Mahala Ashley Dickerson (October 12, 1912 – February 19, 2007) was an American lawyer and civil rights advocate for women and minorities. In 1948 she became the first African American female attorney admitted to the Alabama State Bar; in 1951 she was the second African American woman admitted to the Indiana bar; and in 1959 she was Alaska's first African American attorney. In 1983 Dickerson was the first African American to be elected president of the National Association of Women Lawyers. Her long legal career also helped to pave the way for other women attorneys. In 1995 the American Bar Association named her a Margaret Brent Women Lawyers of Achievement honoree. Early life and education Mahala Ashley was born in rural Montgomery County, Alabama, on October 12, 1912, to Hattie (Moss) and John Augustine Ashley. Her father was the owner of a general store. Her siblings included two sisters, Erna and Harriette. Ashley grew up in Alabama. She attended Montgomery Industrial School for Girls (Miss White's School), a private school in Montgomery, where she met Rosa Parks, her lifelong friend who would become an activist in the civil rights movement. In 1935, Ashley graduated cum laude with a degree in sociology from Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee. Following her divorce from her first husband, Henry Dickerson, in 1939, Mahala Ashley enrolled at the Howard University School of Law in Washington, D.C. She graduated cum laude and was one of four women to graduate in her class of 1948. Marriage and family Mahala Ashley married Henry Dickerson in 1938, but they divorced the following year. The Dickersons were the parents of triplet sons: Alfred, John and Henri Christophe "Chris" (who became a well-known professional bodybuilder). In 1951 Mahala Dickerson married Frank R. Beckwith, an Indianapolis attorney, and relocated with her three sons to Indianapolis, Indiana. In 1958, after her marriage to Beckwith ended in divorce, Dickerson moved to Alaska. The couple had no children together. In 1960 Beckwith became the first African American to run as a candidate for President of the United States in a major-party primary when he ran in Indiana's Republican presidential primary. He also ran in Indiana's Republican presidential primary in 1964. Career Legal career After graduating from law school, Dickerson returned to Alabama to practice law. In 1948 she became the first African-American woman to be admitted to the Alabama State Bar. Dickerson established offices in