it was like to break into the elite world of attorneys and judges, about what it took to make it to the Supreme Court. That story is actually better understood if the women who didn't end up on the federal bench are. Are taken into account too. So we tracked them down. I'm Dahlia Lithwick. I'm a senior editor at Slate. I've been covering the U.S. supreme Court for 20 years, and I host this podcast, amicus. You are listening to the first episode of the class of rbg. We've come to think of this project as part archive, part belated class reunion for these women of Harvard Law school's class of 59. We have spent over a year now collecting the stories of all the women of that class, talking to family members and spouses of the women who are no longer with us, and interviewing some of the octogenarians who are still alive. You'll find full stories of all of these women's lives, photos, archived letters, transcripts@slate.com RBG and in this two part special audio series, you're going to hear from the women who agreed to be featured on this podcast. Two amazing trailblazers you don't yet know by name and one that you most certainly do. The 1957 Harvard Law School yearbook is an oxblood bound volume with a gold seal. The pages are full of black and white portraits of men, so many, many men. And then, one by one, here and there, the women of that 1L class begin to appear.