[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 132 (Friday, September 7, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1827-E1828]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  CONGRATULATING LEAH RAWLS ATKINS ON HER INDUCTION INTO THE ALABAMA 
                            ACADEMY OF HONOR

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. JO BONNER

                               of alabama

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, September 7, 2007

  Mr. BONNER. Madam Speaker, it is with great pride and pleasure that I 
rise to honor Leah Rawls Atkins on the occasion of her induction into 
the Alabama Academy of Honor.
  A student of history, Mrs. Atkins has cemented her own place in the 
history books of the great State of Alabama. A woman of firsts--she was 
the first woman inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame and the 
first recipient of a Ph.D. awarded by Auburn University.
  Created in 1965, the Alabama Academy of Honor was created to 
recognize living Alabamians for their accomplishments and service that 
greatly benefits or reflects credit on the State of Alabama. Ten 
members may be elected annually by the Academy of Honor with no greater 
than 100 living members at a time.
  Madam Speaker, the following tribute was presented to Leah Rawls 
Atkins at her ceremony of induction into the Academy in 2007. With your 
permission, I would like to add this tribute to the Congressional 
Record.

                           Leah Rawls Atkins

       Leah Rawls Atkins has spent her life teaching and writing 
     about American and

[[Page E1828]]

     Alabama history. She was born in Birmingham, growing up in a 
     family compound of four houses that included the homes of her 
     grandparents and great-grandparents near Oak Hill Cemetery. 
     World War II was the formative event of her childhood and 
     kindled her love of history, her country, and her state.
       In high school and college, she was a competitive water 
     skier. In 1953 she won both the U.S. Women's Overall National 
     Championship and the Women's Overall World Championship. She 
     was the first woman senior judge of the American Water Ski 
     Association, and the first woman AWSA board member. In 1976, 
     she was the first woman inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall 
     of Fame.
       Atkins holds three degrees from Auburn University, 
     receiving her doctorate in history in 1974, the first time a 
     Ph.D. in history was awarded at AU. She taught history at 
     Auburn, briefly at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, 
     and at Samford University, where in 1984 she became the 
     founding director of the Samford London Study Centre. The 
     next year she became the founding director of the Auburn 
     University Center for the Arts and Humanities (now the 
     Caroline Marshall Draughon Center), which she directed for 
     a decade, bringing university scholars and citizens 
     together to explore the ideas and experiences that inform 
     the human condition, connecting the local to the 
     universal, and providing an opportunity for learning and 
     dialogue.
       Atkins is a longtime member, former president, and for 15 
     years served as secretary of the Alabama Historical 
     Association.
       She was a founding board member of the Friends of the 
     Alabama Archives, the editor of the Friends' first 
     newsletter, and is on the board of the Alabama Archives and 
     History Foundation. She has published many articles and books 
     on Alabama history, including a study of the admission of 
     women to Auburn University and the University of Alabama, a 
     history of Birmingham and Jefferson County, and a biography 
     of builder John M. Harbert III. She is also author of a 
     corporate history of Brasfield & Gorrie and, most recently, 
     of a history of Alabama Power Company which won the 2007 
     James Sulzby Book Award for the best book on Alabama history. 
     She is a co-author of the Pulitzer Prize-nominated Alabama: 
     History of a Deep South State, which also won the Sulzby 
     Award.
       She and her husband, George, have been married for 54 years 
     and have four children and 13 grandchildren.

  Leah Atkins is an outstanding example of the quality individuals who 
have devoted their lives to education. Madam Speaker, I ask my 
colleagues to join with me in congratulating her on this remarkable 
achievement. I know her husband, George, her family, and many friends 
join with me in praising her accomplishments and extending thanks for 
her many efforts over the years on behalf of the State of Alabama.

                          ____________________