Born in New York City on January 13, 1850, Charlotte Ray was of African, Native American, and European ancestry. She was educated at Myrtilla Miner╒s Institution for the Education of Colored Youth in Washington, D.C., and she later taught in the preparatory and normal departments of Howard University while studying in the law school. She received a law degree in 1872 and shortly afterward was admitted to the bar of the District of Columbia.
She was the first African-American woman lawyer to practice in the United States. Her private practice was unsuccessful, however, apparently owing to racial prejudice, and by 1879 she had moved back to New York City. She taught school for a time in Brooklyn. She died in Woodside, Long Island, New York, on January 4, 1911.
