Biography;

Historian; university administrator.  Born–April 24, 1935, Birmingham.  Parents– Jack and Lena Margaret Jones Rawls.  Married– George Arthur Atkins, June 7, 1954.  Children– four.  Education; Birmingham schools;  Auburn University, B. A., 1956; M.A., 1960; Ph. D., 1974.  Taught history at Auburn, 1960-69; at UAB; at Samford until 1985.  Director of the Center for Arts and Humanities at Auburn, 1985-1995  .  Published widely in history journals, especially about the history of Alabama.  Consultant for many libraries, literary and historical groups.  A world champion water skier;  first woman inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame, 1976.  Member of Alabama Historical Association; Friends of Alabama Archives.  Inducted into the Alabama Academy of Honor, 2007.

Sources;

Women who Made a Difference in Alabama.  Compiled by the League of Women Voters of Alabama, 1995.

Author;

Blossoms amid the Deep Verdure; A Century of Women at Auburn, 1892-1992.

The Valley and the Hills; A History of Birmingham and Jefferson County.

Co-Author;

Alabama; The history of a Deep South State.  University of Alabama Press, 1994.