Roma Jones Stewart
Attorney, Illinois solicitor general and genealogical researcher Roma Jones Stewart was born on August 10, 1936, in Chicago. Although Stewart's father, Sidney A. Jones, became judge of the Circuit Court of Cook County and one of the first African American members of the Chicago Bar Association, she never thought she would become a lawyer. The guests in her childhood home included Paul Robeson and Thurgood Marshall. Stewart attended mostly white Kosminski Elementary School and Hyde Park High School, graduating in 1954. At Fisk University, Edward Pessan taught her and she attended lectures by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and African American women's activist Anna Arnold Hedgemon. She graduated cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa in 1957
Stewart married former husband, Ronald, in 1960 and together they lived with their children in Japan and Burma. Returning to the United States, Stewart entered Georgetown Law School, earning a J. D. in 1972. She clerked for District of Columbia Superior Court Judge Harry T. Alexander in 1973 and moved on to the District of Columbia's Corporation Council as a prosecutor. In 1976, Stewart joined Hudson, Leftwich and Davenport where she handled federal employment discrimination cases, eventually establishing her own practice. Some of her cases include: Love vs. Pullman Co. (1976), Murray vs. Rumsfeld (1981), and Hunt vs. Chicago Housing Authority (1987).
Stewart was appointed director of the Office of Civil Rights of the Department of Health Education and Welfare in 1979. In 1987, she was appointed solicitor general of Illinois by Illinois Attorney General Neil F. Hartigan.
Now, Stewart continues as a civil rights attorney with a profound interest in African American history, especially genealogy. She is past president of the Afro-American Genealogical and Historical Society of Chicago and the author of Africans in Georgia: 1870 and Liberia Genealogical Research.
Selected Bibliography
Stewart, Roma Jones. Africans in Georgia: 1870. Chicago: Homeland Publications, 1993.
---. Liberia Genealogical Research. Chicago: Homeland Publications, 1991.
A2003.261
Female
11/3/2003
Stewart
Married
Jones
Hyde Park Academy High School
Charles Kozminski Elementary Community Academy
Roma
Chicago
STE05
Fall
Illinois
Salt Lake City, Utah
None

Illinois
8/10/1936
Chicago
United States
All Food
State solicitor general Roma Jones Stewart (1936 - ) served as the director of the Office of Civil Rights in the Department of Health, Education and Welfare. Stewart was later appointed as Illinois Solicitor General and is a past president of the Afro-American Genealogical and Historical Society of Chicago.
District of Columbia Superior Court
District of Columbia Corporation Council
Hudson, Leftwich & Davenport
United States Department of Health, Education and Welfare
State of Illinois
Blue
Tape: 1 Story: 1 - Slating of Roma Jones Stewart's interview
Tape: 1 Story: 2 - Roma Jones Stewart lists her favorites
Tape: 1 Story: 3 - Roma Jones Stewart describes researching her family history
Tape: 1 Story: 4 - Roma Jones Stewart describes her family background
Tape: 1 Story: 5 - Roma Jones Stewart talks about tracing her ancestors to 1740
Tape: 1 Story: 6 - Roma Jones Stewart tells stories of her 19th century ancestors
Tape: 1 Story: 7 - Roma Jones Stewart describes the book she is writing about her ancestors
Tape: 1 Story: 8 - Roma Jones Stewart talks about conducting research on the Civil War
Tape: 1 Story: 9 - Roma Jones Stewart describes her parents and childhood
Tape: 2 Story: 1 - Roma Jones Stewart describes her father's legal career
Tape: 2 Story: 2 - Roma Jones Stewart describes the sights, sounds, and smells of growing up in Chicago, Illinois
Tape: 2 Story: 3 - Roma Jones Stewart describes how race affected her education
Tape: 2 Story: 4 - Roma Jones Stewart describes growing up in Hyde Park, Chicago
Tape: 2 Story: 5 - Roma Jones Stewart talks about being exposed to culture and politics in her family
Tape: 2 Story: 6 - Roma Jones Stewart describes her favorite teacher at Hyde Park High School in Chicago, Illinois
Tape: 2 Story: 7 - Roma Jones Stewart remembers the Civil Rights Movement
Tape: 2 Story: 8 - Roma Jones Stewart describes attending law school at Georgetown University and the University of Chicago
Tape: 2 Story: 9 - Roma Jones Stewart describes marrying Ronald Stewart and living in Tokyo
Tape: 3 Story: 1 - Roma Jones Stewart shares her memories of living in Japan in the 1960s, pt. 1
Tape: 3 Story: 2 - Roma Jones Stewart shares her memories of living in Japan in the 1960s, pt. 2
Tape: 3 Story: 3 - Roma Jones Stewart describes working as a lawyer in Washington, D.C.
Tape: 3 Story: 4 - Roma Jones Stewart talks about being a criminal prosecutor
Tape: 3 Story: 5 - Roma Jones Stewart describes working on civil rights law and accepting a job at Hudson, Leftwich, and Davenport
Tape: 3 Story: 6 - Roma Jones Stewart describes Love v. Pullman Co.
Tape: 3 Story: 7 - Roma Jones Stewart describes the conclusion of Love v. Pullman Co.
Tape: 3 Story: 8 - Roma Jones Stewart describes her involvement with employment discrimination lawsuits against the Department of Defense, pt. 1
Tape: 3 Story: 9 - Roma Jones Stewart describes her involvement with employment discrimination lawsuits against the Department of Defense, pt. 2
Tape: 4 Story: 1 - Roma Jones Stewart talks about her work at the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW)
Tape: 4 Story: 2 - Roma Jones Stewart talks about attending the U.N. Conference on Women in Copenhagen
Tape: 4 Story: 3 - Roma Jones Stewart describes becoming Solicitor General of Illinois
Tape: 4 Story: 4 - Roma Jones Stewart recalls being admitted along with her brother to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court in 1977
Tape: 4 Story: 5 - Roma Jones Stewart talks about her family
Tape: 4 Story: 6 - Roma Jones Stewart reflects upon her career success
Tape: 4 Story: 7 - Roma Jones Stewart talks about her future plans
Tape: 4 Story: 8 - Roma Jones Stewart describes the books she has written about Liberia and Ghana
Tape: 4 Story: 9 - Roma Jones Stewart describes her hopes and concerns for the African American community
Tape: 4 Story: 10 - Roma Jones Stewart describes her lack of regrets in life
Tape: 4 Story: 11 - Roma Jones Stewart reflects upon her legacy
Tape: 5 Story: 1 - Roma Jones Stewart narrates her photographs
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