11/11/2020
We Love and Miss Martha Jane Patton
Martha Jane Patton was raised in Decatur, Alabama. As a teenager, she was a member of the United Christian Youth Movement and was involved in protests promoting racial and socioeconomic justice, such as the first protest against George Wallace in his home state. She was proud to say that she once spent a night in jail for “parading without a permit.”
Martha Jane attended Birmingham Southern College on a scholarship she won from the National Council of Teachers of English and graduated in 1968 with an undergraduate degree in English. She first spent time working as an assistant in a law office in downtown Birmingham, then went on to work with the Selma Inter-Religious Project in Tuscaloosa, a nonprofit which served the interests of the rural poor people in the southwest section of the Alabama Black Belt. There she served as an administrator and organizer from 1971-74.
Following her time with the Selma Project and before heading to law school, Martha Jane worked as a grant writer in a study of juvenile justice systems in 10 different Alabama counties then for a short time as an ombudsman in a girl’s state detention facility in Chalkville, Alabama. It was during this time that she developed an interest in juvenile justice, which would later become her focus during her time with Legal Aid.
Inspired by the attorneys working on the Selma Project, as well as the women’s movement for equality at the time, Martha Jane applied for law school. She received her Juris Doctor from Cumberland School of Law and was admitted to the Alabama Bar in 1978. She practiced as an attorney for 18 years before taking on the director role at Legal Aid Society. During that time, she often represented juveniles as well as employees in employment discrimination cases.
Martha Jane became Executive Director of the Legal Aid Society of Birmingham in 1998 and served tirelessly and devotedly in that role until her retirement 18 years later in 2016. There, she helped ensure legal representation for juveniles and indigent adults. Even after her retirement, she remained very active in Birmingham and in the legal community.
Martha Jane was an active long-time member and leader at her church, St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Birmingham’s Southside, where she served as her church’s liaison with the citizen’s policy project and non-profit, Alabama Arise. She was a member of the Episcopal Diocese of Alabama’s Commission on Truth, Justice and Racial Reconciliation and a supporter of Project Hope, a nonprofit working to abolish the death penalty in the state of Alabama.
In addition to issues surrounding racial and economic justice, Martha Jane was a champion of women’s rights. She helped form an Alabama chapter of the Women’s Political Caucus, worked with the Foundation for Women’s Health, and was appointed by the governor to a task force on infant mortality in Alabama. She was also a board member of the National Conference of Women’s Bar Associations and was an inspiration to young women interested in activism and a career in law.
Having witnessed the “white flight” that lead to urban decline in Birmingham after the 1950’s, Martha Jane was very committed to “being here and being a part of change in Birmingham.” She and her husband, Lynn, were committed to raising their children in a diverse environment and as integrated members of their community, so they remained in the city and sent their two sons to Ramsay High School, where Martha Jane was very involved with the PTA. She was also a founding member and the first president of Friends of Avondale Park, formed in 1989, which is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the restoration, maintenance, and full utilization of Avondale Park.
Martha Jane was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2003. After a long and courageously fought battle, she succumbed to her cancer in the summer of 2020. During her battle, she always maintained her positivity, generosity, and joy for life. She will be sorely missed by her family, friends, neighbors, colleagues, and all those whose lives she touched. Her indelible impact on the Birmingham community will be felt for many, many years to come, and she will be remembered by all for her vivacious spirit, easy laugh, fierce commitment to justice, and tremendous capacity for love.