by Hamlet Pericles

Created on: September 19, 2008   Last Updated: May 17, 2009

The state of Alabama has produced many famous people, from politicians to activists, from musicians to athletes, and more. This article will profile five famous people, along with a brief biography (in no particular order): a civil rights activist, an Associate Justice, a Hall of Fame baseball player, a Secretary of State, and a musician.

The first famous Alabamian that will be profiled was a politician, a jurist, and a member of the Democratic Party. He is HUGO LAFAYETTE BLACK, born in Harlan, Alabama on February 27, 1886. From 1926 to 1937, Black represented his native state of Alabama in the United States Senate. Most important, from 1937 to 1971, he served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, nominated by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. During his reign, he outlasted all of the Supreme Court justices (excluding William O. Douglas) and is the fourth longest-serving justice in Supreme Court history.

As a senator, he stood by President Roosevelt's plans of action and voted for all of the twenty-four New Deal programs: programs that were originated between 1933 and 1938 with the purpose of reforming the financial system, giving relief to the deprived, and trying to help the U.S. recover during The Great Depression. This precipitated President Roosevelt's nomination.

However, Black's political career came with controversy because he was considered a racist by many. In fact, before the Senate confirmed his nomination to the Supreme Court, rumors regarding his Ku Klux Klan affiliation surfaced. Because there was no concrete proof of his past, the Senate approved his nomination (to the chagrin of some), winning him a seat on the bench. Still, the issue of his past remained a hot topic.

Ray Sprigle of the Pittsburg Post-Gazette scrutinized his past and wrote many articles, confirming his involvement with the KKK. For his investigative work, Sprigle won the Pulitzer Prize. Thereafter, the Associate Justice addressed the issue via a public announcement:

I did join the Klan. I later resigned. I never rejoined... Before becoming a Senator I dropped the Klan. I have had nothing to do with it since that time. I abandoned it. I completely discontinued any association with the organization. I have never resumed it and never expect to do so."

The criticisms by the media followed, of course, but soon diminished. His close friend Walter F. White, a black executive secretary of the NAACP, helped subdue the critics.

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