"Mahala Ashley Dickerson"(October 12,1912-February 19,2007)

Was the first black woman attorney admitted to the Alabama and Alaska bar

associations.During her long legal career,she was known as an advocate for the rights of the poor and underprivileged,women,and minorities.She was born in Montgomery Alabama,just outside the city of Montgomery,to John Augustine Ashley,the owner of a general store,and Hattie Moss Ashley.She had two sisters,Erna and Harriet.Always a talented student,she attended the Montgomery Industrial School for Girls,where she developed what would be a lifelong friendship with Rosa Parks.She graduated cum laude from Fisk University in Nashville in 1935 with a degree in sociology.Three years later,she married Henry Dickerson,with whom she had triplet sons;Alfred,John,and Chris,who became a world-renowned body builder.The marriage lasted less than a year.In 1948,Mahala received her law degree from Howard University in Washington,D.C.,again graduating cum laude.She was admitted to the Alabama bar in June 1948 and established law offices in Montgomery and Tuskegee.In May 1951,she married Frank Beckwith,an attorney and politician from Indianapolis Indiana.She and the boys moved there,and she became the second woman admitted to the Indiana bar.This marriage also ended in divorce.After vacationing in Alaska,Mahala moved there,becoming the first African American admitted to the Alaska bar. In all three states,she was known for her advocacy for the poor and the underprivileged,whether black or white.Mahala accepted many cases for which she received no compensation and served as a mentor to young minority attorneys.She was also an advocate for workers' rights.One of her most prominent labor cases was an equal-pay suit on behalf of a woman professor at the University of Alaska,who received a salary lower than her male counterparts.She lost the case,it was later reversed on appeal.Even as she fought for the rights of others,Mahala herself faced gender and racial discrimination from members of the legal establishment and the various bar associations.For example,she had difficulty in finding five sponsors needed for joining the Alabama Bar.For many years,the American Bar Association did not accept black members on the national level.Mahala was not invited to join until she was admitted to the Alaska Bar Association.In 1983 Mahala became the first African American president of the National Association of Women Lawyers.The following year,the University of Alaska,presented her with an honorary doctor of law for her advocacy of minority rights in Alaska and throughout the United states.In 1995 the National Bar Association honored Mahala by presenting with the Margaret Brent Award,which recognizes the accomplishments of women lawyers who have excelled in their field and have paved the way to sucess for other women lawyers.Previous recipients include Supreme court justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sandra Day O.Connor as well as Anita Hill and Hillary Rodham Clinton.Although she resided in Alaska,Mahala attended several meetings of the Alabama Bar Associations.In 2006 she was awarded the Alabama State Bar's Maud McLure Kelly Award,presented annually to an outstanding woman lawyer.