Ruth Kern
Ruth Ellen Kern (1914 - January 26, 2002) was an American lawyer, community leader and feminist. Kern was an early pioneer in law for women in El Paso, Texas. She was also outspoken against myths regarding violence against women, sharing her own experiences with rape with the public. Kern was an active member of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), and a law suit she filed for an inmate led to El Paso County to construct a new jail with better conditions for inmates. Biography Kern was born in Chicago to Swedish immigrants and grew up poor in the South Side. Kern raised her family and attended college and university classes part-time at the University of Chicago and the Chicago Kent College of Law. At the college of law, she was the only woman in her class and she earned the Kappa Beta Pi Honor Key. She was admitted to the Illinois bar in 1946. She started working first as a legal editor for the Commerce Clearing House Association and was about to go into private practice when her son's health prompted a move to El Paso, Texas in 1947. Kern married for a second time in 1948. She became