First published 2015
This biographical collection traces Jean Hoefer Toal's journey from a young girl roller skating in a Columbia post office lobby to becoming South Carolina's first female Supreme Court Chief Justice. Editors W. Lewis Burke Jr. and Joan P. Assey gather contributions from Supreme Court Justices, federal judges, state leaders, and family members to document Toal's career spanning law practice, legislative service, and judicial leadership. Growing up during the civil rights era of the 1950s and 60s, Toal drew inspiration from watching attorney Matthew J. Perry Jr. in court. She entered law school, married Bill Toal, and joined the South Carolina Bar in 1968 as one of fewer than one hundred women admitted in state history. The book chronicles her legislative achievements in the House of Representatives, her appointment as the state's first female Supreme Court Justice in 1988, and her election as Chief Justice in 2000. Contributors examine how Toal modernized South Carolina's judicial system while maintaining the same determination and loyalty she showed as a daughter, wife, and mother.
Genres: biography, political-science, 21st-century, law, american-history
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: inspirational-woman, overcoming-adversity
Setting: Columbia, South Carolina
Period: 1950s, 1960s, 1988, 2000
242 pages · Hardcover · University of South Carolina Press