November 30, 1925

Maryon Pittman Allen was born in Meridian, Mississippi. The journalist was appointed in 1978 by Alabama Gov. George C. Wallace to fill the seat of her deceased husband, U.S. Sen. James B. Allen. Her brief career as a senator was marked by her adherence to her husband’s conservative political positions, and she was defeated in a tumultuous election for the seat in 1978. After her stint in the U.S. Congress, Allen continued her work as a journalist for The Washington Post for many years. In her later years, she returned to Birmingham and worked in public relations for an auction house and ran a restoration and design company, Maryon Allen Company. She died in Birmingham on July 25, 2018.

Read more at Encyclopedia of Alabama.

Gadsden native James Browning Allen (1912-1978) was a U.S. senator representing Alabama from 1969-1978, a strongly conservative Democrat who supported military expansion and fought financial regulation and racial integration efforts. Prior to his service in the U.S. Senate, Allen practiced law in Alabama, served in the state Senate, and was lieutenant governor under George Wallace. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, Alabama Department of Archives and History)

For more on Alabama’s Bicentennial, visit Alabama 200.