The Birmingham Historical Society and the Birmingham Public Library are showcasing the life and times of Birmingham civil rights attorney Arthur Shores in a special exhibit. The exhibit features scrapbook pages of newspaper articles and printed materials, which Shores collected throughout his legal and political career. This exhibit is part of the library’s ongoing programs designed to recognize Birmingham’s role in the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Movement, which the city will highlight in 2013.
The exhibit opens Sunday, Nov. 4, 2012 with a reception from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. It will close on Dec. 28, 2012. For more information about the free exhibit, visit www.bplonline.org/exhibits.
The Birmingham Historical Society has copied numerous pages from the three-inch-thick scrapbook in order to display them in the downtown library’s fourth floor gallery. The exhibit also includes some of Shores‘ personal effects, including his favorite music, family photos and a navy suit.
Some of the exhibit highlights include:
- How Shores and Thurgood Marshall successfully fought to get Autherine Lucy reinstated as the first black student at the University of Alabama in 1956
- How Shores became the first black person to sit on the Birmingham City Council in 1968
- How Shores‘ Birmingham home, which was located in an area that was known as “Dynamite Hill” because of so many racist bombings, was bombed twice in 1963 because racists thought he was involved in an effort to integrate Birmingham schools that year
- Ads, telegrams and memorabilia from Shores‘ career
Opening Night Event
Shores‘ daughters, Helen Shores Lee and Barbara Sylvia Shores, have written a book about their father. Their story is featured on Birmingham View’s B log, “Gentle Giant Paved the Way for Today’s Freedoms.” The sisters discussed their lives growing up under the threat of violence because of their father’s pioneering work for civil rights in Birmingham and across the nation.
During the Nov. 4 opening reception, they will sign copies of “The Gentle Giant of Dynamite Hill – The Untold Story of Arthur D. Shores and His Family’s Fight for Civil Rights.” Helen Shores Lee is a Jefferson County circuit judge and Barbara Sylvia Shores is director of the Jefferson County Office of Senior Citizens Services. Both say they are humbled that an exhibit features their father, who fought for voting rights, housing issues, educational opportunities and more.
Remarks will be made at 3:30 p.m. on Nov. 4. The books will be sold for $20.
Shores became a lawyer in 1937. The exhibit looks at his career from 1939 to 1975. He died in 1996 at the age of 92.
“He was a great man. And most importantly, he was a great dad,” said Helen Shores Lee.
Scrapbook Images
Some images from Shores’ scrapbook:
Newspaper article on his landmark case, City of Birmingham v. Monk, where the federal court struck down Birmingham’s unconstitutional zoning laws. The house pictured here (owned by black resident Samuel Matthews) was later bombed because he had moved into a “whites-only” neighborhood in North Smithfield. As more blacks moved into the neighborhood and more bombings occurred, the area was nicknamed “Dynamite Hill.”
Newspaper article about what would have been the third bombing of the Shores house, on Center Street in “Dynamite Hill.”:
Shores’ nvitation to the inauguration of President John F. Kennedy and Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson:
Gentle Giant Paved the Way for Today’s Freedoms
