Background
Hattie Hooker, the daughter of Frederick Josiah Hooker and Alexina (Fellows) Hooker, was born on July 28, 1875, at Selma, Alabama in Dallas County, Alabama.
Hattie Hooker, the daughter of Frederick Josiah Hooker and Alexina (Fellows) Hooker, was born on July 28, 1875, at Selma, Alabama in Dallas County, Alabama.
Hattie was educated at Boss Calloway"s School in Selma, and later attended Normal College in Nashville, Tennessee to prepare to teach school.
She was inducted into the Alabama Women"s Hall of Fame in 1997. In 1898 Hattie married Joseph G. Wilkins, an industrialist, and they resided in Selma. Together they had three children.
After women gained suffrage, Wilkins stayed involved in politics and in 1922, she was one of three candidates for a seat in the 1923 Alabama Legislature.
Wilkins beat the incumbent candidate for the Alabama House of Representatives, and became the first woman elected to a seat in the Alabama Legislature. Wilkins died in 1949.
In 1977, Wilkins was selected as one of twenty-five Alabama women who were highlighted in the historical exhibit, "Faces and Voices of Alabama Women". This exhibit is a permanent collection at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa.
Wilkins was a founding member of the Alabama Equal Suffrage Association and the Alabama League of Women Voters.