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Helen Friedman Blackshear, widow of William Mitchell Blackshear, was born June 5, 1911, and is a native of Tuscaloosa, Alabama. She graduated from Agnes Scott College in 1931 and received an M.A. from the University of Alabama in 1931. Her thesis, Robert Loveman: Belated Romanticist was published in hardback by the University of Alabama Press. She served as president of the Alabama Writers' Conclave in 1986; Poet of the Year, corresponding secretary and second vice president for the Alabama State Poetry Society; and a member of the National Federation of State Poetry Societies. She is also a member of Creative Writers of Montgomery, Press and Authors Club, secretary of the Montgomery Arts Council for 6 years, and in 1990, served as president of the Montgomery branch of the National League of American Penwomen, Inc. 

Mrs. Blackshear makes her home in Montgomery where she taught high school English for 35 years. She is listed in Contemporary Authors and Don Marquis' Who's Who: St. James Register Personalities of the South. She has published several books of poems. In 1993 she published a book about 3 generations of her father's family entitled From Peddler to Philanthropist: The Friedman Story. 

Helen Friedman Blackshear assumed her position as Poet Laureate of Alabama on January 1, 1995. She was commissioned by the governor on September 27, 1995. She served as Poet Laureate until 1999 (Alabama State Archives Website)

Bibliography:
Alabama Album
Along Alabama Roads
The Creek Captives and Other Alabama       Stories
Earthbound
From Peddler to Philanthropist
Mother Was a Rebel
Random Runes 
Robert Loveman, Belated Romanticist
Southern Smorgasbord
These I Would Keep
Tuscaloosa Sketches 

Last Updated:
11 May 2001

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