Annie Lola Price
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Annie Lola Price (1903–1972) was an Alabama, United States, lawyer, who was one of the first women to become licensed in the state. She was the first woman to serve as a legal advisor for a governor in Alabama and the first woman to serve on the state's appellate court. Between 1962 and 1972, she was the presiding judge of the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals. Price was inducted into the
Alabama Women's Hall of Fame The Alabama Women's Hall of Fame honors the achievements of women associated with the U.S. state of Alabama. Established in 1970, the first women were inducted the following year. The museum is located in Bean Hall, a former Carnegie Library, on th ...
in 1976 and into the Alabama Lawyers’ Hall of Fame in 2004.


Early life

Annie Lola Price was born on June 7, 1903 in Cullman, Alabama to Lena Mae (née Culpepper) and Dr. William Henry Price. After attending public schools, Price attended
Athens College Athens College ( el, Κολλέγιο(ν) Αθηνών; formally Hellenic-American Educational Foundation (HAEF)) is a co-educational private preparatory school in Psychiko, Greece, a suburb of Athens, part of the Hellenic-American Educational ...
of
Athens, Alabama Athens is a city in and the county seat of Limestone County, Alabama, Limestone County, in the U.S. state of Alabama; it is included in the Huntsville-Decatur-Albertville, AL Combined Statistical Area. As of the 2010 United States Census, 2010 c ...
. Then she attended Wheeler Business School in Birmingham before returning to Cullman to
read the law Reading law was the method used in common law countries, particularly the United States, for people to prepare for and enter the legal profession before the advent of law schools. It consisted of an extended internship or apprenticeship under the ...
in the office of Aquilla A. Griffith and
Alabama Supreme Court The Supreme Court of Alabama is the highest court in the state of Alabama. The court consists of a chief justice and eight associate justices. Each justice is elected in partisan elections for staggered six-year terms. The Supreme Court is house ...
Justice Joel B. Brown. Price passed her bar exam in 1928, making her one of the first women attorneys in Alabama. Soon after passing the bar, in the early 1930s, Price earned her pilot's license and became a member of the
Ninety-Nines The Ninety-Nines: International Organization of Women Pilots, also known as The 99s, is an international organization that provides networking, mentoring, and flight scholarship opportunities to recreational and professional female pilots. Foun ...
.


Career

Price practiced law in Cullman and worked as a court reporter of the Eighth Judicial Circuit between 1935 and 1947. When Jim Folsom was elected as Governor of Alabama, Price moved with the Administration to Montgomery as an assistant legal advisor. Three years later, she became the first woman to serve as an advisor to an Alabama Governor, when she was appointed as the head legal advisor. In 1951, Price made history becoming the first woman appointed to serve as a judge, when she was appointed to fill the unexpired term of the late justice, Charles R. Bricken on the Alabama Court of Appeals. At that time, women in Alabama were not allowed to serve on juries and her appointment was seen as controversial. Price became a staunch and outspoken advocate to extend the right of
jury service Jury duty or jury service is service as a juror in a legal proceeding. Juror selection process The prosecutor and defense can dismiss potential jurors for various reasons, which can vary from one state to another, and they can have a specifi ...
to women, though it would take fifteen years to accomplish. In 1965, when a bill addressing women's citizenship was up for consideration by the Alabama legislature which had not ratified the Nineteenth Amendment, Price argued that if women could serve as witnesses, court reporters and lawyers, they should be able to serve on juries. Women won the right when a U.S. Federal Panel ruled in 1966 that the law banning women jurors was invalid. Price was also elected as president of the Alabama Women Lawyers' Association in 1951 and again in 1957. In 1952, she was elected to serve a six-year term on the Appellate Court and then ran unopposed in both the 1958 and 1964 elections. In 1962 when Robert B. Harwood ran for the Supreme Court of Alabama, Price became the presiding judge of the Court of Appeals. When the Alabama Court of Appeals was reorganized as the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals in 1969, she became its first presiding judge and continued in that capacity until her death. Price died following a short illness on 18 June 1972 in Montgomery. She was buried in the Montgomery City Cemetery. She was posthumously inducted into the
Alabama Women's Hall of Fame The Alabama Women's Hall of Fame honors the achievements of women associated with the U.S. state of Alabama. Established in 1970, the first women were inducted the following year. The museum is located in Bean Hall, a former Carnegie Library, on th ...
in 1976 and the Alabama Lawyers’ Hall of Fame in 2004.


See also

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List of first women lawyers and judges in Alabama This is a list of the first women lawyer(s) and judge(s) in Alabama. It includes the year in which the women were admitted to practice law (in parentheses). Also included are women who achieved other distinctions such becoming the first in their st ...


Citations


Bibliography

* * * * * and * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Price, Annie Lola 1903 births 1972 deaths People from Cullman, Alabama American women's rights activists 20th-century American judges American lawyers admitted to the practice of law by reading law 20th-century American women lawyers 20th-century American lawyers 20th-century American women judges