Ada Lois Sipuel Fisher (November 2, 1924–March 19, 2013), known as Ada Jewel Fisher Sipuel at the time of the case and Ada Lois Sipuel Fisher Bullock upon her marriage, was an American civil rights activist. Denied admission to the University of Oklahoma College of Law because of her race and gender, Fisher's case was appealed to the United States Supreme Court in what became known as Sipuel v. Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma. Sipuel's case was the companion case to Sweatt v. Painter. The Oklahoma Supreme Court decided both cases in favor of the State, and the Supreme Court consolidated the two cases, and heard them together on December 12, 1948, and handed down its judgment in favor of Fisher and Sweatt on January 12, 1949. The two cases are cited as milestone decisions in the area of civil rights, in which the justices unanimously ruled that African American students must be allowed to attend professional or graduate schools if no equal alternative opportunities were provided by the state within its own boundaries. As a result of this decision, Fisher became the first African American woman to enroll at the University of Oklahoma.
After receiving her Juris Doctor from the University of Oklahoma in 1951, Fisher began private practice law in Oklahoma City. She worked for the U.S. Department of Justice civil rights division from 1952 until 1961. She was the assistant to the general counsel for the NAACP in Kansas City, Missouri from 1962 to 1964, working for legal redress in civil rights cases. In 1964, she helped found the Oklahoma City Black Lawyers' Association. She was married to Walter L. Bullock until his death in 2007.
Fisher died from diabetes complications on March 19, 2013, in Oklahoma City.
