The Montgomery Interpretive Center honored civil rights attorney Fred Gray with the Lifetime Service Award during the 14th Annual Robert & Jean Graetz Symposium on Human Rights and Reconciliation.
Hailing from Montgomery, Gray was noted for his activism in the Civil Rights Movement, being involved in cases such as Browder v. Gayle, Gomillion v. Lightfoot, and Williams v. Wallace, with clients being Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks, and victims of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study.Â
"Gray was among the first Black Alabama state legislators to be elected since Reconstruction in 1970," said a post on social media by the Montgomery Interpretive Center. "He became the first Black president of the Alabama Bar Association in 2002. In 2021, Gray’s hometown of Montgomery, AL renamed the street he grew up on from West Jeff Davis Avenue to Fred D. Gray Avenue in his honor."
The post also noted that Gray was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by former President Joe Biden in 2022, considered the highest civilian honor.Â
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