Camille Maxwell was born in 1925 to Fred, Jr. and Kathleen Maxwell of Tuscaloosa, Tuscaloosa County Alabama. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree in 1946 and her Master of Arts degree in 1958. She married Karl S. Elebash, Jr. in 1956 and had four children, Karl III, Camille, Maxwell, and Searcy. In 1962 Camille became a part-time instructor in journalism at the University of Alabama.
In 1956 Camille witnessed Autherine Lucy’s attempt to enroll in the University; she was also present at George Wallace’s “Schoolhouse Door” speech on 11 June 1963 and documented what was then called by many the “highest level press corps ever assembled.” Her photographs recording the press coverage of the event were published in The Graphic, a Tuscaloosa weekly paper that was published in the 1950 – 1980s, which was owned and operated by Camille and her husband, Karl Elebash. The photographs were also the basis for the exhibit They Came… They Saw… The Reported: Images from the World Press Coverage of Segregations’ Last Stand at The University of Alabama in February 2007 at the University’s W.S. Hoole Special Collections Library.
In 1974 Camille became an assistant professor in the School of Communication at the University and achieved the rank of full professor a few years before she retired in 1990. In 1986 she co-produced a two-hour documentary, George Wallace: A Politician’s Legacy examining the thirty year political career of George Wallace.
Camille still lives in Tuscaloosa and was listed as Professor Emerita of Advertising and Public Relations in the University’s 2008-10 undergraduate catalog.
From the guide to the Camille Maxwell Elebash Papers MSS. 0478., 1964-1988, (University Libraries Division of Special Collections, The University of Alabama)
