Hello and welcome to the University of Alabama Civil Rights Disourse Initiative.

The state of Alabama played a key role in the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s.  Thanks to the vision, sacrifice, and leadership of pioneers such as Mrs. Rosa Parks, Rev. Ralph D. Abernathy, Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, Rev. Joseph E. Lowery, Mr. John Lewis, and Dr. Martin L. King, Jr., Alabama’s government-instituted policies of racism and segregation were challenged and defeated.  Social and political progress continues.

This website is our attempt to celebrate and document Alabama’s rich Civil Rights history through a lens of education, lest we forget.  We invite you to explore the site, which boasts a collection of dynamic and compelling materials and resources for use in the secondary history/social studies classroom.  All of the photographs, interviews, personal accounts, newspaper stories, historical sketches, and links are intended to illustrate life in a segregated society, investigate the great need for change, and celebrate the people who changed it.

This month’s highlight;

Reverend T. Y. Rogers was sent to Tuscaloosa by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to lead the local Civil Rights Movement while pasturing the First African Church. For more on Rev. Rogers and Chief Marable click on the Marable Collection and Tuscaloosa, 1964 tabs.

Rev. T. Y. Rogers addresses the school board while Tuscaloosa Police Chief William Marable keeps the peace.