Odas Nicholson

Odas Nicholson (March 25, 1924 – March 10, 2012) was an attorney, activist and judge in Illinois.

Nicholson was a delegate to and secretary of the Sixth Illinois Constitutional Convention, which produced Illinois' first new constitution in 100 years. In that capacity she is credited with two key provisions of the Constitution of Illinois: the prohibition on gender discrimination and the language in the preamble numbering among the purposes of the constitution to "eliminate poverty and inequality".

Early life and education

Nicholson was born the youngest of seven children on a farm in Pickens, Mississippi. At the age of 13, after her mother's death, Nicholson traveled from Mississippi, where educational segregation barred her from attending high school, to Chicago where she lived with her brother's family. As a child Nicholson had planned to become a teacher like many other members of her family, but positive feedback from a judge in an oratory contest sponsored by the Chicago Herald-American inspired her to consider a legal career.

Nicholson graduated from DePaul University in Chicago with a Ph.B. degree in 1947, and an L.L.B. in 1948.

Career

Nicholson was admitted to the Illinois bar in 1948. For much of her legal career, Nicholson worked as a trial attorney for the Supreme Life Insurance company, where Earl Dickerson was general counsel, while also maintaining a private practice. and the Professional Woman's Club, and as vice president of the Cook County Bar Association. Nicholson opposed proposals for judges to be appointed instead of elected, contending that "the people have the wisdom and the right to choose their own judges and to remove them when necessary". She also favored home rule for cities and strong civil rights protections, although these positions were shared by the other candidates. Nicholson received the highest number of votes in the primary, 9,188 as against 8,997 for civil rights leader Albert Raby, 7,676 for attorney Michael Shakman, and 6,755 for Attye Belle McGee, wife of the Chicago postmaster.

In the general election, the Independent Voters of Illinois backed Raby and Shakman, while the Cook County Democratic Party backed Nicholson and McGee. The Chicago Tribune endorsed Nicholson and McGee. Nicholson was also endorsed by a number of civic and legal organizations, including the National Bar Association, Cook County Bar Association, and Better Government Association. Nicholson received 12,069 votes to Raby's 13,919.

Shakman was the only white candidate in the general election and received strong support only from majority-white Hyde Park. Shakman accused her of being a machine candidate. She later described this as one of the proudest moments of her career. She commuted to Springfield for the convention proceedings and continued working her regular job on weekends.

Elmer Gertz, another delegate to the 1970 constitutional convention, recalled Nicholson as "a very brilliant and hard-working woman".

In addition to serving as secretary of the convention, Nicholson is remembered for her work in securing the prohibition against discrimination on the basis of sex in Article I, Section 18. The Illinois Constitution became the first state constitution to contain such a prohibition, which closely tracked the language of the Equal Rights Amendment. The committee did not recommend the proposal to the convention, so Nicholson introduced it from the convention floor on second reading of the bill of rights. The convention approved the equal rights provision by a 94–7 vote.

Nicholson drafted the preamble of the new constitution. Her draft of the preamble was adopted by an 8–6 vote of the bill of rights committee. The committee secretary Leonard Foster resigned in protest after Nicholson's preamble was adopted, accusing chairman Elmer Gertz of interference. Opponents took issue with the preamble's enumeration of specific goals for the state including "to eliminate poverty and inequality", and noted that it was out of step with other state constitution preambles.

Nicholson also spoke in favor of electing judges. Elmer Gertz recalled that she "fought most unyieldingly for the views of the Democratic organization on judicial selection", namely that judges should not be appointed by merit selection due to its discriminatory effect. Nicholson's view did not prevail at the convention, but it did prevail at the ballot box. The judicial selection process was put before the voters as a separate question in December 1970, and the "Appoint All Judges Amendment" failed by a 54–46 margin.

At the closing ceremonies on September 3, 1970, Nicholson presented the constitution signed by the delegates to Secretary of State Paul Powell.

In 1971, governor Richard Ogilvie appointed Nicholson to a task force overseeing the implementation of the constitution.

Post-convention career

In 1972, Nicholson ran for the Illinois House of Representatives in the 24th district. The Daley organization dropped its support for incumbent Robert E. Mann, a leader of the liberal caucus in the House, and backed Nicholson instead. Nicholson said she had always supported Mann but felt no qualms about running against him "since he didn't support me in the Con Con race". With the mayor's blessing, a group of precinct committeemen (including Cecil Partee, John Stroger, Eugene Sawyer, and Marshall Korshak) agreed to drop Mann in favor of Nicholson so that the South Side district would have all-Black representatives. Press reports described Mann as "under siege" from Nicholson's campaign. Mann, however, soundly defeated Nicholson by more than 5 to 1. Nicholson came in third in the top-two primary and was therefore eliminated from the general election ballot. Nicholson also advocated for the Equal Rights Amendment during the 1970s.

In the 1970s, Nicholson worked for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, where she served as chief legal officer for the Chicago and Kansas City regions,

In 1986, Nicholson sought appointment to the Illinois Appellate Court. In an uncommon move, the Illinois Supreme Court referred her qualifications for review by the Chicago Bar Association. The association rated her as unqualified based on a "lack of legal knowledge and ability."

Nicholson was a member of the historically African American Alpha Kappa Alpha (AKA) sorority. The chapter later named a scholarship in her honor.

Nicholson died on March 10, 2012, of complications from Alzheimer's disease. She was buried in the Oak Woods Cemetery in Chicago.