Lack of economic vibrancy in Birmingham’s civil rights district fails its legacy Updated: Jun. 19, 2025, 9:01 a.m. | Published: Jun. 19, 2025, 6:00 a.m.

Prolific civil rights attorney Fred Gray talks outside of the Alabama Bar Association in downtown Montgomery, Ala., Thursday, April 24, 2025.

The Commission for Historical Statues is set to approve a bronze statue of 20th-century civil rights leader Barbara Rose Johns in mid-June, after which it will be installed in the U.S. Capitol.

It sits just west of the Civil Rights District, which encompasses about 30 square blocks that include routes for demonstrations, including the 1963 Children’s March.

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Legendary attorney Fred Gray — once deemed the “chief counsel” of the Civil Rights Movement by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. — was honored with a statue outside ...

Prolific civil rights attorney Fred Gray talks outside of the Alabama Bar Association in downtown Montgomery, Ala., Thursday, April 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Safiyah Riddle) ...