January 1, 1972
Elizabeth Bullock Andrews announced her candidacy in a special election to fill the seat of her recently deceased husband, George Andrews, in the U.S. House of Representatives. Andrews received the endorsement of Gov. George Wallace and faced little challenge in the Democratic primary and no Republican challenger in the general election as she became the first woman from Alabama elected to Congress and the first to represent Alabama in the U.S. House of Representatives. While in office, Andrews introduced a series of amendments to protect medical and Social Security benefits, worked to secure funding for cancer and heart disease research centers in Birmingham, and co-sponsored the bill that established the Tuskegee Institute National Historic Park in Tuskegee.
Read more at Encyclopedia of Alabama.
For more on Alabama’s Bicentennial, visit Alabama 200.