Compiled by the Birmingham Times
Black women in Alabama and across the nation have long been trailblazers. From breaking records in sports to leading in politics, science, arts, education and media, the women featured here made history as the first, but they were determined not to be the last. Some have passed on, leaving legacies that extend far beyond their personal accomplishments. Others continue to lift as they climb, mentoring the next generation. Even in the face of systemic bias and inequities in opportunity, Black women are shaping their communities in ways that demand attention. The women in this list, some household names and others unsung heroes, all have ties to Alabama and show what determination, courage, and service can accomplish.
Politics, Law & Social Justice
Claudette Colvin
The courageous actions of Claudette Colvin (1939-2026), who died at 86, were often overlooked despite her pivotal role in the civil rights movement. In 1955, at age 15, she refused to give up her seat on a segregated bus in Montgomery, nine months before Rosa Parks. Colvin, who was born in Birmingham, Alabama, became one of the plaintiffs in the landmark case Browder v. Gayle that led to the end of bus segregation. Though Parks would become the face of the boycott, Colvin’s action made her one of the youngest people to publicly challenge Jim Crow laws.
Source: theguardian.com
Elisabeth French
In 2020, French became the first woman selected to serve as Presiding Judge in Jefferson County’s 200-year history. She oversees the 10th Judicial Circuit, the largest in Alabama’s Judicial System. French was first elected as a Jefferson County Circuit Court Judge in November of 2010. She was re-elected in 2016. During her tenure on the bench, French, who earned her juris doctorate from Samford University’s Cumberland School of Law in 1997, has disposed of thousands of cases.
Source: Alabar.org
Helen Shores Lee
Helen Shores Lee (1941-2018), daughter of prominent Civil Rights Attorney, Arthur Shores, was the first African American woman to serve in the Civil Division of the Circuit Court of Jefferson County, Alabama. Lee was appointed a circuit judge for the 10th Judicial Circuit of Alabama in January 2003 by former Gov. Don Siegelman. She retired in 2017.
Lee earned her Juris Doctorate from Samford University, Cumberland School of Law in Birmingham in 1987. After receiving her law degree, she began practicing law with her father. Lee committed her life to ensuring equal justice for all and to community service. She served on boards such as Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama, Campfire Inc., Chair of the Advisory Council of the University of Alabama at Birmingham Minority Health and Research Center, trustee for Leadership Birmingham, the Civil Rights Institute, Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) and many more.
Source: birminghamtimes.com
Condoleezza Rice
On January 26, 2005, Condoleezza Rice was sworn in as U.S. secretary of state, becoming the highest-ranking African American woman to serve in a presidential cabinet. A native of Birmingham, Alabama, Rice earned advanced degrees in political science and international relations and later served as provost of Stanford University. Known for her expertise in Soviet affairs, she worked with the Council on Foreign Relations and served as special assistant to the director of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. She later held roles on the National Security Council and became national security advisor under George W. Bush before her appointment as secretary of state.
Source: History.com
Terri A. Sewell
Congresswoman Sewell is serving her eighth term representing Alabama’s 7th Congressional District. She made history as one of the first women elected to Congress from Alabama and the first Black woman ever to serve in the state’s congressional delegation.
In the U.S. House, Sewell sits on the powerful Ways and Means Committee, where she serves as Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Oversight. She also serves on the Committee on House Administration as Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Elections. Over the years, she has held several leadership roles, including Freshman Class President in the 112th Congress. In the 119th Congress, Democratic leaders selected her to serve as a Chief Deputy Whip, and she also sits on the party’s Steering and Policy Committee. Sewell is an active member of the Congressional Black Caucus, where she chairs the Voting Rights Task Force, and she also helps lead several other caucuses.
Raised in Alabama’s rural Black Belt, Sewell was the first Black valedictorian of Selma High School. She later graduated from Princeton University, the University of Oxford, and Harvard Law School.
Source: sewell.house.gov
Carole Smitherman
Before retiring in 2025, Judge Carole Smitherman worked for nearly 49 years in politics and law in the Birmingham Metro area. Her storied career included several firsts.
In 1979, she began her legal career as a Deputy District Attorney, becoming the first Black woman to serve in this capacity in the history of Jefferson County, and she remained with the DA’s office until 1987. In 1991, Republican Governor Guy Hunt appointed Smitherman to the Criminal Division of the Tenth Judicial Circuit Court, where she served until 1992.
In 1997, she began teaching Constitutional Law at Miles Law School and continued for almost 30 years. In 2001, Smitherman was elected to the Birmingham City Council for District 6, where she served until 2013, and as President of the Birmingham City Council from November 2005 to November 2009. In 2009, Smitherman was sworn in as the 31st Mayor of the City of Birmingham, becoming the first woman to hold the position.
In 2012, Smitherman won successful election as a Circuit Judge to the Tenth Judicial Circuit Court. She was re-elected in 2018, and served continuously, with distinction, until her retirement from the bench in January 2025. Today she continues to give back, serving as dean at Miles Law School.
