Marie Bankhead Owen

Marie Bankhead Owen

Marie Bankhead Owen
Born (1869-09-01)September 1, 1869
Bankhead Plantation, Noxubee County, Mississippi, U.S.
Died March 1, 1958(1958-03-01) (aged 88)
Selma, Alabama, U.S.
Resting place Greenwood Cemetery, Montgomery, Alabama
Known for Director Alabama Dept of Archives and History
Spouse(s) Thomas McAdory Owen
Children Thomas McAdory Owen Jr.
John Hollis Bankhead
Parent(s) John H. Bankhead
Tallulah J. Brockman Bankhead

Marie Bankhead Owen (September 1, 1869 – March 1, 1958) was Director of the Alabama Department of Archives and History for over three decades, as well as a documentarian of Alabama history who authored numerous books on the subject. Owen served as an advisor for the Federal Writers' Project history of the state. In 1939, Owen helped select the Alabama state motto. She was actively opposed to a Federal mandate giving women the right to vote, and believed in the supremacy of the white race. Owen was inducted into the Alabama Women's Hall of Fame in 1975. Her niece was actress Tallulah Bankhead.

Early life

Marie Bankhead Owen was born one of five children on September 1, 1869, into an influential family on the Bankhead Plantation, Noxubee County, Mississippi.[1] Her father was John Hollis Bankhead and her mother was Tallulah J. Brockman Bankhead.

Marie's paternal ancestors emigrated from Northern Ireland to South Carolina during the 18th century. Her great-great-grandfather was a Revolutionary War participant named John Hollis. Her father served in the Confederate States Army during the Civil War. During reconstruction, he became a political activist with a platform of white supremacy. He belonged to the Democratic Party and was a supporter of the presidential candidacy of William Jennings Bryan. He served in various capacities, including the United States House of Representatives (1855–1906) and the United States Senate (1907–1920).[2][3]

Marie had one sister, Louise Bankhead Perry Lund, and three brothers, United States Army officer Henry McAuley Bankhead, United States Senator John H. Bankhead II and Speaker of the House of Representatives of the United States William B. Bankhead, the father of actress Tallulah Bankhead. Her family enrolled her in Ward's Seminary in Nashville. She married Thomas McAdory Owen (1866-1920) on April 12, 1893. The couple had two sons, Thomas McAdory Owen Jr. and John Hollis Bankhead Owen. After her marriage, she was actively involved with the Daughters of the American Revolution, United Daughters of the Confederacy, as well as other women's social clubs of the day. It was during this period that she began to write extensively about Alabama history.[4]

Alabama Department of Archives and History (ADAH)

The state-funded Alabama Department of Archives and History (ADAH) was created by an act of the Alabama State Legislature and signed into law by Governor William J. Samford on February 27, 1901. Thomas McAdory Owen was a history aficionado and a member of the Alabama Historical Society. Together with the help and influence of the Bankhead family, he wrote the legislation that was signed by Governor Samford, and was named the agency's first director on March 2, 1901. When he died on March 25, 1920, ADAH's board of directors named Marie Bankhead Owen as his successor.[5] She authored many texts on Alabama history for the agency, and remained in her post until her retirement in 1955. When the New Deal Federal Writers' Project worked on the state's history, Owen meticulously supervised and edited the output.[6]

Alabama state motto

Audemus jura nostra defendere, or We Dare to Defend our Rights,[7] was adopted as Alabama's state motto on March 14, 1939, replacing the state's Reconstruction Era motto of Here We Rest. As ADAH director, Owen was helping coordinate the design of an Alabama coat of arms, and felt the state needed a motto more representative of Alabamians. The words she selected were inspired by An Ode in Imitation of Alcaeus, written in 1781 by Sir William Jones. Latin translation was provided by a University of Alabama professor, W.B. Saffold.[7][8][9]

Women's suffrage and civil rights

Owen was the organizer and head of the Southern Anti-Suffrage Association, opposed to the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The organization's platform was based on a States' rights priority of deciding whether or not women should be allowed to vote. Within the agenda was also the concern that a Federal mandate giving women the vote would re-open the issue of voting rights for citizens of color.[10] The issue of race and a woman's right to vote seemed to go hand-in-hand in Alabama. The Alabama Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage linked the issue to a threat to white supremacy. Owen was additionally head of the Woman's Anti-Ratification League, an organization that stated its position on ratification opposition as based in white supremacy.[11]

Death

Marie Bankhead Owen died at a rest home in Selma on March 1, 1958, aged 88,[12] and is buried next to her husband, Thomas McAdory Owen,[13] at Greenwood Cemetery, Montgomery, Alabama. She was inducted into the Alabama Women's Hall of Fame in 1975.[14]

Bibliography

References

  1. ↑ Howell, Elmo (1988). Mississippi Home-Places: Notes on Literature and History. Elmo Howel. pp. 119, 120. ISBN 978-0-9622026-0-5.
  2. ↑ White, James Terry; McGill, Raymond D; Harvey, H.A. (1910). The National Cylopedia of American Biography. James T. White & Co. p. 210.
  3. ↑ "John Hollis Bankhead Congressional Biography". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved June 21, 2012.
  4. ↑ Hébert, Rebecca Lapczynski. "Marie Bankhead Owen profile at". Encyclopedia of Alabama. Retrieved June 21, 2012.
  5. ↑ Hébert, Rebecca Lapczynski. "Alabama Department of Archives and History". Encyclopedia of Alabama. Retrieved June 21, 2012.
  6. ↑ "Magazine Tells of How Marie Bankhead Owen Almost Killed the WPA Guide to Alabama". University of Alabama. May 11, 2000. Retrieved June 21, 2012.
  7. 1 2 "Official Alabama State Motto". State of Alabama. Retrieved June 21, 2012.
  8. ↑ "Alabama State Motto". Netstate. Retrieved June 21, 2012.
  9. ↑ "Alabama State Motto". State Symbols USA. Retrieved June 21, 2012.
  10. ↑ Flynt, Professor Wayne (2004). Alabama in the Twentieth Century (Modern South). University Alabama Press. p. 262. ISBN 978-0-8173-1430-9.
  11. ↑ Feldman, Glenn (2004). The Disfranchisement Myth: Poor Whites and Suffrage Restriction in Alabama. University of Georgia Press. p. 160. ISBN 978-0-8203-2615-3. Retrieved November 25, 2014.
  12. ↑ Marie Bankhead Owen at Find a Grave
  13. ↑ Thomas McAdory Owen at Find a Grave
  14. ↑ "Hall of Fame Inductees". Alabama Women's Hall of Fame. Retrieved June 21, 2012.
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