On This Day In Alabama History: Congresswoman Began Representing 3rd District

By Graydon Rust Alabama 200

April 4, 1972

Congresswoman Elizabeth Bullock Andrews began representing Alabama’s 3rd Congressional District after winning a special election to fill the seat of her recently deceased husband. Andrews ran for the seat on the advice of her friend Lera Thomas, who had won a special election in Texas to fill her husband’s seat, and received the endorsement of Gov. George Wallace. She became the first woman elected to the U.S. Congress from Alabama and the first woman to represent Alabama in the U.S. House of Representatives. While in office, Andrews worked to protect medical and Social Security benefits, secure funding for cancer and heart disease research centers in Birmingham, and establish the Tuskegee Institute National Historic Park in Tuskegee.

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