Contributions and Distinctions
Annie Coker was the first Black woman to graduate from UC Berkeley School of Law in 1929. In her undergraduate years at Berkeley, she was an early member of Alpha Kappa Alpha, one of Berkeley’s first Black sororities and graduated with a Bachelors of Science in legal studies in 1924. She received a JD from UC Berkeley in 1929 becoming the first African American woman to earn a law degree from the university. After admission to the State Bar, she became the first African American woman attorney in California.
Biographical Sketch
Annie Virginia Stephens Coker (1903-1986) holds an important place in UC Berkeley’s history as both an undergraduate and a Berkeley Law graduate who broke major racial and gender barriers. She earned her undergraduate degree at Berkeley in 1924, completing a pre-law focused course of study that prepared her for legal training at a time when very few women, and even fewer Black women, were encouraged or supported in higher education.
Coker went on to graduate from Berkeley Law in 1929, becoming the first African American woman to earn a law degree from the university and the first African American woman attorney in California. As Erwin Chemerinsky, Dean of the UC Berkeley Law School, has noted, her achievements deserve recognition because she practiced law in a profession overwhelmingly dominated by white men. Her success reflects Berkeley’s role in educating early trailblazers and continues to shape the university’s legacy around access, equity, and inclusion in legal education.