2002 Inductees

Gould Beech (1913–2000)

Later in life, working out of his real estate office in the quaint river town of Magnolia Springs, Alabama, Gould Beech could have been mistaken for a retired Chamber of Commerce president or banker.

It is hard to imagine that he was once branded a “radical” and “dangerous leftist” for the positions he took and was forced from Alabama into political exile in Texas. Today some of his “radical” positions, such as racial equality, have been accepted in his home state. Others, such as reforming the tax code and the constitution, have not. (more)

Hugo L. Black (1886–1971)

He remains one of the First Amendment’s greatest champions.

Hugo Black, raised in Clay County and a 1906 graduate of the University of Alabama School of Law, practiced law in Birmingham, often representing industrial workers and striking miners. He vowed to win election to the U.S. Senate by age forty, and he did so in 1926. He served as President Franklin Roosevelt’s top lieutenant in the Senate, tirelessly arguing on behalf of New Deal legislation and programs.
(more)

Edwin C. Bridges (1945– )

The Alabama Department of Archives and History was the first state archive in the nation when it was established in 1901. Today, under the visionary leadership of Ed Bridges, it continues as a model for archives, libraries, and institutions that preserve the records and artifacts that tell our nation’s story. “What I have loved most is the intersection of history and current policy, and the way they come together in an archive,” says Bridges. (more)

Neil O. Davis (1914–2000)

A prestigious Neiman Fellowship to Harvard University had never been awarded to a weekly newspaperman until Neil Davis received one in 1941.

Davis had shown his spirit and backbone even as student editor of The Plainsman at Auburn University. He spoke out clearly and forcefully when the administration attempted to stifle the strong support he had shown for the New Deal in his newspaper. It was not the last time he would be threatened for his independent thinking. (more)

Virginia F. Durr (1903–1999)

By all rights she should have lived a life of privilege and ease. She was born to Birmingham’s “magic circle.”

However, her life began to change at Wellesley, when this daughter of a Birmingham minister was required to share a table with African-Americans or leave school. She returned home with a broadened perspective. The “deep-eyed Southern bigot,” as she described her youthful self, would become a powerful activist, organizer, and leader in the civil rights movement. (more)

Fred L. Shuttlesworth (1922–)

Reverend Shuttlesworth was the real leader of the civil rights movement in Alabama,” says attorney and former UA trustee Cleo Thomas.

He was tougher than dynamite. A powerful blast tore apart his Birmingham home, but he emerged from the rubble even more determined to fight for justice. He was brutally beaten by a mob when he tried to enroll his children in an all-white school. Seriously injured when slammed against a wall by the terrible force of a water cannon, he rose from his hospital bed to re-energize the Birmingham movement at its crucial hour. His unyielding quest for justice made him one of the most hated men by those who hid under white robes or behind tarnished badges. (more)