Women's Work

The Lives and Legacies of Trailblazing Alabama Women

An online exhibit presented by the Alabama Department of Archives and History

They were the reformers seeking to improve conditions for Alabama’s poor, sick, and defenseless. Advocates encouraging those around them to pursue their dreams. Educators pointing eager pupils toward greater opportunities and new horizons. And they were activists, stepping into the public eye—sometimes at great risk to themselves and their families—to press their convictions and assert their rights. By championing causes great and small across Alabama, generations of women have persisted in their determination to be engaged civically. 

  • Augusta Wilson
  • Maria Fearing
  • Julia Tutwiler
  • Frances Griffin
  • Alva Vanderbilt Belmont
  • Margaret Murray Washington
  • Adella Hunt Logan
  • Halle Tanner Dillon Johnson
  • Marie Bankhead Owen
  • Eva Sterrs
  • Nina Pinckard
  • Hattie Hooker Wilkins
  • Bossie O'Brien Hundley
  • Pattie Ruffner Jacobs
  • Loraine Bedsole Tunstall
  • Helen Keller
  • Dixie Bibb Graves
  • Scottie Frasier
  • Maud McLure Kelly
  • Geneva Mercer
  • Sibyl Murphree Pool
  • Tallulah Bankhead
  • Virginia Foster Durr
  • Agnes Baggett
  • Elizabeth Andrews
  • Johnnie Carr
  • Amelia Boynton Robinson
  • Mahala Ashley Dickerson
  • Jo Ann Robinson
  • Rosa Parks
  • Nina Miglionico
  • Juliette Hampton Morgan
  • Kathryn Tucker Windham
  • Autherine Lucy
  • Mother Angelica
  • Lurleen Burns Wallace
  • Coretta Scott King
  • Frances Wideman
  • Yolande Betbeze
  • Mary Ann Neeley
  • Leah Atkins
  • Vivian Malone
  • Gwen Patton
  • Nina Gail Thrower

The women featured in this exhibit are among those who, during their lifetimes, shaped Alabama’s history. To learn about contemporary women making significant contributions to the state today, visit these organizations:

https://www.alabamaacademyofhonor.org/

https://abhof.culverhouse.ua.edu/

https://www.alwib.org/

The images and footage in this exhibit, unless otherwise stated, are taken from the collections of the ADAH.

Select thumbnail images: Alabama Department of Archives and History, donated by Alabama Media Group, photographs by Robert Adams, Elizabeth Boone Aiden, Edouard Bruchac, Norman Dean, Tommy Hill, Ed Jones, Spider Martin, Birmingham News; Baldwin Times; Montgomery Advertiser; Library of Congress.


Click on the logo below to explore our website and learn more about the Alabama Department of Archives and History and the Museum of Alabama.