Tuscaloosa is a city in and the seat of Tuscaloosa County in west-central Alabama,United States,on the Black Warrior River where the Gulf Coastal and Piedmont plains meet. Alabama's fifth-most populous city,it had an estimated population of 102,432 in 2022. It was known as Tuskaloosa until the early 20th century. It is also known as "the Druid City" because of the numerous water oaks planted in its downtown streets since the 1840s.
Ralph David Abernathy Sr. was an American civil rights activist and Baptist minister. He was ordained in the Baptist tradition in 1948. As a leader of the civil rights movement,he was a close friend and mentor of Martin Luther King Jr. He collaborated with King and E. D. Nixon to create the Montgomery Improvement Association,which led to the Montgomery bus boycott,and co-created and was an executive board member of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). He became president of the SCLC following the assassination of King in 1968;he led the Poor People's Campaign in Washington,D.C.,as well as other marches and demonstrations for disenfranchised Americans. He also served as an advisory committee member of the Congress on Racial Equality (CORE).
Andrew Jackson Young Jr. is an American politician,diplomat,and activist. Beginning his career as a pastor,Young was an early leader in the civil rights movement,serving as executive director of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and a close confidant to Martin Luther King Jr. Young later became active in politics,serving as a U.S. Congressman from Georgia,United States Ambassador to the United Nations in the Carter Administration,and 55th Mayor of Atlanta. He was the first African American elected to Congress from Georgia since Reconstruction,as well as one of the first two African Americans elected to Congress from the former Confederacy since Reconstruction,alongside Barbara Jordan of Texas. Since leaving office,Young has founded or served in many organizations working on issues of public policy and political lobbying.
The Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) is an African-American civil rights organization based in Atlanta,Georgia. SCLC is closely associated with its first president,Martin Luther King Jr.,who had a large role in the American civil rights movement.
Charles Frank Bolden Jr. is a former Administrator of NASA,a retired United States Marine Corps Major General,and a former astronaut who flew on four Space Shuttle missions.
Joseph Lister Hill was an American politician. A member of the Democratic Party,he represented Alabama in the U.S. Congress for more than forty-five years,as both a U.S. Representative (1923–1938) and a U.S. Senator (1938–1969). During his Senate career he was active on health-related issues,and served as Senate Majority Whip (1941–47),and Hill also served as the Chair of the Senate Labor Committee. At the time of his retirement,Hill was the fourth-most senior Senator. Hill was succeeded by fellow Democrat James Allen.
Lee Roy Jordan is an American former professional football player who was a linebacker for the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League (NFL). After playing college football for the Alabama Crimson Tide under head coach Paul "Bear" Bryant,he played 14 years in the NFL for the Cowboys from 1963 to 1976. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1983.
Freddie Lee Shuttlesworth was an American civil rights activist who led the fight against segregation and other forms of racism as a minister in Birmingham,Alabama. He was a co-founder of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference,initiated and was instrumental in the 1963 Birmingham Campaign,and continued to work against racism and for alleviation of the problems of the homeless in Cincinnati,Ohio,where he took up a pastorate in 1961. He returned to Birmingham after his retirement in 2007. He worked with Martin Luther King Jr. during the civil rights movement,though the two men often disagreed on tactics and approaches.
Wyatt Tee Walker was an African-American pastor,national civil rights leader,theologian,and cultural historian. He was a chief of staff for Martin Luther King Jr.,and in 1958 became an early board member of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). He helped found a Congress for Racial Equality (CORE) chapter in 1958. As executive director of the SCLC from 1960 to 1964,Walker helped to bring the group to national prominence. Walker sat at the feet of his mentor,BG Crawley,who was a Baptist Minister in Brooklyn,NY and New York State Judge.
Forrest David Mathews is an American politician who served as the 11th United States Secretary of Health,Education,and Welfare during the administration of President Gerald Ford from 1975 to 1977. He also served two nonconsecutive terms as the president of the University of Alabama. In 1983,Mathews was elected as a fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration. He served as president and chief executive officer of the Kettering Foundation from 1981 to 2022. He is the author of several books on democratic practice and education.
Joseph Echols Lowery was an American minister in the United Methodist Church and leader in the civil rights movement. He founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference with Martin Luther King Jr. and others,serving as its vice president,later chairman of the board,and from 1977 to 1997 its president. Lowery participated in most of the major activities of the civil rights movement in the 1950s and 1960s,and continued his civil rights work into the 21st century. He was called the "Dean of the Civil Rights Movement."
Xernona Clayton Brady is an American civil rights leader and broadcasting executive. During the Civil Rights Movement,she worked for the National Urban League and Southern Christian Leadership Conference,where she became involved in the work of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Later,Clayton went into television,where she became the first African American from the southern United States to host a daily prime time talk show. She became corporate vice president for Turner Broadcasting.
Fred David Gray is an American civil rights attorney,preacher,activist,and state legislator from Alabama. He handled many prominent civil rights cases,such as Browder v. Gayle,and was elected to the Alabama House of Representatives in 1970,along with Thomas Reed,both from Tuskegee. They were the first black state legislators in Alabama in the 20th century. He served as the president of the National Bar Association in 1985,and in 2001 was elected as the first African-American President of the Alabama State Bar.
Rachel Bassette Noel was an American educator,politician and civil rights leader in Denver,Colorado. She is known for the "Noel Resolution",a 1968 plan to integrate the Denver city school district,and her work to implement that plan,as well as other work on civil rights. When elected to the Denver Public Schools Board of Education in 1965,Noel was the first African-American woman elected to public office in Colorado. In 1996,Noel was inducted into the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame.
Charles Kenzie Steele was a preacher and a civil rights activist. He was one of the main organizers of the 1956 Tallahassee bus boycott,and a prominent member of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. On March 23,2018,Florida Governor Rick Scott signed CS/SB 382 into law,designating portions of Florida State Road 371 and Florida State Road 373 along Orange Avenue in Tallahassee as C.K. Steele Memorial Highway.
Edward Earl Cleveland was an American writer,civil rights advocate and evangelist of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
Jesse Hill Jr. was an African American civil rights activist. He was active in the civic and business communities of the city for more than five decades. Hill was president and chief executive officer of the Atlanta Life Insurance Company,from 1973 to 1992,and was the first African American to be elected president of a chamber of commerce in a major city. During Hill's presidency of the Atlanta Life Insurance Company it became the largest black-owned life insurance company in the nation. He was a member of the board of directors for the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta.
James Reese Phifer (1916–1998) was an American businessman and philanthropist from Alabama.
Agnes Ellen Harris was an American educator. She worked in education in Georgia,Florida,Texas,Washington,D.C.,and Alabama,establishing Home Economics programs throughout the area. She was instrumental in founding "Tomato Clubs" in Florida,which were the precursor to the 4-H Youth Programs. She was one of the earliest practitioners of the field of Domestic Science and taught nutrition and health to women for fifty years. She was a charter member of the American Home Economics Association and served as a national officer in the 1920s. She was inducted into the Alabama Women's Hall of Fame in 1972.
Lenora Rolla was a noted African-American activist,businesswoman,educator,and historian. The granddaughter of former slaves who grew up in poverty,Rolla became a civil rights leader and community activist in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. In 1977,she founded the Tarrant County Black Historical and Genealogical Society,whose history museum is named in honor of Rolla.
