The Frank M. Johnson, Jr. Federal Building and US Courthouse

The Frank M. Johnson, Jr. Federal Building and US Courthouse. . Side 1 , Named in honor of Judge Frank M. Johnson, Jr. (1918-1999), who served here as U.S. District Judge from 1955-1979, as U.S. Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit July 12, 1979 - October 1, 1981, and as U.S. Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit October 1, 1981 - July 23, 1999. Nationally renowned as a fearless, uncompromising jurist who rendered numerous landmark decisions upholding equality under the law, and enforcing the fundamental tenets of the Constitution in the turbulent years of the civil rights movement in America. Among other historic rulings, Judge Johnson presided over cases authorizing the Selma to Montgomery March (1965) and the Freedom Rides (1961), requiring that women and blacks be allowed to serve on Alabama juries, desegregating the Alabama state police, and requiring the extension of mental health treatment to persons institutionalized for mental illness. (Continued on other side). Side 2 , (Continued from other side). Born in Winston County, Alabama October 30, 1918, Johnson served as an officer in the ETO during World War II where he was wounded twice and awarded the Combat Infantry Badge and the Bronze Star medal. He was the recipient of multiple national honors during his judicial career, including the Edward J. Devitt Distinguished Service to Justice Award (1984), the American Bar Association's Thurgood Marshall Award (1993), and the Presidential Medal of Freedom (1995) as well as LL.D. degrees from the University of Alabama, Boston University, Yale, Tuskegee University, Mercer, Notre Dame, and Princeton. He was a lifelong champion of the right of all Americans "to share in the freedoms which our government was established to secure and protect."