Mount Pleasant is small, Iowa city of just over 9200 people, located in south east Iowa. It was founded in 1835. The first female lawyer in the United States, Arabella Mansfield, spent her childhood in Mount Pleasant, and then attended Iowa Wesleyan College. Due to the American Civil War, universities were admitting more women into universities. At first, she taught at Des Moines Conference Seminary in Indianola. She returned to Mount Pleasant after a year to marry Melvin Mansfield. Her husband encouraged her to pursue her ambition to study law. She took the Iowa law bar exam in 1869 and passed in with high scores. Mansfield challenged the law that didn't permit women to join the bar. As such, Iowa became the first state to admit women to the bar. She concentrated on college teaching and activist work. She taught at Iowa Wesleyan College, and then at DePauw University in Indiana. She joined the National League of Women Lawyers in 1893. She was active in women's suffrage and wo...