Interview with Linda Kelly
IntervieweeInterview with
Linda Kelly
American, born 1949
InterviewerInterviewed by
Constance Belton Green
American, born 1947
Date2016 November 9
DimensionsDuration: 8 Minutes, 59 Seconds
ClassificationsGraphics
Credit LineGift of the Connecticut Bar Foundation
DescriptionOral history interview with Linda Kelly who was interviewed by Constance Belton Green on November 9, 2016 for the Connecticut Bar Foundation's History of Connecticut Women in the Legal Profession Project.
Topics Discussed:
- Early Life: Linda Kelly was born in 1949 and grew up in Salisbury, North Carolina.
- Early Education and School: Her early education took place in segregated all-Black institutions in North Carolina. In the early 1960s, she was among the first African-American students to integrate the all-white high school in Salisbury.
- College Education: She attended the University of North Carolina in Greensboro. She initially had an interest in science but ultimately majored in Psychology.
- Transition to Law and Early Career: After graduating, she moved to the West Coast to visit her brother who was in the Marine Corps. She worked as a probation officer, which sparked her interest in law. She decided to attend law school, choosing the University of Connecticut School of Law in 1972 (graduated in 1976 and was sworn into the Connecticut Bar). Her first legal job was at Hartford National Bank and Trust Company.
- Balancing Career, Family, and Community: Linda Kelly married in 1976 and had two children. She emphasized balancing work, marriage, and community activities from the start of her career.
- Community Engagement and Professional Networks : She was involved in community activities in the Blue Hills neighborhood, including the Blue Hills Civic Association. She was also involved with non-profits, her church, and helped form Women in Crisis. Professionally, she was part of Hartford Area Women Attorneys.
- Career Progression and Legacy : Recalls her career progress from banking to serving as a Public Utilities Commissioner for the State of Connecticut.
Topics Discussed:
- Early Life: Linda Kelly was born in 1949 and grew up in Salisbury, North Carolina.
- Early Education and School: Her early education took place in segregated all-Black institutions in North Carolina. In the early 1960s, she was among the first African-American students to integrate the all-white high school in Salisbury.
- College Education: She attended the University of North Carolina in Greensboro. She initially had an interest in science but ultimately majored in Psychology.
- Transition to Law and Early Career: After graduating, she moved to the West Coast to visit her brother who was in the Marine Corps. She worked as a probation officer, which sparked her interest in law. She decided to attend law school, choosing the University of Connecticut School of Law in 1972 (graduated in 1976 and was sworn into the Connecticut Bar). Her first legal job was at Hartford National Bank and Trust Company.
- Balancing Career, Family, and Community: Linda Kelly married in 1976 and had two children. She emphasized balancing work, marriage, and community activities from the start of her career.
- Community Engagement and Professional Networks : She was involved in community activities in the Blue Hills neighborhood, including the Blue Hills Civic Association. She was also involved with non-profits, her church, and helped form Women in Crisis. Professionally, she was part of Hartford Area Women Attorneys.
- Career Progression and Legacy : Recalls her career progress from banking to serving as a Public Utilities Commissioner for the State of Connecticut.
Object number2024.38.45a-b
NotesProject Overview: At the turn of the 20th century, other than Mary Hall, women lawyers were virtually unknown in Connecticut. By contrast, at the turn of the 21st century, law schools were enrolling roughly the same number of women as men. Since their earliest time at the bar, women have become leaders in all areas of the profession at a pace out of all proportion to their brief history and number. In 1999, the Fellows of the Connecticut Bar Foundation initiated the Oral History of Connecticut Women in the Legal Profession Project. Within the framework of this dynamic project, the Fellows have been creating a permanent video, audio, and photographic historical record of milestone achievements of women as they have become more visible and achieved prominence in the field of law. In 2019, a leadership donation of $20,000 from the law firm of Carmody Torrance Sandak & Hennessey enabled the project to significantly broaden its scope and plan for the future.
Through its first two phases, the project worked with award-winning documentarian Karyl Evans and attorney/photographer Isabel Chenoweth to produce fifty-eight oral history interviews with outstanding female attorneys and 118 portraits of women in the Connecticut judiciary.
The oral history interviews have collected the stories of women whose ingenuity, perseverance, and intelligence dismantled barriers that historically prevented women from pursuing careers in the law. Connecticut has benefited from the efforts of these “pioneers” as they enriched the legal profession by joining the ranks of their male peers and paved the way for more women to join the profession. (Source: Connecticut Bar Foundation)
Subject Terms
- Women
- Lawyers
- Women lawyers
- Oral history
- Interview films
- Interview transcripts
- Interviews
- Oral narratives
- Attorneys
- Segregation
- University of Connecticut
- Bank buildings
- Blue Hills Civic Association (Hartford, Conn.)
- Law schools
- Family
- Education
- Black people
- People of color
- African American women
- African Americans
- Probation officers
- Hartford National Bank and Trust Company
- Children
- Marriage
- Motherhood
- Public utilities
- Public utilities --Employees
- Interviews and Oral Histories
- History of Connecticut Women in the Legal Profession Project
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