Hannah Diggs Atkins

Hannah Diggs Atkins earned a bachelor's degree from St. Augustine's College in 1943 and a graduate degree from the University of Chicago in 1949. After moving to Oklahoma in 1952, she received a master's degree in Public Administration from the University of Oklahoma. She worked for Oklahoma City public libraries and the Oklahoma State Library while also teaching law and library science courses at the University of Oklahoma.

Her political career began with election to the Oklahoma House of Representatives, becoming the first Black woman to serve in that role. She chaired the Public and Mental Health Committee and championed civil rights, mental health, education, women's rights, child welfare, healthcare, and tax reforms. She helped establish the Oklahoma Black Legislative Caucus, which remains active today.

In 1980 President Jimmy Carter appointed Atkins as a delegate to the 35th Assembly of United Nations (U.N.). After serving at the U.N., she returned to Oklahoma to become Secretary for Social Services and then Secretary of State for Oklahoma, a position she held until 1991, retiring as the highest-ranking woman in Oklahoma state government. Atkins was inducted into the Oklahoma Women's Hall of Fame in 1982. Following the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in 1995, Mayor Ron Norick appointed Atkins to serve on the Memorial Task Force. She received honorary doctorates from the University of Oklahoma in 1998 and Oklahoma State University in 2000.