Mahala Dickerson, Alaska’s first Black lawyer and homesteader, dies at 94

Mahala Ashley Dickerson, who became the first Black female lawyer in Alabama and later the first Black lawyer in Alaska, died in 2007 at the age of 94. The Times of India reports that Dickerson moved to Alaska in 1958 after a holiday visit and filed a claim for a 160-acre homestead in the Matanuska-Susitna Valley, becoming the state's first Black homesteader. She passed the Alaska Bar exam within months, adding another first to her career.

Born in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1912, Dickerson earned her law degree from Howard University in 1945. She returned to Alabama and became the state's first Black female lawyer in 1948, later moving to Indiana where she was only the second Black woman admitted to the bar. In Alaska, she faced discrimination but established law offices in Wasilla and Anchorage, known for taking on difficult cases including a landmark wage discrimination suit against the University of Alaska.

Dickerson served as president of the National Association of Women Lawyers from 1983 to 1984. In 1995, the American Bar Association awarded her the Margaret Brent Award, recognising outstanding female lawyers. The National Park Service has featured her among important figures in Black history. Her autobiography, Delayed Justice for Sale, was published in 1998.