Who's Evelyn?

Evelyn Anderson's life changed forever when she was four years old. On Christmas Eve in 1930, out for a walk with her aunt, she fell to the ground. Her physician father feared she was stricken with infantile paralysis. Instead, Selma hospital specialists found a bullet lodged in her spine. Injured by this accidental gunshot, she never walked, stood or even sat again. In the depths of the Great Depression, no special schools or medical services were available in a small Alabama town. Yet she and her family refused to consider her disabled. Evelyn never lost her sunny disposition or her delight in exploring Greensboro and the world in a modified wheelchair.

Her family built this home with wide halls, high ceilings, and classical open rooms as a generous house for Evelyn and her three brothers as they grew into adulthood.

Their family routine accommodated Doctor T.J. Anderson's life as one of the very few physicians in rural Alabama. He was constantly on call for forty years, driving across the Black Belt treating tuberculosis, smallpox, whooping cough and tetanus. Polio outbreaks were a frightening reality through the late 1940's. The miracle discovery of penicillin, widespread by the 1950's, saved many patients from dying from infections, then a leading cause of death for young Alabamians. And of course, Dr. Anderson delivered babies, recalled fondly by seniors living today in Greensboro. All four of the Anderson children graduated with honors from Greensboro High School. Evelyn earned a liberal arts degree from Judson College and wanted to teach in Greensboro. But Alabama law in 1948 forbade hiring seriously disabled teachers. So she volunteered. Her example inspired local lawmakers to shame the Alabama legislature into changing the law. In 1954, she was legally hired to teach in Alabama public schools.

Within two decades of the state allowing disabled people to teach, Alabama's highest elected official led the state from a wheelchair. In 1972 Governor George Wallace survived an assassination attempt as he campaigned for the US presidency. Both injured by a gunshot to the spine, both paralyzed for the rest of their lives, the Governor met with Evelyn Anderson and appointed her to a school textbook project.

Several of her students in Greensboro recall to this day her rigorous spelling tests. Most of her students remember the joy that Evelyn found in teaching, particularly Shakespeare and art. A master teacher for over 30 years, she retired in 1982 and traveled the world with beloved nieces and nephews. She was elected to the Alabama Women's Hall of Fame. In 1993, the National Spinal Cord Injury Association recognized her as the then-oldest survivor of a spinal cord injury. She lived in this house until she died on October 7, 1998. Her legacy inspired the renovation of her home to include a guest room with a zero-threshold shower and accessibility throughout for those with limited mobility.