Alaska P. Davidson made U.S. history in 1922 as the first female in which of these occupations?

In 1922, Alaska Packard Davidson (1868 - 1934) became the first female FBI Special Agent.

At age 54, she was hired by director William J. Burns to work at the Bureau of Investigation (the former name of the FBI) as a special investigator.

She and other women hired in the 1920s worked primarily on cases related to the Mann Act (officially known as the White-Slave Traffic Act), which made it illegal to bring women across state lines for “immoral” purposes. Following training in New York, Davidson worked in the Washington D.C. office for a salary of $7 a day, plus $4 when traveling. No record remains of her actual duties; apparently however, it was determined that she was so refined she was of little use in “grittier” cases.

During her work at the Washington field office, she was also involved in a case against another agent who was selling classified Department of Justice information to criminals

After J. Edgar Hoover became acting director of the Bureau in 1924, he instructed each field office to fire “unqualified agents” - including women. Hoover felt that only men were up to the task of being special agents, a view he maintained until the end of his life. He therefore requested her resignation (having decided there were no roles that demanded female agents) and Davidson complied.

Women would not join the FBI again until 1972, when the Equal Employment Opportunity Act was passed.