Notable Women of Alabama: Part 2

March is National Women’s History Month! Last week we showed you 10 powerful women from our state. Let’s dive in and learn about more famous females from Alabama.

Birthplace: Montgomery
Occupation: actress, producer, author
Known for: Minny Jackson in The Help (2011), Dorothy Vaughan in Hidden Figures (2016), Wanda in Fruitvale Station (2013), Sue Ann in Ma (2019)

Birthplace: Mobile
Occupation: actress, activist
Known for: Sophia Burset in Orange is the New Black (2013-2019), Gail in Promising Young Woman (2020), Kacy Duke in Inventing Anna (2022)

Birthplace: Huntsville
Occupation: actress, writer, producer
Known for: Charlie Bradbury in Supernatural (2012-2020), Vi in Buffy the Vampire Slayer (2003), Kinga Forrester in Mystery Science Theater: 3000 (2017-2018), Captain Emon in The Legend of Vox Machina (2022)

Birthplace: Heiberger (Marion)
Occupation: civil rights activist, author
Known for: You might know Scott-King as the wife of iconic civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. Per her husband’s wishes, she remained in the background of the movement during his lifetime. However, after his assassination, she stepped into his role as a leader. She lobbied for years to establish her husband’s birthday as a national holiday, in which she eventually succeeded. She was also an advocate for LGBT and women’s rights.

Birthplace: Tuscaloosa
Occupation: educator, prison reform advocate
Known for: Tutwiler was an advocate for co-education. She helped four women enlist at the University of Alabama as the institution’s first female students. She also was a champion for the right’s of prisoners, such as the separation of the sexes, the separation of juveniles from adult offenders, more sanitary conditions, and access to education and religious practices. Residents of Wetumpka might recognize her name, as the Tutwiler Prison for Women is named for her.

Birthplace: Athens
Occupation: musician, singer/songwriter
Known for: Howard is a Grammy-wining artist and the lead singer for The Alabama Shakes. She is recognized for her signature bluesy, soulful vocals which recall 1970s roots music and the Muscle Shoals sound.

Birthplace: Ariton (Dale County)
Occupation: singer/songwriter
Known for: You might’ve heard “Hound Dog” by Elvis or “Ball ‘n’ Chain” by Janis Joplin, but did you know they were actually covers? Big Mama Thornton was the first to record “Hound Dog,” and “Ball ‘n’ Chain” was a song she wrote and recorded but was never released. Although she enjoyed some fame in the height of her career, she never got to the level of the artists that covered her songs. She is widely credited with planting the roots of what became rock ‘n’ roll in the ’50s and ’60s.

Birthplace: Huntsville
Occupation: painter, poet
Known for: Weeden, while not one of the more recognizable artists of the late 19th century, is an important part of art history. Her family was displaced after the Civil War, and Weeden often lived in close proximity to her family’s servants who were African-American. After attending the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, she was disappointed to see that so many artists presented a stereotypical portrayal of black freedmen. In response to this, she began painting incredibly detailed and true-to-life portraits of the African-Americans that she grew up with. She later wrote poetry based on the stories she heard from her subjects while painting their portrait. These poems were often written in their way of speech to convey their style of storytelling, which today we refer to as African-American Vernacular English (AAVE).

Birthplace: Birmingham
Occupation: poet, dramatist, essayist, educator
Known for: Sanchez was the first Alabamian to receive the Robert Frost Award from the Poetry Society of America, the oldest poetry organization in the country. She was also the first poet laureate of Philadelphia from 2012-2014. Her poetry is known for its use of AAVE, off-beat rhythm, and audience interaction. Sanchez was an educator as well, teaching and establishing African American literature studies at predominantly white universities. In the 1960s and ’70s, she was a leader of the Black Arts Movement, which was a celebration of black identity and essentially a revival of the Harlem Renaissance.

Birthplace: Selma
Occupation: short-story writer, storyteller, journalist, photographer
Known for: Windham wrote the famous book 13 Alabama Ghosts and Jeffery as well as several subsequent humorous books about Southern ghosts. She was an avid storyteller and often spoke in classrooms, libraries, festivals, and on the radio.