Alabama is adding statues of two female leaders to its capitol grounds, and the inclusion of Helen Keller and Rosa Parks is remarkable. But not for the reason you’d expect.
Unlike most leaders, Keller and Parks were both likely introverts.
In Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking, Susan Cain writes that Rosa Parks was known for her “radical humility” and “quiet fortitude.” When she sat down on that bus in Montgomery, Ala., in 1955, she refused to budge by uttering, simply, “No.” Her autobiography is called Quiet Strength, after all.
According to Felicia Bell, director of Troy University’s Rosa Parks Museum, the new statue should remind visitors of Parks’ full legacy. Her activism didn’t begin on Dec. 1, 1955, and it didn’t end that day, either.
“I think it’s important for people to know that although Mrs. Parks made a tremendous impact on our country’s history through her peaceful protest, Mrs. Parks was an activist all her life,” Bell said.
Cain writes that at a rally on the day of her trial for disorderly conduct, 5,000 supporters gathered to see Parks. Martin Luther King Jr. gave a stirring speech, but Rosa stood “silently, her mere presence enough to galvanize the crowd.”
Helen Keller, who was an early disability rights advocate after she became both deaf and blind as a toddler, never had the chance to be loud. But that didn’t stop her from becoming an activist, writing several books, speaking with the help of her teacher, Anne Sullivan, and even helping to found the American Civil Liberties Union.
Yet she spoke fondly of “quiet” moments in her personal letters. Writing of her childhood home, nicknamed “Ivy Green,” Keller opined over “the beauty and solitude of the hills.”
Sue Pilkilton now runs the Tuscumbia, Ala., home, which has become a popular tourist attraction. She says a statue of Keller in the capitol could bring her even more well-deserved regard.
“Any time there is attention brought to Helen Keller’s name, it brings great emphasis on the things she accomplished through her life,” she said. “We’re just very fortunate and very blessed to have the state of Alabama honor her in that way.”
There are many reasons to include Keller and Parks on the Alabama Capitol grounds, not the least of which is that public statues tend to be overwhelmingly male. The U.S. Capitol has its own statue of Keller in the National Statuary Hall, one of only nine women out of 100 figures. The Alabama Capitol itself has no statues of women. But the additions of Keller and Parks will do something else: honor an underrated style of leadership.
Keller and Parks were strong without being pushy, and firm without being loud. By honoring their quiet dignity, Alabama reminds the rest of America that its citizens need not be brash to make a difference. All they have to do is stand firm.
