PRESS RELEASE
THE CIVIL RIGHTS WORLD IN ALABAMA, 1961-1962 |
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ArchiTreats: Food for Thought continues another year of informative talks on Alabama history at the Alabama Department of Archives and History. Join us at noon on Thursday, November 17, 2011, as Fred D. Gray presents The Civil Rights World in Alabama, 1961-1962. This presentation is in conjunction with the statewide Becoming Alabama initiative.
In his autobiography, Bus Ride to Justice, Fred Gray wrote, "The decade of the fifties ended with the Civil Rights Movement in full bloom. The buses and parks were integrated in Montgomery, the Civil Rights Act of 1957 had become effective. . . So as far as civil rights were concerned, the sixties opened with a bang." In this presentation Gray will discuss these momentous times and events, including the sit-ins, Freedom Rides, and Freedom Walks of the early 1960s.
Fred David Gray, a native of Montgomery who now lives in Tuskegee, is in the general practice of law specializing in civil rights litigation. His legal career spans more than 55 years and includes notable cases such as City of Montgomery v. Rosa Parks; State of Alabama v. Martin Luther King, Jr.; Aurelia A. Browder, et al v. W.A. Gayle, et al; and Gomillion v. Lightfoot, which laid the foundation for the concept of "one man one vote". One of the first African Americans to serve in the Alabama Legislature since Reconstruction, Gray was also the first African American elected as president of the Alabama State Bar Association (2002-2003).
This commemoration event is one in a series of programs affiliated with Becoming Alabama, a statewide partnership of state agencies, historical groups, and cultural organizations to commemorate the coinciding anniversaries of the Creek War and War of 1812, the Civil War, and major events in the civil rights movement. For more information on Becoming Alabama, visit http://www.archives.alabama.gov/BA/.
This ArchiTreats presentation is made possible by the Friends of the Alabama Archives and a grant from the Alabama Humanities Foundation, a state program of the National Endowment for the Humanities. The public is invited to bring a sack lunch and enjoy a bit of Alabama history. Coffee and tea will be provided by the Friends of the Alabama Archives. For more information, call (334) 353-4726.
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