Source: biminghamtimes.com
Ciara Smith-Roston
On May 6, 2025, Ciara Smith-Roston made history as the City of Anniston’s first African American mayor, only the second woman to hold the office, and, at 26, its youngest ever. Smith became the youngest elected official in Anniston’s history in November 2020, when she was elected to the council and later named vice mayor – all by the age of 21. She served as vice mayor for nearly 5 years and assumed her current role after former mayor Jack Draper resigned after 8 years in office.
Smith began her career early, working at age 16 in the City of Anniston’s Financial Department. A 2017 graduate of Anniston High School and alumna of Spelman College and Jacksonville State University, Smith quickly became involved in politics and civic leadership. As a college freshman, she worked on Keisha Lance Bottoms’s campaign during the Atlanta mayoral race. As a student, she also interned with Hank Johnson in the U.S. House of Representatives and later participated in a training program with the Congressional Black Caucus Institute in Washington, D.C. In 2018, she was selected as a Forbes 30 Under 30 fellow. These experiences inspired her to return to Anniston and pursue community change.
Sources: annistonal.gov and jsu.edu
Arts, Entertainment, Literature, & Media
Laverne Cox
Born in Mobile, Alabama, Laverne Cox made history by becoming the first openly transgender person to be nominated for an Emmy. Cox attended high school at the Alabama School of Fine Arts in Birmingham before studying at Indiana University in Bloomington and Marymount Manhattan College, from which she graduated with a BFA in dance. Cox later worked in TV, including Law & Order episodes and the reality show TRANSform Me, before her breakout role on the Netflix series Orange Is the New Black. Cox has continued to be an advocate for trans and LGBT rights while appearing in additional screen projects such as The Mindy Project, Doubt and Grandma.
Source: Biography.com
Thai Floyd
A graduate of Florida A&M University’s School of Journalism & Graphic Communication, Thai Floyd made history in 2025 when she was named the lead play-by-play voice of Alabama A&M University football and host of “The Coaches Show.” She is the first woman to hold this role at Alabama A&M and the first woman to serve as the full-time voice of a historically Black college or university (HBCU) football team.
Source: news.famu.edu
Ashley M. Jones
In 2021, poet, educator, and essayist Ashley M. Jones was named poet laureate for the state of Alabama, becoming the youngest person and first African American to hold the position. Jones is the author of four award-winning poetry collections, including Magic City Gospel, dark//thing, Reparations Now! and Lullaby for the Grieving. Formerly a creative writing instructor at the Alabama School of Fine Arts, Jones continues to work with young people as associate director of the University Honors Program at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
Source: The Birmingham Times
Corietta Mitchell
Corietta Mitchell was the first Black artist to have an exhibition at the Birmingham Museum of Art. The museum was established in 1951 during the height of Jim Crow laws, which mandated segregation in public venues. Black patrons were only allowed to visit the museum one day a week. But in March 1963, four months before Birmingham officially repealed segregation laws, the museum’s founding director, Richard Howard, accorded a one-woman show to Mitchell, who was a leader of Birmingham’s Black Art Club. Also, an educator and classically trained pianist, Mitchell was a major figure in the Birmingham art scene at that time. Her exhibition drew more than 600 people and made headlines across Alabama.
Source: WVTM13
Science, Medicine, Innovation & Education
Dr. Regina Benjamin
Regina Benjamin, MD, was the 18th United States Surgeon General (2009-2013). As America’s Doctor, she provided the public with scientific information to improve the health of the nation. Dr. Benjamin also oversaw the operational command of 6,500 uniformed public health officers who serve in locations around the world to promote and protect the health of Amerricans. From her early days as the founder of a rural health clinic in Alabama to her leadership role in the worldwide advancement of preventive health, Dr. Benjamin has had a special interest in rural health care, health disparities among socio-economic groups, suicide, violence, and mental health.
Dr. Benjamin has served on several prestigious boards in her field and in 1995, she was the first physician under the age of 40 and the first African American woman to be elected to the American Medical Association Board of Trustees. She has received numerous awards for her work including the Nelson Mandela Award for Health and Human Rights in 1998.
Source: xula.edu
Mildred Hemmons Carter
In 1941, Mildred Hemmons Carter (1921-2011) became the first Black woman in Alabama to earn a pilot’s license through the Civilian Pilot Training Program. She was also the first Black female pilot in Alabama. Born in Benson, Alabama, she attended Tuskegee Institute (now Tuskegee University) and graduated with Tuskegee’s first class of CPTP trainees and on February 1, 1941. She also received her private pilot’s certificate which made her the first female pilot in Alabama.
Carter would later become the first Black woman in the Montgomery Civil Air Patrol Squadron. During World War II, Carter worked at Moton Field, then the only flight training facility for African American pilot candidates in the United States Army Air Corps. She became Chief Clerk of the Quartermaster Corps. She also rigged parachutes and operated a bulldozer to clear airstrips. After World War II ended, Carter traveled across the United States and Europe to mentor and encourage young Black women to become pilots. Many of these women became flight nurses and aerospace engineers.
Despite her initially being denied admission into the Tuskegee Airmen program, in February 2011, Carter was declared one of the original Tuskegee Airmen – just months before her death.
