1810s
Margaret Moffette Houston (11 apr 1819 – 03 dec 1867 | Marion AL – Independence TX) political family member, First Lady of the Republic of Texas
1820s
Amelia Gayle Gorgas (01 jun 1826 – 03 jan 1913 | Greensboro AL – Tuscaloosa AL) postmistress, hospital matron, longtime University of Alabama librarian
1830s
Caroline [Carrie] Olivia Mayhew Speake (09 oct 1834 – 20 mar 1906| Alabama US – Alabama US) poet, artist, musician [note: allegorical image created as editor found no images of this woman or her works
Maria Fearing (26 jul 1838 – 1937 | Gainesville AL – Sumter AL) educator, missionary, children’s advocate, freed African-American slave
1840s
Julia Strudwick Tutwiler (15 aug 1841 – 24 mar 1916 | Tuscaloosa AL – Birmingham AL) poet, lyricist, education / prison reform activist
Lillie Hitchcock Coit (23 aug 1843 – 22 jul 1929 | Mobile AL – San Francisco CA) folk figure, aka Firebell Lil, philanthropist, cookbook author, Coit Tower benefactor, San Francisco Volunteer Firefighters patroness, née Elizabeth Wyche Hitchcock
Mollie Evelyn Moore [M. E. M.] Davis (12 apr 1844 – 01 jan 1909 | Talladega AL – New Orleans LA) poet, editor, author, salon hostess | women.born.today © susan.powers.bourne
Maria Howard Weeden (06 jul 1846 – 12 apr 1905 | Huntsville AL – Huntsville AL) poet, artist, author
1850s
Elizabeth Louise Clarke [Pyrnelle] Parnell (19 jun 1850 – 26 aug 1907 | Perry County AL – Birmingham AL) children’s / young adult novelist
Alva Erskine Smith Belmont (17 jan 1853 – 26 jan 1933 | Mobile AL – Paris, France) socialite, suffragist, librettist, philanthropist, multi-millionaire, architectural endower / decorator
1860s
Mary Raymond Shipman Andrews (02 apr 1860 – 02 aug 1936 | Mobile AL – Syracuse NY) novelist, short story writer
Clara Weaver Parrish (16 mar 1861 – 11 nov 1925 | Selma AL – New York NY) painter, illustrator, printmaker, stained glass window designer
Martha Strudwick Young (11 jan 1862 – 09 may 1941 | Newbern AL – Greensboro AL) poet, novelist, lecturer, short fiction writer, children’s book author | women.born.today © susan.powers.bourne
Floride Green (03 dec 1863 – 24 nov 1936 | Mobile AL – Stockton CA) photographer
Mary McNeil Fenollosa (08 mar 1865 – 11 jan 1954 | Wilcox AL – Montrose AL) poet
Cornelia Bowen (24 sep 1865 – 09 jul 1934 | Tuskegee AL – Mount Meigs AL) writer, teacher, educator, administrator, in the first graduating class of Tuskegee Institute, founded Mount Meigs Colored Institute and Negro Boys’ Reformatory
Martha McChesney Berry (07 oct 1865 – 27 feb 1942 | Jackson County AL – Atlanta GA) educator, Berry College founder, work-study education programs pioneer
Ella Gaunt Smith (12 apr 1868 – 02 apr 1932 | Roanoke AL – Roanoke AL) doll designer / manufacturer
Anne Goldthwaite (28 jun 1869 – 29 jan 1944 | Montgomery AL – New York NY) painter, printmaker, women’s / equal rights advocate
Sara J. Hatcher Duncan (05 oct 1869 – 19– | Cahaba AL – Selma AL) author, schoolteacher, African-American social activist, founded Missionary Searchlight newspaper, president of African Methodist Episcopal Church’s Women’s Home and Foreign Missionary Society
1870s
Maud McKnight Lindsay (13 may 1874 -30 may 1941 | Tuscumbia AL – Tuscumbia AL) poet, teacher, playwright, children’s author, childhood friend of Helen Keller, founded first kindergarten in Alabama
Mary Morgan Keipp (25 oct 1875 – 22 jan 1961 | Selma AL – Selma AL) African-American photographer, nurse anesthetist, art photography pioneer
Annie Rowan Forney Daugette (01 jun 1876 – 11 sep 1974 | Jacksonville AL – Jacksonville AL) author, historian, flagmaker, philanthropist, political activist
Sarah Byrd Askew (15 feb 1877 – 20 oct 1942 | Dayton AL – Trenton NJ) librarian, pioneered establishing US county public libraries, NJ Public Library Commission director
1880s
Ruby Pickens Tartt (13 jan 1880 – 29 nov 1974 | Livingston AL – York AL) artist, author, librarian, folklorist, ethnomusicologist
