The National Bar Association (NBA) was organized in 1925 to advance the science of jurisprudence, to uphold the honor of the legal profession, and to protect the civil and political rights of United States citizens. The NBA is the oldest and largest association of African-American attorneys and encompasses a vast network of lawyers, jurists, scholars, and students.

          The Women Lawyers Division was formed as part of the NBA in 1972 and operates on a national level with officers and a board of directors representing African-American female attorneys across the nation and on a local level through local affiliates.

          The Philadelphia Chapter of the Women Lawyers Division was formed in 1981 through the organizing efforts of Lydia Y. Kirkland, Angela E. Nolan, and Beverly Williams. African-American lawyers were "summoned" to appear at the group's first organizational meeting held on July 1, 1981, at Temple University School of Law.

          As an outgrowth of this effort the Program Planning Committee was formed and charged with the responsibility of formulating the structure and goals for the organization. The members of the Program Planning Committee were Jacqueline Allen, Joan Brown, Lydia Kirkland, Shawn Lacey, Angela Nolan, Jean Purnell, Covette Rooney, Beverly Williams, and Diane Wilson. On October 8, 1981, the Program Planning Committee hosted the group's first reception at the University of Pennsylvania Law School as an effort to make the local bar associations in general, and the African-American legal community in particular, aware of its organizing efforts and its proposed agenda.