October 21, 1948

Actress Tallulah Bankhead on Oct. 21, 1948, introduced President Harry S. Truman, the Democratic candidate who vowed to integrate the U.S. military if he were elected to a full term. In introducing Truman on radio, Bankhead noted he was “the partisan of our troubled millions,” referring to African-American citizens. After Truman won, he invited Bankhead to sit with his family during the inauguration. During the parade after Truman was sworn in, Bankhead loudly booed as the South Carolina float passed by carrying segregationist Gov. Strom Thurmond. She later wrote an article for Ebony magazine about “The World’s Greatest Musician” Louis Armstrong, comparing him to Shakespeare. She wrote another article in 1960 for Ebony in which she said racial equality was long overdue in America, not just in the South.

Read more at Encyclopedia of Alabama.

William and Adelaide Bankhead were married in 1900 and had two daughters, Eugenia and Tallulah, who went on to become a famous star of the stage and screen. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, courtesy of Alabama Department of Archives and History)

Tallulah and Eugenia Bankhead attended Mary Baldwin Seminary in Staunton, Virginia, in 1913 while their father, William Bankhead, campaigned for a seat in Congress. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, courtesy of Alabama Department of Archives and History)

John Hollis Bankhead (far left) with grand-daughters, Tallulah (left) and Eugenia (right), and another unidentified man, c. 1916-1918. (Harris & Ewing, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division)

Tallulah Bankhead (1902-1968), born into a politically powerful Alabama family, became an internationally known actress and public figure. She was best known for her theater work, but she also starred in such Hollywood films as Alfred Hitchcock’s “Lifeboat.” (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, courtesy of Alabama Department of Archives and History)

Tallulah Bankhead played the role of Regina Hubbard Giddings in a 1939 production of “The Little Foxes” and toured with the show after it closed in New York City. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, courtesy of Alabama Department of Archives and History)

Tallulah Bankhead was the daughter of William Bankhead, who was a U.S. congressman from 1916-1940. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, courtesy of Alabama Department of Archives and History)

Tallulah Bankhead starred as the villainous Black Widow in the 1960s “Batman” television series, her last acting job on the small screen. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, courtesy of Alabama Department of Archives and History)

Tallulah Bankhead starred in Alfred Hitchcock’s treatment of the John Steinbeck short story “Lifeboat” in 1944, a performance that earned her the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, courtesy of Alabama Department of Archives and History)

A star honoring Alabama-born actress Tallulah Bankhead is seen in front of the Alabama Theatre in Birmingham. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, the George F. Landegger Collection of Alabama Photographs in Carol M. Highsmith’s America, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division)

McCary T. Grayson and Tallulah Bankhead, c. 1937. (Harris & Ewing, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division)

Portrait of Tallulah Bankhead, Jan. 25, 1934. (Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division)

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