Town of Selma history

While the county and region were dealt a serious political blow in 1825 when the capital moved from Cahawba to Tuscaloosa, power was maintained at the state and national level for decades to come.

In 1865, Turner helped establish the first school in Selma for African American children.

Selma, city, seat (1866) of Dallas county, central Alabama, United States It lies on the Alabama River about 50 miles (80 km) west of Montgomery.

First, Turner participated in the Republican State Convention in 1867.

Then, in 1870, Turner was elected to the United States House of Representatives.

As early as 1892, Alabama women had begun organizing in support of suffrage, but their efforts were short- lived.

IN 1904, a fire started in the DeLong Hotel and destroyed many buildings in the business center.

New buildings were erected, and the town became incorporated in 1907.

Then, in 1910, the Selma Equal Suffrage Association was formed under Miss Mary Partridge with Birmingham following suit shortly thereafter.

The inaugural state convention for this new organization, the Alabama Equal Suffrage Association (AESA), was held at the Hotel Albert in Selma in 1913.

In 1914, the movement almost accomplished its goals when the State Representative from Dallas County put forth a suffrage bill in the house.

The ship, constructed in Mobile, AL specifically to support the war effort, was launched on June 28, 1919, the same day Germany signed the Treaty of Versailles, ending the war.

Dallas County women embraced these new-found rights and responsibilities and in 1922 elected one of their own, Hattie Hooker Wilkins, as the first woman to serve in the Alabama House of Representatives.

In fact, in 1961, only 156 of Dallas County’s 15,000 voting-age African Americans were registered.