Fairfield in Jefferson County, Alabama — The American South (East South Central)

Miles College Leaders, Students Active During Civil Rights Era

Photographed by Mark Hilton, July 19, 2020

1. Miles College Leaders. Students Active During Civil Rights Era Marker

Inscription. Miles College Leaders. Students Active During Civil Rights Era The Colored Methodist Episcopal Church founded Miles College in Fairfield in 1898. During the 1960s, President Lucius Pitts encouraged students, faculty and staff to become involved in the Civil Rights Movement. In early 1962, students wanted to boycott downtown stores because lunch counters were segregated and few blacks were clerks. Pitts, who developed a good relationship with white business leaders, organized meetings between students and merchants. Some businesses integrated water fountains and elevators, but rejected full integration. With the support of Pitts and faculty members Rev. Abraham Lincoln Woods Jr., and Jonathan McPherson Sr., among others, Student Government Association president Frank Dukes led students in a 'successful “selective buying campaign" at department stores and major retailers in early 1963. The term “boycott" was not used since a city ordinance prohibited the practice.
(Continued on other side)

Miles College Students Invite Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
(Continued from other side) To bolster efforts

Paid Advertisement

Click or scan to see
this page online

to dismantle Birmingham's segregation ordinances in 1963, Miles College students joined activist Rev. Fred L. Shuttlesworth in inviting Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to participate in demonstrations. On Good Friday, April 12, Miles students and faculty, including Dr. Ralph Galt, Rev. Nathaniel Lindsey, Rev. James Ezekiel Robinson and Jonathan McPherson Sr., were among 50 arrested with King for violating a court order against demonstrations without a permit. Other students were arrested at Memorial Park in Titusville for praying without permission. During demonstrations May 2-7, police used fire hoses and dogs to attack hundreds of demonstrators, including children and Miles students. Several thousand were jailed. The school community triggered a test case that desegregated city buses. A Miles professor was the first African-American to pass the civil service test for police patrolman in the city. Campus activists contributed to the end of segregation in Birmingham in 1963, increased voter registration, and hastened passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Erected 2014 by Miles College Alumni Association and the Alabama

Photographed by Mark Hilton, July 19, 2020

2. Miles College Leaders. Students Active During Civil Rights Era Marker

Tourism Department.

Topics and series. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: African Americans • Civil Rights • Education • Religion & Religious Structures. In addition, it is included in the Alabama Tourism Department, the Christian Methodist Episcopal (CME) Church, the Historically Black Colleges and Universities, and the Martin Luther King, Jr. series lists. A significant historical date for this entry is April 12, 1898.

Location. 33° 28.872′ N, 86° 54.453′ W. Marker is in Fairfield, Alabama, in Jefferson County. It can be reached from Myron Massey Boulevard north of 55th Street, on the left when traveling north. Located in front of Brown Hall on Miles College Campus. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 5500 Myron Massey Blvd, Fairfield AL 35064, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Regionally, this marker is in the Birmingham Metropolitan Area.

It is also in the American South

and specifically in the Deep South.

Globally, it is in North America,

a Gulf of Mexico state,

the Western Hemisphere,

the Western World,

and the Anglosphere.

Historically, it finds itself in what

Marker in front of Brown Hall at Miles College. image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Mark Hilton, July 19, 2020

3. Marker in front of Brown Hall at Miles College.

was once the territory of the Mississippian Culture,

one of the Confederate States of America,

and the Antebellum South.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 4 miles of this marker, measured as the crow flies: Moving the Mail (approx. 0.8 miles away); Belview Heights Neighborhood (approx. 1.3 miles away); Bethlehem United Methodist Church (approx. 3 miles away); Bethlehem Church Cemetery (approx. 3 miles away); a different marker also named Bethlehem United Methodist Church (approx. 3 miles away); Rickwood Field (approx. 3.3 miles away); a different marker also named Rickwood Field (approx. 3.3 miles away); Votes for Women (approx. 3.3 miles away).

Another marker is no longer nearby. Tuxedo Junction (was approx. 2.3 miles away but has been confirmed missing).

Also see . . . Miles College recognized as part of the Civil Rights movement. (Submitted on July 20, 2020, by Mark Hilton of Montgomery, Alabama.)

Miles College gate with Brown Hall (and marker) on right. image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Mark Hilton, July 19, 2020

4. Miles College gate with Brown Hall (and marker) on right.

Credits. This page was last revised on July 20, 2020. It was originally submitted on July 20, 2020, by Mark Hilton of Montgomery, Alabama. This page has been viewed 979 times since then and 80 times this year. Photos: 1, 2, 3, 4. submitted on July 20, 2020, by Mark Hilton of Montgomery, Alabama.