Southern Bell

Not to be confused with Southern belle.

For the company founded in 1983 as Southern Bell, see BellSouth Telecommunications.

Southern Bell Telephone and Telegraph Company

Industry	Telecommunications
Fate	Merged
Successor	SBT&T Co.
Founded	1879
Defunct	1983
Headquarters	Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.
Products	Local telephone service
Parent	American Bell (1879-1899) AT&T (1899-1983)

Southern Bell Telephone and Telegraph Company was once the Bell Operating Company serving the states of Georgia, Florida, North Carolina, and South Carolina prior to the breakup of AT&T. 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 discrimimnation 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 gender-based discrimination.

Reincorporation

Southern Bell, originally incorporated in New York, was reincorporated in Georgia in 1983 as SBT&T Co.^[3] The original Southern Bell was then merged into SBT&T Co., at which point that company was renamed Southern Bell. Since BellSouth, the new owner of Southern Bell and South Central Bell upon the divestiture of AT&T, was based in Georgia, it was more practical to have Southern Bell incorporated in the same state. Southern Bell was renamed BellSouth Telecommunications until It was merged into AT&T in 2006.

Southern Bell was headquartered in (what is now) the AT&T Midtown Center building in Atlanta, Georgia. Most Atlanta operations have now been relocated to AT&T Headquarters in San Antonio, Texas. Downtown Atlanta's telephone exchange is located in the Art Deco AT&T Communications Building.

References

Bell System

Parent company

American Telephone and Telegraph Company

Local telephone companies still extant

Wholly owned	Bell Telephone Company of Nevada The Bell Telephone Company of Pennsylvania The Chesapeake & Potomac Telephone Company The Chesapeake & Potomac Telephone Company of Maryland The Chesapeake & Potomac Telephone Company of West Virginia The Chesapeake & Potomac Telephone Company of Virginia Diamond State Telephone Illinois Bell Indiana Bell Michigan Bell Mountain Bell New England Telephone New Jersey Bell New York Telephone Northwestern Bell Ohio Bell Pacific Northwest Bell Pacific Telephone South Central Bell Southern Bell Southwestern Bell Wisconsin Telephone

Partially owned	Southern New England Telephone Cincinnati Bell

Other subsidiaries

Manufacturing	Western Electric

Research	Bell Labs

Long distance	Long Lines

Wireless	Advanced Mobile Phone Service

Regional Bell Companies	Bell Canada (1880-1975)

Historical

Commemorative	Alexander Graham Bell National Historic Site Bell Boatyard Bell Homestead National Historic Site Bell Telephone Memorial Telephone Pioneers of America Spirit of Communication

Defunct	Bell Telephone Company New England Telephone and Telegraph Company International Bell Telephone Company The Bell Telephone Company of Canada Northern Electric Bell Telephone Manufacturing Company AT&T Technologies, Inc.

Southern Bell

Split into South Central Bell & Southern Bell

Landmark sex discrimination case

Reincorporation

See also

References