In 1958, Mahala Ashley Dickerson visited Alaska on vacation and decided to move there; after claiming 160 acres, she became the territory’s first Black homesteader and months later its first Black lawyer

Mahala Ashley Dickerson broke several barriers during her six-decade legal career. Born in Alabama in 1912, she became the state’s first Black female lawyer in 1948 before moving to Alaska. In 1958, she became Alaska’s first Black homesteader and later its first Black lawyer. Her career included major discrimination cases, legal honours and an autobiography.