Nina Miglionico was a trailblazer. The daughter of Italian immigrants, she was educated at Birmingham’s Woodlawn High School and Howard College (now Samford University). She earned her law degree from the University of Alabama School of Law in 1936 and became one of few women at the time admitted to the Alabama Bar.

“It was not easy for a woman to break into the legal profession in those days,” said Birmingham attorney Sam Rumore, who was Miglionico’s law partner for 35 years. “She was never deterred by that. In fact, it really only made her more determined to represent her clients well and be a leader in the community.”

Nina Miglionico in 1932, as a student at Howard College, now Samford University.
(Birmingham Public Library, via Wikipedia)

Miglionico – known affectionately to generations of Birmingham residents as “Miss Nina” – practiced law until shortly before her death in 2009 at the age of 95 and remains the longest-practicing female attorney in Alabama history. But longevity was far from the only distinction she accrued as a lawyer.

Among other career-long professional associations, Miglionico was a member of the National Association of Women Lawyers, and in 1958 became the first Alabama-based president of that organization. She later served on the tax committee of the American Bar Association, and in 1996, the ABA recognized her long record of accomplishment with its Margaret Brent Award.

Nina Miglionico, right, with her law partners, Sam and Patricia Rumore in 2001. (contributed)

In her practice, as well as her numerous civic engagements, Miglionico was a tireless advocate for women, minorities and other individuals and groups subjected to discrimination. Over the years, she argued for women being allowed to serve on juries and other changes that included reform of Alabama’s parole system, improved prison conditions, stronger laws governing child labor, revision of probate laws to allow women the same rights as men in the distribution of estates, and elimination of the state’s poll tax.

“She was fearless,” Rumore said. “She was also a joiner, which is why she became involved with so many different civic organizations. And, because cream rises to the top, she seemed to always become a leader in whatever she took part in.”

Birmingham attorney Sam Rumore was Miglionico’s law partner for 35 years. (contributed)

That included politics and government. Miglionico ran unsuccessfully for a seat in the Alabama Legislature in 1958, but in 1963 she became the first woman elected to the Birmingham City Council. That year was a historic one for Birmingham, with major civil rights demonstrations in addition to a voter-approved change from a city commission to the mayor-council form of government under which Miglionico and eight others were chosen for council seats.

Along with other reformers on the new governing body, Miglionico helped do away with Birmingham’s long-standing segregation ordinances. Her progressive stance on racial issues subjected her to threats and hate mail, and in 1965, an attempted bombing of her house was thwarted when the bomb was disarmed.

Undaunted, Miglionico continued to advocate for racial reconciliation and other actions aimed at moving Birmingham forward and improving its image. An avid traveler, she returned from visits to European cities with ideas for what became an ongoing emphasis for her: implementing ways to beautify Birmingham and make it more cosmopolitan. That initiative continues to bear fruit in the present day, though her comments in a 2005 interview illustrated both Miglionico’s humor and her determination to cut through red tape.

“For the longest time, the health department wouldn’t let us serve food on the sidewalks,” Miglionico recalled.  “I couldn’t understand that since they’d been doing it in Paris for a thousand years. And when some of the staff at the city said we couldn’t plant trees in the medians of our streets, that they wouldn’t grow, I wondered why they could grow in Naples and Rome, but not in Birmingham.”

A statue of Nina Miglionico was unveiled in Birmingham’s Linn Park in 2015. (Encyclopedia of Alabama)

In 1981, Miglionico achieved another “first” when her fellow members of the City Council made her the first woman to serve as its president. She chose to step down in 1985 after 22 years on the council, leaving a legacy of service that she continued to exemplify in her law practice and commitment to civic causes. In 2015, six years after her death, Miglionico was honored with the placement of a statue of her in Birmingham’s Linn Park. The following year saw the release of a documentary by filmmaker Jenna Bedsole, “Stand Up, Speak Out: The Nina Miglionico Story.”

“She’s probably the most selfless, honest, hardworking, caring and courageous public servant Birmingham has ever had,” Rumore said. “She took such an active interest in everything about the city.”

For her own part, Miglionico seemed to view her remarkable life and career as all in a day’s – and a life’s – work. That was evident in another answer she gave in that 2005 interview, when asked if she considered herself to have been a pioneer.

“I don’t know what I consider myself,” she said. “Isn’t the more important thing the people who follow you? It’s great to be first, but it’s the two and three and four that come after you that is the telling thing.”