Helen Shores Lee

Lee was born in Birmingham, Alabama on May 3rd, 1941. Her father was Arthur Davis Shores, a prominent civil rights attorney in Alabama and her mother, Theodora, was active in their community. Her neighborhood was a frequent target of the Ku Klux Klan and was attacked so many times it earned the nickname Dynamite Hill. Lee recalls growing up in the segregated South, with separate facilities and entrances for Black people. Lee graduated from A.H. Parker High School and went on to earn her Bachelor of Arts in psychology from Fisk University in 1962. In 1963, Lee's house was bombed twice within two weeks and also shot at; one attack injured Lee's mother and killed their family pet. She relocated to California and later earned her Master of Arts in clinical psychology from Pepperdine University. == Career and later life ==

From 1971 to 1987, Lee worked as a clinical psychologist, She enrolled in the Cumberland School of Law, graduating with her Juris Doctor in 1987 and admission to the Alabama State Bar in 1988. She served on the Alabama State Ethics Commission from 1996 to 2000, and served as chairwomen from 1999 to 2000. She was the first African-American woman to serve as a judge in Jefferson County. In 2012, Lee published ''The Gentle Giant of Dynamite Hill: the Untold Story of Arthur Shores and His Family's Fight for Civil Rights'', co-authored by Lee and her sister Barbara. Lee retired in 2016. She died on July 2, 2018. == Awards and honors ==

• In 2013, Lee was awarded the Jeana P. Hosch Woman of Valor from the YWCA • In 2014, Lee was named Samford University Alumnus of the year • In 2025, named to the Alabama Women's Hall of Fame == References ==