Aline Meadow Hagood (16 feb 1880 – 16 feb 1979 | Lowndes County AL – Lowndesboro AL) daughter of the Confederate, born / lived at Meadowlands for 99 years
Helen Adams Keller (27 jun 1880 – 01 jun 1968 | Tuscumbia AL – Westport CT) author, lecturer, peace / political activist
Elizabeth Ross Haynes (30 jul 1883 – 26 oct 1953 | Mount Willing AL – New York NY) author, YWCA advocate, civil rights activist, social reformer / researcher
Lily Ross Taylor (12 aug 1886 – 29 jul 1969 | Auburn AL – Bryn Mawr PA) author, ancient historian, classical scholar
Geneva Mercer (27 jan 1889 – 02 mar 1984 | Jefferson AL – Demopolis AL) painter, sculptor
1890s
Louise Crenshaw Ray (17 may 1890 – 23 oct 1956 | Butler AL – Birmingham AL) poet
Zora Neale Hurston (07 jan 1891 – 28 jan 1960 | Notasulga AL – Fort Pierce FL) African-American author, folklorist, anthropologist
Katherine Stinson (14 feb 1891 – 08 jul 1977 | Fort Payne AL – Santa Fe NM) architect, WWI Red Cross ambulance driver, aka The Flying Schoolgirl, pioneering aviator / stunt / exhibition flyer
Irita Bradford Van Doren (16 mar 1891 – 18 dec 1966 | Birmingham AL – New York NY) editor, literary figure, book reviewer for New York Herald Tribune [for 37 years]
Myrtle Terry Lawrence (27 jul 1891 – 01 may 1980 | near Sulligent AL – Tampa FL) sharecropper, labor organizer, worked within bi-racial Southern Tenant Farmers Union
Viola Blanche Evans Dean (12 jun 1892 – 31 may 1974 | Clay County AL – Goodwater AL) teacher, author, naturalist, illustrator, conservationist
Oriana Atkinson (04 sep 1894 – 31 jul 1989 | New York NY – Huntsville AL) poet, author, drama critic
Marjorie Stinson (05 jul 1895 – 15 apr 1975 | Fort Payne AL – Washington DC) aviation pioneer, aeronautical draftswoman, ninth female licensed US pilot, aviation training school co-owner / instructor, aka The Flying Schoolmarm
Sara Powell Haardt (01 mar 1898 – 31 may 1935 | Montgomery AL – Baltimore MD) novelist, professor, suffragist, screenwriter, short story author, women’s rights activist
Mary B. Ward (06 dec 1898 – 10 jul 1985 | Selma AL – Lewisville AR) poet, editor, Poet Laureate of Alabama, pen names: Linn Latham, Amy Atchison, Jack Ordway
1900s
Sister Gertrude Morgan (07 apr 1900 – 08 jul 1980 | Lafayette AL – New Orleans LA) poet, artist, musician, preacher
Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald (24 jul 1900 – 10 mar 1948 | Montgomery AL – Ashville NC) artist, novelist, social icon, literary figure
Viola Goode Liddell (18 dec 1901 – 16 may 1998 | Gastonburg AL – Camden AL) poet, author, memoirist, storyteller, short fiction writer
Tallulah Brockman Bankhead (31 jan 1902 – 12 dec 1968 | Huntsville AL – New York NY) talk show host, foster parent, political liberal, stage / film / radio / television actress, autobiographical author
Ruth Elder (08 sep 1902 – 09 oct 1977 | Anniston AL – San Francisco CA) actress, aviatrix, aka Miss America of Aviation, first female pilot to attempt solo trans-Atlantic flight, founding member of Ninety-Nines women’s aviator group
Virginia Foster Durr (06 aug 1903 – 24 feb 1999 | Birmingham AL – Carlisle PA) civil rights activist / lobbyist, namesake for Virginia Durr Moment / triggering event
Estella Payton (17 aug 1904 – 12 dec 1999 | Wilcox County AL – Mobile AL) African-American co-star on Woman’s World television cooking show
Ellen Tarry (26 sep 1906 – 23 sep 2008 | Birmingham AL – New York NY) first African-American picture book author, children / young-adult writer
Ellen Dorrit Hoffleit (12 mar 1907 – 09 apr 2007 | Florence AL – New Haven CT) astronomer, nonfiction author, autobiographical writer
1910s
Edna Marie Faulk Rudisill (13 mar 1911 – 03 nov 2006 | Monroeville AL – Hudson FL) author, memoirist, tv personality, aka The Fruitcake Lady
Helen Friedman Blackshear (05 jun 1911 – 12 nov 2003 | Tuscaloosa AL – Tuscaloosa AL) poet, editor, author, teacher, memoirist, biographer, Poet Laureate of Alabama
