please post some nominations for greatest Alabamian of all time

[Syrinx]

I'm mainly looking for people who helped shape society for the better, but entertainers and athletes, who were great at what they did, are game too.

I'll suggest Harper Lee, author of "To Kill A Mockingbird."

Any ideas?

[wake.up.america]

1. Willie Mays - I believe he is from Westfield

[Syrinx]

2. yep, he's from Alabama for sure

And he was on my short list. As was another baseball player, Satchel Paige.

Thanks for playing. :)

[Syrinx]

11. other baseball players from Alabama that broke barriers

Hank Aaron, and, of course, Satchel Paige.

[givemebackmycountry]

3. Bo Jackson for certain...

Joe Namath?

[Syrinx]

4. Bo's cool

But he's seemed to fall off the radar. I haven't heard much out of him lately.

Joe Namath gets points for having the good taste to try to pick up my mother at a bar in Tuscaloosa in the sixties. ;)

(But then again, I think Joe hits on every woman he comes across.)

[jody]

5. Joe Louis broke racial barriers and a credit to the Human Race. n/t

[Gayla]

6. I like the Harper Lee nomination!

And I'll add Tom Bevill and Howell Hefner..and could we give
Jimmy Buffett an honoray mention - he did grow up here!

[Syrinx]

25. You may be getting Howell Heflin mixed up with another great Alabamian

;)

Well, Hefner is an honorary Alabamian since he married that girl from Moulton that time.

[BamaLefty]

7. Rosa Parks

For obvious reasons.

[EMAN51]

8. My vote: Former attorney general Richmond Flowers

Great fighter for equal rights in the 60's.

[EMAN51]

9. Does anyone remember a politician from Dothan in the late 60's

or early 70's by the name of Charles Woods? I don't remember his political affiliation or what office he was seeking, but as a teenager in Huntsville I vividly remember seeing his commercials on television. I remember a brave man who was severely disfigured (I dont't know if it was war related or what the circumstances were). He had no hair, wore a black eye patch over one eye and did not have any ears--could have been burns. He would sit and speak directly at the camera. I think he may have had an auto dealership. Although I don't recall his stances or views, the simple fact that he was brave enough to speak publicly despite his physical infirmaties left an indelible impression on me.

[Syrinx]

10. I remember him

Here's his obituary, including a photo. Poor guy.

http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2004/Oct-19-Tue-2004/news/25028632.html

[GreyPilgrim]

12. Helen Keller

Or Jesse Owens...

[Syrinx]

13. I nominate Morris Dees

Founder of the Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery.

Dees' most famous cases have involved landmark damage awards that have driven several prominent neo-Nazi groups into bankruptcy, effectively causing them to disband and re-organize under different names and different leaders. In 1981, Dees successfully sued the Ku Klux Klan and won a seven million dollar settlement. This was topped a decade later, when in 1991 he won a judgement of $12 million against White Aryan Resistance. He was also instrumental in the rewarding of a $6.5 million judgement against Aryan Nations in 2001, which splintered that group as well.

In 1972, Dees was the finance director for Democratic presidential nominee George McGovern. He also served as President Jimmy Carter's national finance director in 1976, and as national finance chairman for Senator Ted Kennedy's 1980 Democratic primary presidential campaign against Carter.

[quaoar]

14. Millard and Linda Fuller

Founders of Habitat for Humanity.

[Syrinx]

15. good pick!

Don't know why I didn't think of them.

[QC]

16. Hugo Black, the great liberal justice.

Ally of FDR and First Amendment absolutist.

[Syrinx]

17. He was one of the first people I thought of

But as I researched a little, I was troubled by some of what I read. Maybe he had a point in his "strict constructionism," but I'm not especially fond of some of the implications of those views.

Black was noted for his consistent adherence to the theory that the text of the Constitution is absolutely determinative on any question calling for judicial interpretation. No other justice has adopted quite so dogmatic a view of the Constitution's text, leading to Black's reputation as a "strict constructionist."

Thus, Black refused to join in the efforts of the justices on the Court who sought to abolish capital punishment in the United States, which efforts succeeded (temporarily) in the term immediately following Black's death; Black claimed that the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendment's reference to takings of "life" meant approval of the Bill of Rights. He also was not persuaded that a right of privacy was implicit in the Ninth Amendment, and dissented from the Court's 1965 Griswold v. Connecticut decision which invalidated a conviction for the sale of banned contraceptives. Black claimed that there was no "right of privacy" in the text of the Constitution.

Although Black maintained his commitment to racial equality throughout his tenure on the Court, he voted to uphold the constitutionality of state-imposed poll taxes which, though nominally race-neutral, had a disparate impact on African-American voters. The key to Black's position in all of these cases was that there was no specific constitutional provision which restrained the governmental actions complained of.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugo_Black

[unsavedtrash]

18. Kathryn Tucker Windham because I love her voice and her stories. Another

is Jesse Owens for his big fuck you to Hitler's idea of a master race. Truman Capote because the man can write.

[Syrinx]

19. unsavedtrash I agree with all of your choices!

Some people claim that Capote really wrote Lee's masterwork. I doubt it, but I suppose it's possible. Thanks for chiming in!

[Frances]

20. I have wondered how much of To Kill A Mockingbird

was influenced by Capote. Capote and Harper Lee were childhood friends and Capote said she was a great help with interviewing people for In Cold Blood.

Mockingbird is especially important to me because Harper Lee's hometown is halfway between where I grew up and where my father grew up. Harper Lee is only 10 years older than I am and her childhood memories are very similar to mine.

I'll take this opportunity to recommend another book by a great Grove Hillian and Alabamian: Inside Alabama, A Personal History of My State by Harvey H. Jackson III. I think people in this forum will find the book interesting because it is a good political history of the state. I especially liked the parts on Big Jim Folsom (our high school band marched in the parade for his inauguration) and George Wallace.

[Syrinx]

21. I'll check out the Jackson book

I wish I'd seen your message earlier... just got back from the library.

[Frances]

22. If you do read the book, let me know what you think

nt

[Syrinx]

23. I'm going to jot the title down in a notebook so I don't forget

If the public library doesn't have it, surely the University one will. Otherwise, I'll just have to buy it. :)

EDIT: Bingo! Public library has it!

Author Jackson, Harvey H.
Title Inside Alabama : a personal history of my state / Harvey H. Jackson III.
Imprint Tuscaloosa : University of Alabama Press, c2003.

Descript xvii, 325 p. : maps ; 23 cm.
Bibliog. Includes bibliographical references (p. <309>-320) and index.
Contents Back when it belonged to the Indians -- Frontier Alabama -- Becoming a state -- Antebellum Alabama -- Stumbling toward secession -- Secession and Civil War -- After the war that never ended -- A world made by Bourbons, for Bourbons -- White man's Alabama-- Depression and war -- Alabama after the war: "Big Jim" and beyond -- Old times there should not be forgotten -- The age of Wallace -- The age of Wallace and after -- Epilogue : To sum it up.
Subject Alabama -- History.
Alabama -- Politics and government.

[Syrinx]

24. I think Windham's son is pretty cool too

Ben Windham, executive editor (or somesuch) of the Tuscaloosa News. He does some really cool editorials. (Most of the time; he's a little too pro-Bill Pryor for some reason.) He also writes entertaining pieces on local history, and personal anecdotes. I've never met him, but I've chatted with him on the phone a few times -- he's a very nice guy.