Statues of Rosa Parks and Helen Keller, pivotal figures who fought for justice and inspired change across the world, were unveiled Friday on the grounds of the Alabama Capitol. The monuments honoring the Alabama natives, whose advocacy helped dismantle racial segregation and promoted the rights of people with disabilities, are the first statues of women to be installed on the lawn of the Alabama Capitol.
The additions reflect a broader history of the state on the grounds that also include several tributes to the Confederacy, which was formed at the site in 1861. While inside the Capitol there is a bust of former Gov. Lurleen Wallace, the state’s first female governor who died in office in 1968, there were no monuments to famous women on the Capitol grounds.
Rep. Laura Hall, who sponsored the legislation that authorized the monuments, said it is important that visitors to the Capitol "see the full picture, the history and the impact that women have played.”
"Helen Keller and Rosa Parks just seemed to be the image that — whether you were Black or white, Democrat or Republican — you could identify with and realize the impact that they had on history,” Hall said.
Known as the mother of the Civil Rights Movement, Parks was arrested on Dec. 1, 1955, when she refused to leave her bus seat for a white passenger. Her action ignited the yearlong boycott by Black passengers that desegregated the city bus system and helped usher in change nationwide.
Keller was born on June 27, 1880, in Tuscumbia, Alabama. She became deaf and blind after a serious illness shortly before her second birthday. With the help of tutor Anne Sullivan, Keller learned to communicate through sign language and Braille, and became a well-known writer and lecturer. She championed the rights of workers, poor people, women and people with disabilities around the world.
The statue of Parks was installed by the Alabama Capitol steps facing Dexter Avenue, the street where Parks boarded the bus and made history in 1955, just across from a statue of Confederate President Jefferson Davis. The statue of Keller faces the Alabama Statehouse. Their unveiling on Friday was more than six years in the making. Alabama lawmakers approved Hall’s legislation in 2019. The Alabama Women’s Tribute Statue Commission worked to see it through, commissioning the statues and finalizing the displays.
