Southern Bell
Parent American Bell (1879-1899) | AT&T (1899-1983) |
Southern Bell Telephone and Telegraph Company was once the regional
The company was originally known as the Atlanta Telephonic Exchange, having been created to service citizens of Atlanta in 1879, before it was renamed in 1882.[1]
Southern Bell also operated in Charleston and other parts of West Virginia, from 1883 until 1917, when the Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Company of West Virginia took over operations there.[2]
Split into South Central Bell & Southern Bell
Southern Bell originally served nine Southern states. On December 20, 1967, the western portion of the Southern Bell territory (Alabama, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee) was split off as South Central Bell Telephone Company.
Landmark sex discrimination case
Weeks v. Southern Bell was an important sex discrimination case in which Lorena Weeks claimed that Southern Bell had violated her rights under the 1964 Civil Rights Act when they denied her application for promotion to a higher paying position because she was a woman. She was represented in the case by Sylvia Roberts, a National Organization for Women attorney. She lost the initial case but won in 1969 after several appeals. Weeks v. Southern Bell was an important case as it marked the first victory in which NOW used the Civil Rights Act to fight sex-based discrimination.[3]
Reincorporation
Southern Bell, originally incorporated in New York, was reincorporated in
Southern Bell was headquartered in (what is now) the
See also
- AT&T
- AT&T Corporation, now a subsidiary
- BellSouth Telecommunications
- Telephones portal
References
- ^ Conor Lee (February 21, 2014). "Southern Bell Telephone Company Building". historyatlanta.com. Retrieved May 29, 2020.
- ^ "Verizon West Virginia: Company History". Verizon. 2009. Archived from the original on January 29, 2009.
It begins operations on Jan. 1, 1917, assuming the West Virginia operations of the Central District and Printing Telegraph Co., The Chesapeake and Potomac of Maryland and Southern Bell.
- ^ Weeks v. Southern Bell Telephone & Telegraph Company, 408 F. 2d 228 (5th Cir. 1969)
- ^ "Business Registration". North Carolina Secretary of State. Archived from the original on March 14, 2012.
External links
Media related to Southern Bell at Wikimedia Commons