SPEAKIN’ OUT NEWS
Visitors gather on the Alabama Capitol lawn for the unveiling of Rosa Parks and Helen Keller statues. The project, authorized by Rep. Laura Hall’s 2019 bill, marks the first time women have been honored with monuments at the Capitol. ( Mike Stewart/AP photos
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — A historic vision became reality Friday as statues of Rosa Parks and Helen Keller, two of Alabama’s most influential daughters, were unveiled on the grounds of the Alabama State Capitol — fulfilling the mission of Rep. Laura Hall’s 2019 legislation to honor women’s contributions to state and national history.
The monuments mark the first statues of women ever placed on the Capitol lawn, expanding a narrative once dominated by Confederate memorials.
The project was made possible through House Bill 287, authored by Rep. Hall, D-Huntsville, which established the Alabama Women’s Tribute Statue Commission. The six-member commission was tasked with selecting the honorees, overseeing design, and guiding the installation of statues honoring women whose legacies shaped Alabama and the nation.
“When visitors come to the Capitol, they should see the full picture—the history and the impact that women have played,” Hall said.
Gov. Kay Ivey, currently the nation’s longest-serving female governor, called the unveiling a defining moment in the state’s ongoing story of progress.
“Courage changes the course of history,” Ivey said. “These statues stand as symbols of that courage—testaments to what one determined person can do to make the world a better place.”
Two Icons, One Message
The statue of Rosa Parks, titled “A Step into Equality,” shows her stepping onto a bus, facing Dexter Avenue — the very street where she was arrested in 1955 for refusing to give up her seat to a white passenger. Her quiet defiance launched the Montgomery Bus Boycott and ignited the Civil Rights Movement.
Nearby stands Helen Keller, seated on a bench with an open Braille book in her lap, inviting visitors to learn through touch. Born in 1880 in Tuscumbia, Keller overcame deafness and blindness to become a writer, lecturer, and advocate for people with disabilities, women, and the poor.
Keller’s great-grandniece, Keller Johnson Thompson, reflected on their shared legacies.
“Their stories remind us that no obstacle is insurmountable,” she said. “As my aunt Helen reminded us, although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of overcoming it.”
The unveiling capped a six-year effort by Hall’s commission to create a permanent tribute to Alabama women of courage and conscience.
“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.