Hannah Atkins, born November 1, 1923 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, is the first African American woman to be elected to the Oklahoma House of Representatives. She graduated from St. Augustine's College (now University) in Raleigh in 1943. In 1959, she worked at Fisk University in Nashville, until she and her family moved back to Winston-Salem. In 1953, they moved to Oklahoma and Atkins became a branch librarian for the Oklahoma City Public Library. In 1962, she became a reference librarian for the Oklahoma State Library. She then worked her way up to chief of general reference and acting law librarian.
She worked as an instructor of law and instructor of library science at Oklahoma City University.
Atkins was elected to the Oklahoma House of Representatives in 1968 and served until 1980, fighting for health care, child welfare, mental health reform, women's rights and civil rights.
In 1980, Jimmy Carter named her to the General Assembly of the 35th Session of the United Nations. She returned to Oklahoma in 1982 and worked as consultant to the Oklahoma Corporation Commission, assistant director of the Department of Human Services, Cabinet Secretary for Social Services, and Secretary of State. She had oversight of the Department of Mental Health, the Department of Corrections, and the Pardon and Parole Board. She was the highest ranking woman in Oklahoma state government until her retirement in 1991.
She continued to serve as a member of the Oklahoma Task Force for the Bombing Memorial.
She passed away in June 2010.
No comments:
Post a Comment