Hattie Leah Henenberg

(1893 - 1974)

Born to a Hungarian mother and American-born father in Ennis, Texas, Henenberg and her six siblings moved to Dallas in 1904. Beginning as a stenographer, she took law school classes at night and in 1916 launched her career as a lawyer. In 1924, she served as the founding director of Dallas Free Legal Aid Bureau, which provided legal services to the poor.  She was assistant Texas attorney general from 1929 to 1930, special assistant U.S. attorney general in Washington in 1934, and an assistant district attorney in Dallas from 1941 to 1947.

Sources: Jewish Women's Archive