Civil Rights
The Junction: The Parsonage Bombing
Ensley residents who remember that tragic event and the role the community played in the civil rights movement say this rich history is important today as Ensley looks toward revitalization.
The Junction: Stories from Ensley, Alabama – Janice Houston Nixon
In 1967, 12-year-old Janice Houston Nixon decided to transfer from the all-black school in her native Ensley, to an all-white school nearby. Nixon was inspired to do so by her sister, […]
The Junction: Stories From Ensley, Alabama – An Integration Pioneer
In 1965, Carolyn Houston Crumbley Major became the first African-American graduate of Ensley High School. Producer Mary Quintas spoke with Carolyn's son, Rafaael Crumbley, and sister, Janice Houston Nixon, about Carolyn's contributions as an integration pioneer - and what her legacy means today.
New Bill Would Make Birmingham Civil Rights District a National Park
Federal and state leaders from Alabama announced a bill that would designate Birmingham’s Historic Civil Rights District as a National Park.
Alabama Actress Keeps Fannie Lou Hamer’s “Little Light” Shining
“I am sick and tired of being sick and tired.” ~Fannie Lou Hamer~ Actress and Alabama native Billie Jean Young has has done something not many have; she’s performed the […]
Madison Officer Acquitted of Excessive Force Charges
A federal judge in Alabama has thrown out a case of an officer accused of using excessive force against an elderly Indian man. This comes as prosecutors were considering a […]
FBI Closes Investigation into 1964 Ala. police Shooting
The FBI has closed its investigation into a fatal police shooting that happened 50 years ago in west Alabama. A Justice Department letter to the family of Frank Andrews says the government won't file any charges in his slaying by a Choctaw County sheriff's deputy in the town of Lisman on Nov. 28, 1964.
A New Leader for the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute
Tuesday Birmingham will mark the 52 anniversary of the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing which killed 4 girls and helped galvanize support for passage of the Civil Rights Act. For staff at the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, they’ll note this anniversary under new leadership. Andrea Taylor began as the new president and CEO of the institute last week.
Selma Civil Rights Leader Remembers Amelia Boynton Robinson
Amelia Boynton Robinson, a civil rights activist who helped lead the 1965 "Bloody Sunday" civil rights march in Selma, died Wednesday. She was 104. Boynton Robinson began her activist career in the 1930 championing voting and property rights for blacks in rural Alabama. In the 1960s, her Selma home became the headquarters for the civil rights movement there. And in 1964, she became the first black woman to run for Congress in Alabama. Longtime Selma civil rights leader Rev. F.D. Reese spoke to WBHM’s Andrew Yeager about his memories of Amelia Boynton Robinson.
Civil Rights Attorney Fred Gray On Fighting George Wallace And Segregation
In 1957, on the heals of his successful lawsuit that ended the Montgomery Bus Boycott, civil rights attorney Fred Gray represented a group of African American voters from Tuskegee who were shut out of voting in local elections when the Alabama Legislature re-drew the city limits in such a way as to remove them from the city. Gray sued the State in Federal Court. Almost four years later, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that race-based gerrymandering was unconstitutional.
Civil Rights Attorney Fred Gray Reflects on Montgomery Bus Boycott
Tomorrow marks the 50th anniversary of the law that abolished literacy tests and other tools designed to keep black people from voting. The momentum for Selma and the civil rights victories of 1965 started ten years earlier with the Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1955. Tuskegee civil rights lawyer Fred Gray was one of the forces behind that boycott. For WBHM, Greg Bass recently spoke with Gray about the bus boycott, and his extraordinary career. Gray went on to represent the Selma Marchers, Martin Luther King and a seamstress named Rosa Parks.
Kyle Whitmire: Selma Boos Bentley and Remembering Gene Edelman
Thousands of people gathered in Selma last weekend to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday and voting rights marches from Selma to Montgomery. President Barack Obama spoke, along with Georgia Congressman John Lewis and Alabama Governor Robert Bentley. But, as Alabama Media Group Political commentator Kyle Whitmire explains, Bentley's reception was less than warm. Whitmire also talks Gene "The Bean Counter" Edelman and Alabama education.