Source: BlackPast.org
Mae Jemison
On September 12, 1992, Mae Jemison became the first African American woman to go into space. Jemison, who grew up in Chicago but was born in Decatur, Alabama, was one of seven astronauts on the eight-day flight aboard the space shuttle Endeavor on mission STS-47, which made 127 orbits around Earth. During the spaceflight, Jemison was the science mission specialist, studying the effects of weightlessness and space travel on the human body. Jemison brought several personal mementos on the flight, including an Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority banner. In 1999, Jemison founded the BioSentient Corp., which uses medical technology to improve health and human performance. She continues to be a frequent public speaker and advocate for STEM participation by women and minorities.
Source: History.com
Education
Autherine Lucy Foster
Born in Shiloh, Alabama, Autherine Lucy Foster played a pivotal role in desegregating the University of Alabama. Admitted in 1952, her acceptance was rescinded when officials learned she was Black. With support from the NAACP and attorney Thurgood Marshall, she sued the university for racial discrimination and won a 1955 court order allowing her to enroll. In February 1956, Lucy became the first Black student to attend a previously all-white public university in Alabama, marking a major step toward desegregation. Though riots forced her withdrawal, her case helped open the university to students of all races.
In 1989, she again enrolled at the University joining her daughter, Grazia, who was also a student at the school. Foster earned a Master of Arts in elementary education in December of 1991 and participated in the graduation ceremonies the following May alongside her daughter.
The University named an endowed fellowship in her honor that year and unveiled a portrait of her in the student union. The University also dedicated the Autherine Lucy Clock Tower in 2010, honoring her as one of three individuals who pioneered desegregation at The University of Alabama.
Source: education.ua.edu
Vivian Malone Jones
Jones became the first Black student to graduate from the University of Alabama on May 30, 1965. Despite being an exceptional high school student and member of the National Honor Society, she was one of several Black students to have their applications rejected from UA because of “class size” and “enrollment” issues. Along with another Black student, James Hood, Malone Jones and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund filed suit against UA for denying entry to Black students. A district judge ruled in favor of the pair entering the university, but was blocked by then-governor George Wallace in the infamous “Stand in the Schoolhouse Door” event. Wallace made a political stand and kept his promise to uphold segregation in the state, using the now infamous slogan of “Segregation Now, Segregation Forever.” Only after federalized guard troops arrived, four and a half hours after Mr. Wallace’s initial refusal, were the students admitted. After graduating from Alabama, Jones worked for the United States Justice Department in its civil rights division. She also worked at the Environmental Protection Agency as director of civil rights and urban affairs and director of environmental justice.
Source: naacpldf.org
Bobbie Knight
A native of Birmingham, Bobbie Knight made history in August 2019 when she was appointed interim president of Miles College, becoming the first woman to lead the institution since its founding in 1898. She was named the college’s 15th permanent president in March 2020. Knight quickly secured the largest single donation in the school’s history, and under her leadership, the college has received more than $101 million in external funding. She has also built partnerships with corporate, government, and philanthropic organizations to create internships, job opportunities, and hands-on learning experiences, while launching new initiatives including an e-gaming center, a Black Male Teacher Initiative and Apple-powered communications and music production labs.
Source: miles.edu
Sports
Alice Coachman
Alice Coachman made history as the first Black woman from any nation to win an Olympic gold medal. Born in Albany, Georgia, she drew national attention while competing for her high school track team and was later recruited by Tuskegee Institute. Enrolling in 1943 to study dressmaking, she also starred on the school’s track and basketball teams, winning four national titles in sprinting and the high jump. At the 1948 Summer Olympics in London, Coachman won gold in the high jump, setting an Olympic record by clearing 5 feet 6⅛ inches on her first attempt. George VI presented her medal. With this medal, Coachman became not only the first Black woman to win Olympic gold, but the only American woman to win a gold medal at the 1948 Olympic Games.
Source: womenshistory.org
Vonetta Flowers
In 2002, Vonetta Flowers became the first Black athlete to win a gold medal in the Winter Olympics. Previously a sprinter and long jumper at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Flowers later turned to bobsledding and, at the 2002 Winter Olympics, she was the brakeman for Jill Bakken, as they won the gold medal in the first women’s Olympic bobsled event. In 2003, she returned to competition with new driver Jean Racine-Prahm. Flowers and Racine-Prahm competed in the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, finishing sixth, and together they also won a bronze medal at the 2004 World Championships. Vonetta Flowers retired from competition after the 2006 Winter Olympics.
Source: Olympics.com
Dee Foster
University of Alabama gymnastics standout Dee Foster was a 17-time All-American, four-time SEC champion and NCAA all-around champion and made history as the program’s first African American gymnast and the first-ever rookie to win SEC Female Athlete of the Year. Foster, who competed at Alabama from 1990-93, was also the first Alabama gymnast to score a perfect 10 before going on to set an NCAA record in 1993 with a perfect 10 in five consecutive meets. Two years ago, she was selected for the 2024 Southeastern Conference Women’s Legends class.
Source: Rolltide.com
