UNT Press

A Chickasaw Lady, A Governor’s Wife: Alice Hearrell Murray in the Era of the New Woman

Published: May, 2026  Pages: 240  Features: 30 b&w illus. Notes. Bib. Index.

Mary Alice Hearrell Murray was the wife of Oklahoma’s most colorful politician in the early twentieth century, William H. “Alfalfa Bill” Murray. Alice was the niece of Chickasaw governor Douglas Johnston, who was her guardian, and she was a graduate of the prominent Chickasaw girls’ school, Bloomfield Academy for Chickasaw Females. Alice graduated as the dawn of the twentieth century ushered in a more progressive society and the world of the new woman. Alice, however, was not a new woman of the progressive era; she adhered to the traditional order of the Chickasaw people. more... about A Chickasaw Lady, A Governor’s Wife: Alice Hearrell Murray in the Era of the New Woman