Terri Sewell introduces bill to rename Marion Post Office after Albert Turner Sr.

Rep. Terri Sewell (AL-07) has introduced a bill that would rename Marion Post Office on 306 Pickens Street to the Albert Turner Sr. Post Office Building. 

“Albert Turner, Sr. is a Civil Rights legend whose impact on Alabama and this nation should never be forgotten,” said Sewell. “From his activism alongside Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to his critical work at the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Albert Turner Sr. played a pivotal role in securing the rights and freedoms that we as African Americans enjoy today."

"By renaming the Marion Post Office after him, we can ensure that his legacy lives on for generations to come. I thank my Alabama colleagues in the House for their partnership in this important endeavor and I look forward to getting this bill passed and signed into law!”

Turner passed away in 2000 at the age of 64. His son, Albert Turner Jr. currently serves as the chairman of the Perry County Commission. 

"It will be the highlight of my lifetime to see the Federal Government recognize the unselfish comment my father gave to help change the course of this Nation," he said. "The Marion Post Office is the same Post Office where my father attempted to lead marchers in 1965 past to protect James Orange, who had been housed in Perry County jail for encouraging students to register to vote."

"That attempted march was the same march in which an Alabama State Trooper murdered Jimmie Lee Jackson. The ensuing protest of the killing led to the Bloody Sunday March, which led to the 1965 Voting Rights Bill being signed into law." 

A text of the bill is available here.