Gail Patrick Jackson (20 jun 1911 – 06 jul 1980 | Birmingham AL – Los Angeles CA) actress, pioneering female television producer, born Margaret LaVelle Fitzpatrick, only female executive producer in prime time (Perry Mason Show, 1957-1966), sole female leader of National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (till 1983)
Mary Elizabeth Counselman (09 nov 1911 – 13 nov 1995 | Birmingham AL – Birmingham AL) poet, short fiction writer
Rosa Louise McCauley Parks (04 feb 1913 – 24 oct 2005 | Tuskegee AL – Detroit MI) African-American, memoirist, civil rights activist, autobiographical author, aka First Lady of Civil Rights / Mother of the Freedom Movement
Hazel Brannon Smith (04 feb 1914 – 15 may 1994 | Alabama City AL – Cleveland TN) newspaper owner / editor
Juliette Hampton Morgan (21 feb 1914 – 16 jul 1957 | Montgomery AL – Montgomery AL) teacher, reference librarian, civil rights activist, newspaper letter-writer, committed suicide after years of shunning by friends and attacks by pro-segregationists
Cora Mae Brown (19 apr 1914 – 17 dec 1972 | Bessemer AL – Detroit MI) civic / civil rights activist, first female African-American elected [not appointed] to US State Senate
Margaret Abigail Walker Alexander (07 jul 1915 – 30 nov 1998 | Birmingham AL – Chicago IL) poet, author, professor
Letitia Woods Brown (24 oct 1915 – 03 aug 1976 | Tuskegee AL – Washington DC) author, professor, African-American historian
Eunice W. Johnson(04 apr 1916 – 03 jan 2010 | Selma AL – Chicago IL) fashion show founder, magazine publisher
Mary Ward Brown (18 jun 1917 – 14 may 2013 | Hamburg AL – Marion AL) novelist, short fiction writer
Mary Oliver Clabauh Wright (25 sep 1917 – 18 jun 1970 | Tuscaloosa AL – Guildford CT) editor, author, historian, sinologist, Yale’s first female full / tenured professor of arts & sciences
Marie Foster (24 oct 1917 – 06 sep 2003 | Alberta AL – Selma AL) Civil Rights Movement leader, voters registration advocate, co-created Dallas County Voters League, one of primary local organizers of Selma to Montgomery Marches [1965]
Mabel Murphy Smythe-Haith (03 apr 1918 – 07 feb 2006 | Montgomery AL – Tuscaloosa AL) editor, author, professor, ambassador, civil rights activist, US / Africa exchange student innovator, deputy director NAACP Legal Defense / Education Fund
Florence Sundquist (04 sep 1919 – 23 aug 2015 | Mobile AL – Norwood MA) WWII Marine, substitute teacher, civic / veterans’ activist
Recy Taylor (31 dec 1919 – 28 dec 2017 | Abbeville AL – Abbeville AL) civil rights activist / catalyst, black woman kidnapped from church, raped by six white men (never charged), Alabama apologized for the injustice / lack of prosecution 67 years later
1920s
Lucille Sharp Times (12 apr 1922 – Egypt (Hope Hull) AL) cafe owner / operator, civil rights activist / advocate
Irene Williams Smith (08 aug 1922 – 24 mar 1955 | Alabama US – Alabama US) author, memoirist, journalist, country music historian / museum founder
Alfreda Johnson Webb (21 feb 1923 – 14 oct 1994 | Mobile AL – US) veterinarian, professor of biology, first female African-American Doctor of Veterinary Medicine
Ann Wood Waldron (14 dec 1924 – 02 jul 2010 | Birmingham AL – Princeton NJ) biographer, child / young adult novelist, murder mystery writer
Mary Florence Woody (31 mar 1926 – 28 apr 2010 | LaFayette AL – Decatur GA) nurse, university professor, hospital administrator, American Nurses Association and professional nursing associations integration leader / advocate
Nelle Harper Lee (28 apr 1926 – 19 feb 2016 | Monroeville AL -Monroeville AL) singular novelist
Coretta Scott King (27 apr 1927 – 30 jan 2006 | Heiberger AL – Rosarito Beach, Mexico) author, activist, memoirist, civil rights leader
Anne Carroll Bell George (04 dec 1927 – 14 mar 2001 | Montgomery AL – Birmingham AL) poet, teacher, detective novelist
Mary Ann Crenshaw (18 apr 1929 – Montgomery AL) author, Vogue staff writer, NY Times fashion / beauty reporter
