Mahala Ashley Dickerson
Mahala Ashley Dickenson
1912 – 2007
Achievements in: law, civil rights
Amidst her long and distinguished career in the law, Mahala Ashley Dickerson achieved many “firsts.” After graduating from Fisk University in 1935, she married, raised triplets and, in 1945, graduated from Howard University Law School. She became, in 1946, the first African-American woman admitted to the bar in Alabama, the second African-American woman to be admitted to the bar in Indiana, in 1951, and in 1958, was the first African-American female admitted to the Alaska bar. In 1975, she successfully prosecuted a precedent-setting equal pay case on behalf of women university professors who received less pay than their male counterparts. In 1983, she became the first African-American to serve as the President of the National Association of Women Lawyers. She even homesteaded in Wasilla, which undoubtedly was another first for an African-American woman! In her many years of practicing law, until she was 91, she was known for fighting for the rights of women and minorities.