Sheets Law Firm, P.C.

#StPaddysDay checklist: 1: Coordinate your #DesignatedDriver. 2: #LiveToBeIrish another day, plan a sober ride. #BuzzedDriving Is Drunk Driving.

Oklahoma Fact Friday: Ada Lois Sipuel Fisher was born on February 8, 1924, in Chickasha. She graduated from Lincoln High School in 1941 as the Valedictorian. In May of 1945, she graduated Langston with honors. On January 14, 1946, she applied for admission to the University of Oklahoma College of Law. After reviewing Fisher's credentials, the university's president, Dr. George Lynn Cross, advised her that there was no academic reason to reject her application for admission, b...ut that Oklahoma statutes prohibited whites and blacks from attending classes together. After a three-year battle, Ada Lois Sipuel Fisher’s case was heard before the U.S. Supreme Court. Her lawyer would be future Justice Thurgood Marshall. The Justices of the Court ruled unanimously that the laws of Oklahoma violated the constitution and Oklahoma had to provide legal instruction that was equal for whites and minorities. Oklahoma’s response to this decision was to create a law school, just for Mrs. Fisher in the basement of the Capitol. She elected to sue again for admission to OU Law school. Finally, on June 18, 1949, Sipuel was admitted to OU Law. While at OU, the law school designated a section marked for colored and roped it off separate from the rest of the class. Despite this, she was welcomed by her faculty and classmates, who would share notes with her and studied with her. She was also required to attend separate dining areas and restrooms and sit in a segregated section at football games. These restrictions remained at OU until 1950, when a different case ordered that those injustices be stopped. She graduated with a law degree in 1951. She opened a practice for a short time in Chickasha in 1952, before getting into education. The photo is of her signing the roll of Oklahoma Attorneys. In 1992, Governor Walters appointed Ada Lois Sipuel Fisher to serve on the board of regents for OU. Her career had come full circle from the school rejecting her to serving on the board that controlled how the school operated. She passed away in 1995 after a battle with cancer. There is now a garden at OU dedicated to her memory and she is a member of the Oklahoma Hall of Fame.

Oklahoma Fact Friday: Born on April 13, 1872, Wyatt Hardy Slaughter, W.H. Slaughter attended Walden University and in 1892 received his medical degree from Meharry Medical College. In 1903, Dr. Slaughter would relocate to Oklahoma City. He is believed to be the first ever African American Doctor in Oklahoma. Dr. Slaughter would build an office for his practice in the Deep Deuce District, just north of now Bricktown. He did this because, at the time, Oklahoma City was fully... segregated, and this was a neighborhood that allowed African Americans to live. His practice was the only one in Oklahoma City that allowed African Americans to receive any medical assistance. This would be the first of many buildings built and developed by Dr. Slaughter in the Deep Deuce, as he built many buildings to house the community, including a music hall known as the Slaughter Hall and a pharmacy. Dr. Slaughter would partner with African American Dr. W.L. Haywood, and the two of them would create the first hospital in Oklahoma to accept minorities for treatment. At the time, due to Jim Crowe laws, even the hospitals were ‘whites only.’ This further expanded Dr. Slaughter’s influence in the Deep Deuce. Dr. Slaughter played a key role in founding the African American Oklahoma Medical, Dental, and Pharmaceutical Association. He retired from medicine in 1949, devoting the rest of his life to philanthropic causes. Helping to create a YMCA that allowed African Americans. He also helped finance the building of a segregated high school. He passed away on August 2, 1952. Many of Dr. Slaughter’s buildings have been lost of progress and re-development, but his mansion is preserved as a landmark. You can find the Slaughter House at 3101 NE 50th Street in Oklahoma City.

A benefit dinner and auction to honor a beloved officer and a deserving family.

Oklahoma Fact Friday: As you might imagine Oklahoma isn’t known for our winter Olympians unlike the summer games. However, when you watch the Olympics this week and next, there is an Oklahoman of merit: Mariah Bell is going for figure skating gold. She was born in Tulsa in 1996. At the age of 25, she is one of the oldest figure skaters in history. She will be the oldest female figure skater in 94 years. Previously, her attempts to make the Olympic team came up short, but instead of retiring, she worked harder, learned, and improved, earning her spot. In 2020, Mariah won the silver in the US Nationals, but this year in 2020, she took home gold as the best in the USA and finally won the chance to represent the USA in the Olympics.