Ramona Thieme Mercer (04 oct 1929 – Alabama US) author, lecturer, nurse-theorist, nurse education innovator, created maternal role attainment in mid-range nursing theory
Autherine Juanita Lucy (05 oct 1929 – Shiloh AL) educator, civil rights activist, educational desegregation activist, first African-American to attend and expelled from University of Alabama
1930s
Ann Smith Bedsole (07 jan 1930 – Selma AL) politician, philanthropist, businesswoman
Odetta Felious Gordon Holmes (31 dec 1930 – 02 dec 2008 | Birmingham AL – New York NY)African-American singer, actress, guitarist, songwriter, civil / human rights activist, aka Voice of Civil Rights Movement
Augusta [Gussie] Clark (05 mar 1932 – 13 oct 2013 | Uniontown AL – Wynnewood PA) librarian, lawyer, Philadelphia politician
Annie J. Easley (23 apr 1933 – 25 jun 2011 | Birmingham AL – Cleveland OH) writer, mathematician, rocket scientist, computer scientist, one of first African-Americans to work as NASA computer scientist
Sonia Sanchez (09 sep 1934 – Birmingham AL) poet, playwright, children’s author, née Wilsonia Benita Driver
Miriam DeCosta-Willis (01 nov 1934 – Florence AL) civil rights leader, professor of Romance languages
Leah Rawls Atkins (24 apr 1935 – Birmingham AL) author, Alabama historian / biographer, former water skiing champion
Marva Knight Collins (31 aug 1936 – 24 jun 2015 | Monroeville AL – Beaufort SC) author, educator
Bettye Kimbrell (22 nov 1936 – Berry AL) quilter, needlework artist, master folk artist
Toni A. H. McNaron (03 apr 1937 – Alabama US) author, memoirist, literary scholar, professor emerita of English, focus on incest / feminism / LGBT topics
Gail Kathleen Godwin (18 jun 1937 – Birmingham AL) novelist, short story writer, single non-fiction author
Alma Vivian Johnson Powell (27 oct 1937 – Birmingham AL) author, audiologist, America’s Promise co-chair, military / political family member
nice [Jan] Wendell Bethany Crouch (14 mar 1938 – 31 may 2016 | New Brockton AL – Orlando FL) religious broadcaster, co-founded Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN), Holy Land Experience theme park founder / manager
Jerre Levy (07 apr 1938 – Birmingham AL) author, psychologist, brain researcher
Barbara A. Robinson (08 jun 1938 – Alexandria City AL) novelist, politician, self-help author, autobiographer
Juanita Millender-McDonald (07 sep 1938 – 22 apr 2007 | Birmingham AL – Carson CA) teacher, politician, textbook editor, non-profit program coordinator
Claudette Colvin (05 sep 1939 – Montgomery AL) nurse, pioneer civil rights activist, first person (before Rosa Parks) arrested for resisting bus segregation
Catherine Burks-Brooks (08 oct 1939 – near Selma AL) teacher, social worker, Freedom Rider, civil rights activist, newspaper editor, Avon district sales manager
1940s
Martha Rose Reeves (18 jul 1941 – Eufaula AL) African-American singer, author, actress, memoirist, councilwoman
Nancie Ellen Carraway (02 feb 1942 – Alabama US) author, professor, political scientist, feminist scholar, former First Lady of Hawaii, Director of Women’s Human Rights Trafficking Project at University of Hawaii
Sena Jeter Naslund (28 jun 1942 – Birmingham AL) novelist, short fiction writer, Writer-in-Residence, Spalding MFA Program Director
Vivian Juanita Malone Jones (15 jul 1942 – 13 oct 2005 | Mobile AL – Atlanta GA) research analyst, civil rights activist, first African-American graduate University of Alabama
Angela Yvonne Davis (26 jan 1944 – Birmingham AL) author, political activist, academic scholar
Charlotte Gilmore Durante (19 apr 1944 – Forkland AL) nutritionist, civil rights activist, politician, aka Mama Charlotte, racial integration activist, founding editor of The Village Beat, founded first black real estate agency in Delray, co-founded first racially integrated day care in Florida, first female African-American City Commissioner in Delray Beach FL
Mary Lou Foy (17 aug 1944 – Auburn AL) photojournalist, newspaper picture editor, first female photojournalist for Gainesville Sun and Miami Herald
