Tuscaloosa is a city in and the county 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,the population was 99,600 at the 2020 census,and was estimated to be 110,602 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.
The "Letter from Birmingham Jail",also known as the "Letter from Birmingham City Jail" and "The Negro Is Your Brother",is an open letter written on April 16,1963,by Martin Luther King Jr. It says that people have a moral responsibility to break unjust laws and to take direct action rather than waiting potentially forever for justice to come through the courts. Responding to being referred to as an "outsider",King writes:"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."
John Leonard Swigert Jr. was an American NASA astronaut,test pilot,mechanical engineer,aerospace engineer,United States Air Force pilot,and politician. In April 1970,as command module pilot of Apollo 13,he became one of 24 astronauts who flew to the Moon. Ironically,due to the "slingshot" route around the Moon they chose to safely return to Earth,the Apollo 13 astronauts flew farther away from Earth than any other astronauts before or since,though they had to abort the Moon landing.
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.
Arthur Pendleton Bagby was the tenth Governor of the U.S. state of Alabama from 1837 to 1841. Born in Louisa County,Virginia,in 1794,he studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1819,practicing in Claiborne,Alabama. He was a member of the Alabama State House of Representatives in 1821,1822,1824,and 1834–1836,serving as the youngest-ever speaker in 1822 and 1836,and he served in the Alabama State Senate in 1825. A slaveowner,he served in the U.S. Senate from November 21,1841,when he was elected to fill the vacancy caused by Clement C. Clay's resignation,to June 16,1848,when he resigned to become Minister to Russia from 1848 to 1849.
Joseph Lister Hill was an American attorney and Democratic Party politician who represented Alabama in the United States House of Representatives from 1923 to 1938 and the United States Senate from 1938 to 1969.
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.
Hosea Lorenzo Williams was an American civil rights leader,activist,ordained minister,businessman,philanthropist,scientist,and politician. He is best known as a trusted member of fellow famed civil rights activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner Martin Luther King Jr.'s inner circle. Under the banner of their flagship organization,the Southern Christian Leadership Conference,King depended on Williams to organize and stir masses of people into nonviolent direct action in myriad protest campaigns they waged against racial,political,economic,and social injustice. King alternately referred to Williams,his chief field lieutenant,as his "bull in a china shop" and his "Castro." Vowing to continue King's work for the poor,Williams is well known in his own right as the founding president of one of the largest social services organizations in North America,Hosea Feed the Hungry and Homeless. His famous motto was "Unbought and Unbossed."
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 its third president from 1977 to 1997. 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.
Perry Colson McGriff,Jr. was an American politician,retired insurance agent,and former All-American college football and baseball player. McGriff was a member of the Florida House of Representatives,Mayor of Gainesville and Democratic nominee for a seat in the Florida Senate.
Clarence Everett Lightner was an American politician and mortician. A member of the Democratic Party,he served as Mayor of Raleigh,North Carolina from 1973 to 1975. He was the first popularly elected Mayor of Raleigh since 1947,and the first African American elected mayor of a mostly-white,major Southern city in the United States.
Edward Earl Cleveland was an American writer,civil rights advocate and evangelist of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
Robert Vince is an American scientist known for his contributions to the research in the area of drug design. He is currently the director and professor at the Center for Drug Design at the Academic Health Center for the University of Minnesota.
James Reese Phifer (1916–1998) was an American businessman and philanthropist from Alabama.
