Women’s Work: Instrumental and Inspiring Women of North Alabama
By Catherine Godbey | Living 50 Plus
Historians encourage society to turn to the past in order to be inspired and to be prepared for the future.
“We need to learn about history so we can learn about ourselves,” historian David Breland said. “I hate to plow the same ground twice. I want to be moving forward all the time. To do that, I look to history.”
For March, Women’s History Month, here’s a look at women of north Alabama who offer an education on strength, endurance, tenacity and fortitude.
“It’s important for us to acknowledge the accomplishments of these women, most of whom lived at a time when there were far fewer avenues to success available to women,” said Decatur historian John Allison. “At times when society sought to tightly circumscribe a woman’s role to the home, these women stretched the boundaries of what women could do. Their grit, perseverance and creativity are an example to us all.”
Many of the women changed the landscape of the Tennessee Valley later in their lives.
Among the women is Carolyn Cortner Smith, Alabama’s first licensed female architect, Ellen Hildreth, who founded the first suffrage club in the state, and Winnie Parker, the first woman of color to acquire land and own a business in Decatur.
“Several of these women were involved in progressive reform movements that impacted the lives of all Alabamians. Others had a strong economic impact on their communities. All of them opened their contemporaries’ eyes to the fact that a woman could have a role in public life,” Allison said.
Cherry Keyes
An enslaved woman, Cherry Keyes cooked and cleaned for Washington Keyes, the Old State Bank’s first head cashier. Shortly after Washington Keyes’ death, Cherry Keyes received her freedom and bought land on what is now the square in Athens.
When Cherry Keyes, who married a freed slave who owned 80 acres in Limestone County, died in 1870, the local newspaper ran an article about her.
“Think about that. That’s amazing because she was a woman and Black; I found out from the article that everyone called her ‘Aunt Cherry.’ That’s how well-known she was,” said Suzanne Langdon, who directed the Old State Bank for two years.
Ellen Hildreth
In the 1890s, Ellen Hildreth, then in her 50s, formed Alabama’s first suffrage club in Decatur.
Historians credit Hildreth for establishing the roots of the suffrage movement and motivating women to vote in Decatur. Along with founding the first suffrage club in the state, Hildreth, an author and creator of the city’s first kindergarten, served as the first president of Alabama’s Woman Suffrage Association, which was the fourth club in the nation.
“Here in north Alabama, which was not known as a real suffrage hot bed, Ellen Hildreth was leading the charge,” Allison said. “She had a personal written correspondence with Susan B. Anthony and Carrie Chapman Catt.”
By the middle of October 1920, over 2,000 women, including 11 women of color, had registered to vote in Morgan County.
Lelia Seton Wilder Edmundson
In 1922, at the age of 61, Lelia Seton Wilder Edmundson became the first woman in Alabama to run for a state congressional seat.
“Not only was she the first woman in Alabama to run for Congress, she was one of the first women in the country to run period. That’s pretty amazing,” Allison said. “She lost, but she carried a lot of the votes.”
Edmundson, a successful real estate speculator and modern agriculturalist, earned the nickname “Cotton Queen of Alabama.” She represented Alabama during the 1895 Cotton States Exposition in Atlanta and the Paris Exhibition of 1900.
Winnie Parker
During an era when the rights of women and people of color were limited, Decatur’s Winnie Parker defied societal norms.
“Her story is a story of challenges, but also overwhelming triumphs. She not only survived, but thrived after the American Civil War,” historian the Rev. Wylheme Ragland said. “For inspiration, all women of today need to do is look at her story and they will see that overcoming challenges can not only be done, but it was done.”
Affectionately known as Madame Winnie Parker, due to her dignified and business-like manner, Parker owned and operated the Parker Boarding House at the corner of Church Street and Railroad Street in Old Town from 1869 until her death in 1903. Parker purchased the property on the corner of Church Street and Railroad Street, where she built the boarding house, in 1869.
In 1938, while under the ownership of Parker’s daughter Fannie Parker Hayes, the boarding house was listed in Victor H. Green’s “Green Book,” which informed Blacks traveling during racial segregation of safe and hospitable lodging, restaurants, service stations and nightclubs.
An 1881 article in the Huntsville Weekly Gazette about taxation without representation listed Parker as one of the prominent property taxpayers in Decatur.
Eva Sterrs
Eva Young Sterrs, a Civil Rights activist, served as the editor and publisher of “The Guardian” newspaper in 1910. Sterrs was the first and only woman in Decatur to own and operate a newspaper. Published monthly, the newspaper featured the social, religious and cultural news of the Black community.
Sterrs also taught and worked at the Cottage Home Infirmary and Nursing Training School, which she opened with her husband, Dr. Willis Edward Sterrs, in 1900, making it the first hospital in Decatur. Sterrs’ impact on the community continues today. Sterrs donated a home for a Boys Club and left an endowment to build a new club, which became the Eva Sterrs Boys and Girls Club. She also left donations for Lakeside High School and First Missionary Baptist church.
Carolyn Cortner Smith
The first licensed female architect in Alabama, Carolyn Cortner Smith, who grew up in Decatur and was rejected from three architecture schools because of her gender, taught herself architecture and went on to design more than 700 homes and churches.
Among Smith’s designs are the stone structures at Delano Park and the Cortner-Smith House at 623 Grant St. S.E. The Tudor-esque sandstone house features a gabled roof, arched entrance and stones quarried near Russellville.
Smith also owned and operated a lumber mill company and oversaw the restoration of the Old State Bank and the rehabilitation of Delano Park.
Athelyne C. Banks
Athelyne Celest Banks, the first woman of color in the 20th century appointed principal of a Decatur school, spent her life devoted to education, the church and the community.
After graduating from Alabama A&M with a bachelor’s in elementary education, Banks, who completed the eighth grade in Decatur and then graduated from Pearl High School in Nashville, returned to Decatur as a mentor and role model.
During her 42 years working in education, Banks taught at the Julius Rosenwald Schools in Valhermoso Spring and in Decatur’s Cedar Lake community and served as principal-teacher at George Washington Carver Elementary School.
After retiring in 1974, Banks volunteered with the Mental Health Center, Mental Health Association, Congenial Club, Eva Sterrs Boys and Girls Club, Decatur General Foundation, Decatur City Schools foundation, American Red Cross, her church King’s Memorial United Methodist Church, and more.
Etta Freeman
A longtime teacher and community activist, Etta Freeman, who died last year at the age of 107, was a fixture in Decatur’s educational, faith and Civil Rights community.
Historian Peggy Allen Towns referred to Freeman as “Decatur’s own Rosa Parks” after Freeman refused to give up her seat on a Moulton bus in 1943.
“Freeman integrated the bus system in Moulton,” Towns said. “She would not give up her seat when she first started teaching in Moulton. She was asked to give up her seat and she did not.”
Freeman, who graduated from Decatur Negro high in 1937, witnessed the integration of the Decatur City School System. She taught for 37 years and substituted for 20 more before working as a Walmart greeter for four years.
Freeman’s impact on the community extended beyond the walls of the schools. She taught vacation Bible school, attended NAACP meetings, was a charter member of the Alabama Democratic Conference for Morgan County, volunteered as a poll worker and was an instrumental member of First Missionary Baptist Church in Decatur.
Minnie Brewster Cashin
A pioneer in the women’s suffrage movement, Minnie Brewster Cashin, of Decatur, served as the vice president for Alabama’s Federation of Colored Women’s Club. The club addressed inequalities in sex and race.