Fannie Flagg (21 sep 1944 – Birmingham AL) author, actress, dyslexic, comedienne, screenwriter, born Patricia Neal
Mathea Falco (15 oct 1944 – Montgomery AL) drug abuse prevention and treatment expert, founder / president non-profit research Drug Strategies
Kay Ivey (15 oct 1944 – Camden AL) educator, Alabama state politician
Minnie Bruce Pratt (12 sep 1946 – Selma AL) author, essayist, educator, social activist, LGBT university program developer
Beverly Marie Inman Beaver (23 dec 1946 – 21 apr 2011 | Tuscumbia AL – Tuscumbia AL) romantic suspense novelist, pen name Beverly Barton
Emmylou Harris (02 apr 1947 – Birmingham AL) feminist, singer-songwriter, veterans / landmine victims activist, shelter founder / animal rights activist
Dorothy Jean Wright Tillman (12 may 1947 – Montgomery AL) author, politician, radio host, civil rights leader, former alderman, slavery reparations activist / advocate
Ruby Nell Sales (08 jul 1948 – Jemison AL) African-American, social / civil rights activist, SpiritHouse Project founder / director
Kate Jackson (29 oct 1948 – Birmingham AL) actress, director, producer
Katherine Orrison (18 nov 1948 – Anniston AL) author, costumer, producer, set decorator, art director, film historian
Mabelle [Mab] Massey Segrest (20 feb 1949 – Alabama US) feminist author, activist, memoirist
1950s
Linda S. Howington (03 aug 1950 – Alabama US) pen name: Linda Howard, romance / suspense novelist
Margaret D. Tutwiler (28 dec 1950 – Birmingham AL) US diplomat, former US State Department Undersecretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs
Melissa Maxine Skelton (14 mar 1951 – Alabama US) religious curriculum developer, founded College for Congregational Development, Bishop of Anglican Church of Canada
Ethel Morgan Smith (11 apr 1952 – Louisville AL) author, essayist, professor
Mary Badham (07 oct 1952 – Birmingham AL) child actress, art restorer, college testing coordinator, tolerance / compassion activist / public speaker
Cricket Lee (17 mar 1953 – Decatur AL) inventor, entrepreneur, advertising artist, created Fitlogic clothes fitting technology, founding CEO Fit Technologies
Deborah Wiles (05 may 1953 – Mobile AL) children’s book author, documentary novelist
Harryette Mullen (01 jul 1953 –Florence AL ) poet, literary scholar, short story writer
Teresa Katz [T.K.] Thorne (17 apr 1954 – Montgomery AL) poet, screenwriter, short fiction author, community activist, first Jewish female officer Birmingham (AL) Police
Condoleezza [Condi] Rice (14 nov 1954 – Birmingham AL) author, diplomat, political scientist, women’s empowerment advocate
Cynthia Tucker Haynes (13 mar 1955 – Monroeville AL) commentator, syndicated columnist
Marguerite [Peg] McKenna Luksik (11 aug 1955 – Huntsville AL) author, family activist, conservative politician, pro-life campaigner, co-founded Center for American Heritage
Yolanda King (17 nov 1955 – 15 may 2007 | Montgomery AL – Santa Monica CA) actress, gay / human rights activist, political family member
Gwendolyn Elizabeth Boyd (27 dec 1955 – Montgomery AL) scientist, mechanical engineer, academic administrator, past president of Alabama State University
Emily Lyons (18 jul 1956 – Montgomery AL) nurse, author, memoirist, abortion rights activist, injured in abortion clinic bombing in Birmingham AL
Han Nolan (25 aug 1956 – Birmingham AL) young adult novelist
Mae Jemison (17 oct 1956 – Decatur AL) author, dancer, physician, former NASA astronaut
Regina Marcia Benjamin (26 oct 1956 – Mobile AL) physician, former US Surgeon General, rural health specialist, national child abuse awareness activist, founder / CEO Bayou La Batre Rural Health Clinic, former vice admiral in US Public Health Service Commissioned Corps
Kathryn Patricia [Kay] Hire (26 aug 1959 – Mobile AL) engineer, retired US Navy officer, former Space Shuttle NASA astronaut
Paula Poundstone (29 dec 1959 – Huntsville AL) actor, author, interviewer, commentator, stand-up comedian