Stories

Alabama

  • Scott Douglas: Founding of Greater Birmingham Ministries

    Before joining the staff of Greater Birmingham Ministries, Douglas served as Environmental Justice Organizer for the Sierra Club Southeast, Executive Director of the Southern Organizing Committee for Economic and Social Justice and Southern Field Representative for the Partnership for Democracy Foundation. Douglas serves on the boards of AIDS Alabama, the Alabama Poverty Project, the Gulf...

  • Shirley Sherrod: Early Involvement and Personal History

    Shirley and Charles Sherrod founded the Southwest Georgia Project for Community Education in 1961 to educate, engage and empower through advocacy and community organizing. SWGAP has successfully addressed school segregation, welfare rights, voter rights and education, housing, land loss, economic development and unfair policies affecting school children and families....

  • A Battleground for Humanity and Dignity

    On the occasion of the 50 th anniversary of the Bloody Sunday march in Selma, Grantmakers for Southern Progress convened a funders’ delegation to learn about a diverse coalition of groups supporting structural change in Alabama today. At the Alabama Department of Archives and History in Montgomery, the funders heard from representatives of a robust network of statewide organizations working...

  • Selma: A Shining Moment in the Conscience of Man

    This week, the nation’s attention will turn to the South as 100,000 people alight on Selma, Alabama. The crowds commemorating the 50 th anniversary of Bloody Sunday will include U.S. presidents, members of Congress, civil rights heroes, grassroots organizers, celebrities, blacks and whites, Democrats and Republicans, rich and poor.

    The pilgrims will pause to remember the day law...

  • Elders of the Movement

    All over the American South, civic-minded people are working to improve communities by building coalitions and breaking down barriers to opportunity. The recent commemorations on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, honored the sacrifices of those who marched 50 years ago and the gains they brought to bear on our society. Many of those brave foot...

    Hollis Watkins