She Became The FBI’s First Female Special Agent In 1922, Paving The Way For Women In A Male-Dominated Field
At the age of 54, Alaska Packard Davidson became the FBI’s first female special agent in 1922. She only served for two years before she was asked to resign.
Although her career as an agent was brief, she made history by breaking into a field dominated by men. She also paved the way for future generations of women in federal law enforcement.
Alaska P. Davidson was born in Ohio in 1868. She grew up in a wealthy family and lived in a mansion. She was a well-known equestrian and won awards at county fairs as a teenager.
In 1890, she was even put in charge of the New York and Ohio plants for Packard Electric, the family company.
At the time she became an agent, she had three years of public education under her belt and was married with one child named Anna in Virginia. Despite her background, she never pursued a college education, which limited her range of what cases she could handle.
In the 1920s, Alaska was one of three women who served as FBI agents. The other two women were Jessie Duckstein and Lenore Houston.
Alaska completed her training in New York City. On October 11, 1922, she was appointed as a Special Agent by William Burnes, the Bureau of Investigation Director.
She was assigned to the Washington, D.C. office right away. Alaska earned a salary of $7 per day and an additional $4 when traveling. The Special Agent in Charge said of her: “This lady is very refined and could not work on every investigation where a woman could be used.”
During that time, the FBI primarily hired female agents to help work on cases that were related to the Mann Act, which was passed in 1910.
Gorodenkoff – stock.adobe.com – illustrative purposes only, not the actual person
The Mann Act made it a federal crime to transport women across state lines for any immoral purposes.
It was commonly used to prosecute men involved with underage girls. Alaska wasn’t able to offer much assistance with these types of investigations.
On May 10, 1924, J. Edgar Hoover became the acting director of the FBI. After the Teapot Dome scandal that occurred from 1921 to 1923, Hoover promised to remove all unqualified agents.
The special agent in charge of the Washington office told Hoover that he did not have any use for a female agent. So, Hoover asked Alaska to resign on June 10, 1924.
Alaska died in Virginia on July 16, 1934, at the age of 66. It wasn’t until 1972 that women were able to join the forces of the FBI once more.
The FBI Academy began admitting women shortly after Hoover’s death and the passing of the Equal Employment Opportunity Act.
The first two women to become part of the FBI were Susan Lynn Roley, a Marine Corps lieutenant, and Joanne Pierce, a former nun. Currently, 23.5 percent of special agents are women.
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