Bessye Anita Warren Bennett (1938–2000) was Connecticut's first African American female lawyer.
[1][2] She was born on August 16, 1938, in Prairie View, Texas to educators Dr. Samuel Enders Warren and Juanita McBroom.
[2] Bennett went on to graduate from University of Connecticut School of Law in 1973, and in the following year, Bennett was admitted as the first African American female to practice law in Connecticut.
She worked as a corporate attorney (the first African American female to do so) before establishing her own practice in 1985.
She achieved yet another historical first when she served as the Deputy Town Counsel for Bloomfield, Connecticut.