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[Identification of item], Mahala Ashley Dickerson Papers, 1958-2007, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University
The Mahala Ashley Dickerson Papers were received by the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library as a gift in 2008.
Processed by Afua Dennis, June 2009
Encoded by Afua Dennis, Paula Jeannet Mangiafico, June 2009
Accession 2009-0073 is described in this finding aid.
Descriptive sources and standards used to create this inventory:
This finding aid is NCEAD compliant.
Mahala Ashley Dickerson was born on October 12, 1912 seventeen miles outside of Montgomery, Alabama, on a plantation owned by her father. Dickerson attended primary school at a private girls' school in Montgomery, and completed high school at the High School Division of the Alabama State Teacher's College. Dickerson continued on to Fisk University, where she graduated cum laude in 1935 with a degree in sociology. She married briefly in 1938 to Henry Dickerson with whom she had triplets - John, Henri Christophe (Chris), and Alfred. She would eventually continue on to Howard University's law school, becoming one of four women to graduate in her class of 1948.
During her long legal career, she was known as an advocate for the rights of the poor and underprivileged, women, and minorities. She was the first African American female attorney in her home state of Alabama in 1949, and the second black woman admitted to the bar in Indiana in 1951. After working as an attorney in Alabama and Indiana, she moved to Alaska with her sons and became Alaska's first black female attorney in 1959. Dickerson also served as the first African American president of the National Association of Women Lawyers from 1983 to 1984. She received numerous honors and awards during her career, including induction to the National Bar Association's Hall of Fame in 1999. In addition to her legal practice, she owned a real estate firm. She was a member of the Society of Friends for most of her adult life. She resided and practiced law in Wasilla, Alaska until her death on February 19, 2007.
The personal and business papers of African American lawyer and businesswoman Mahala Ashley Dickerson span the years 1958 to 2007, the year of Dickerson's death, and chiefly consist of correspondence; newspaper clippings; real estate records; programs, letters, and additional items documenting honors, awards, and public appearances; papers concerning her homestead plot in Alaska and other personal and business concerns; photographs and videocassettes; and directories, journal publications, and pamphlets and correspondence concerning the American Bar Foundation and the Alabama State Bar Association. Business records chiefly are related to Dickerson's law firm of Dickerson & Gibbons, and the charitable organization Al-Acres, which she founded in memory of her son, Alfred, who drowned in 1960. There is some correspondence in the collection related to her memoir,
These are searchable subject entries for this collection. Performing a search on these subjects in the Duke University Libraries online catalog will bring up other related research materials.
Informal color snapshots of Dickerson in various locations with friends and family, at a book signing; also some of friends and family members.
Photo features 1935 Fisk University alumni John Hope Franklin and Dickerson in front of unidentified building, very likely on campus, along with other individuals, presumably classmates of the same graduation year.
[Original recordings are closed to use; viewing copies must be made for access.]
Includes her funeral program in which there is a short biography.
Newspaper clippings and papers. Also a campaign poster in Oversize Memorabilia.
Original of article mounted on pasteboard reviewing the life and accomplishments of Dickerson. Includes two photos of Dickerson.
Original poster board for Dickerson's bid for the Alaska State House of Representatives race, Democratic ticket.