Before Europeans colonized the area of present-day Montgomery, the Alibamu tribe lived on the east bank of the Alabama River and the Coushatta lived on its west side. Slave traders later used the Alabama River and the port of Montgomery to sell captured Africans to cotton plantation owners—the slave market at Court Square was one of the South’s largest.
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Sites in Montgomery
Founded in 1934 in Montgomery, Alabama, by Catholic priest Father Harold Purcell, the City of St. Jude included a church, hospital and high school with a mission to provide spiritual, health, education and social services regardless of race. In the early 1950s during a time of widespread segregation in the South, the hospital was the first in the region to integrate. In the evening of March 24, 1965 the City of St. Jude welcome marchers of the Selma to Montgomery March as the last stop and last of the four Campsites of the march. The next day, marchers led by Dr. Martin Luther King, departed the grounds of St. Jude and marched to the Alabama State Capital Building. A short 5 months later in August 1965, President Lyndon Johnson signed into law the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
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Key Events
On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks refused to give her seat up to a white woman on a Montgomery city bus. She was arrested for defying the orders of the bus driver, and within days thousands of African American citizens joined a boycott of the bus line that marked a milestone in the overall Civil Rights Movement in the country.
The former Greyhound bus station on South Court Street was the site of violent opposition to Freedom Ride participants in May 1961. A mob, tacitly approved by City police, assaulted the riders, and the violence finally forced the hand of the Kennedy Administration to act on behalf of Civil Rights protesters.
On a raining March 24, 1965, marchers having already walk for 3 days finally made it to the city of Montgomery. During planning for the march, Montgomery would not allow marchers to use any public places for the marchers to rest on the final night of the march, fortunately the city of St. Jude allowed their football field to be used.
Founded in 1934 by Father Daniel Purcell, the City of St. Jude, a Catholic social services complex which included a school, hospital, and other service facilities, located within the Washington Park neighborhood of west Montgomery. The evening of the 24th St. Jude played host to the “Stars of Freedom Rally.” Organized by Mr. Harry Belafonte, entertainment icons such as Joan Baez, James Baldwin, Ina Balin, Harry Belafonte, Tony Bennett, Leonard Bernstein, Sammy Davis, Jr., Billy Eckstein, Dick Gregory, Lena Home, Mahalia Jackson, Alan King, William Marshall, Johnny Mathis, Frankie Laine, Gary Merrill, Julius “Nipsey” Russell, Pete Seeger, Nina Simone, Shelley Winters, Odetta, Purnell Roberts, and Peter, Paul and Mary all performed for the crowd that included Dr. Martin Luther King and his wife Mrs. Coretta Scott King. The concert was attended by over 25,000 people.
