Civil rights icon’s medal on display at Archives

The Presidential Medal of Freedom that was presented to Alabama attorney Fred D. Gray on July 7, 2022, is now on display in the ADAH’s main lobby and will be on view through February 2023. The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the nation’s highest civilian honor.

Born in Montgomery on Dec. 14, 1930, Gray graduated from Alabama State College (now Alabama State University) at the age of 17 and enrolled at Western Reserve University Law School in Ohio. The young attorney returned to Alabama determined to contest the legality of segregation laws. During the Montgomery Bus Boycott, he represented Rosa Parks and served as legal advisor for the Montgomery Improvement Association and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., its president.

Gray was lead counsel in the landmark 1956 case Browder v. Gayle, which overturned segregation on public transportation in Alabama. Building on this precedent, Gray challenged inequality in dozens of cases over the next several decades. He continues to practice law today at the age of 92. Gray has been a trustee of the ADAH since 2003.

“We have made substantial progress but the struggle for the elimination of racism and for equal justice continues. I hope this award will encourage other Americans to do what they can to complete the task so that all American citizens will be treated the same, equally and fairly, in accordance with the Constitution,” Gray says.

Learn more at archives.alabama.gov

Alabama State Parks receive grant for Chewacla State Park

The State Parks Division of the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (ADCNR) was recently awarded a $20,000 Hearts of STIHL grant from STIHL, Inc., to be used for the removal and management of invasive plant species at Chewacla State Park in Auburn. The Hearts of STIHL grants are awarded to support programs that prioritize responsible forest management practices, sustainability, conservation and environmental education programs. The grants are managed through the America’s State Parks Foundation and awarded to state parks in six regions of the U.S. “Invasive plants are a threat to native ecosystems throughout the country,” says Tasha Simon, Natural Resources Supervisor for Alabama State Parks. “Since Alabama is one of the most biologically diverse states in the U.S., managing that threat to our native species is very important.”

The grant will fund the purchase of equipment and herbicides to reduce the amount of Chinese privet and tallowtree, thorny olive, wild taro, water hyacinth, kudzu and other non-native plants at Chewacla. The funding will also support educational signage and print media about the restoration of native habitats within the park.

For more information about the Hearts of STIHL program, visit stihlusa.com/community/hearts-of-stihl/

Take us along!

We’ve enjoyed seeing photos from our readers on their travels with Alabama Living! Please send us a photo of you with a copy of the magazine on your travels to: mytravels@alabamaliving. coop. Be sure to include your name, hometown and electric cooperative, and the location of your photo.We’ll draw a winner for the $25 prize each month.

Find the hidden dingbat!

When we make finding the hidden dingbat what some might consider too easy, our readers love it! Thanks to the more than 400 folks who sent us the correct location of the New Year’s party horn blower, riding atop the extreme cookies and cream milkshake on Page 16. “Good thing my favorite drink is a milkshake!” writes Diana Burell of Monroeville.

Gayle Ashworth of Guntersville, a member of Arab Electric Cooperative, would agree. She was inspired to write us a poem:

While reading “Alabama is as easy as A, B, C”

And reading all the articles from A to Z

I found that Y is not just for y’all, it’s also for ‘yummy’!

Which is what those extreme milkshakes on Page 16 would be to my tummy!

They look so delicious with all their toppings extreme, I’d even love one with a New Year’s party horn blower stuck in my whipped cream!

We love that Pamela Maten of Gilbertown, a Black Warrior EMC member who is a librarian, shares the dingbat contest with her young library patrons and lets them search for it. “They proudly showed it to me when they found it!” she writes. And we’re proud of the determination of 11-year-old Charleigh Mason of Rainsville, who drew a photo of the milkshake and told us if she wins, the $25 prize will go towards her new car fund. Never hurts to start that fund early, Charleigh! Tom Mullican of Decatur found the dingbat on his first try. He writes that he would have tried sooner “but was too embarrassed to ask, ‘What’s a dingbat? Then I read the instructions. I just turned 68, proving one’s never too old to learn, I hope!” Absolutely not, Tom, so keep entering every month!

Congratulations to Katelyn Maten of Gilbertown, our randomly drawn winner of a $25 gift card from AlabamaOne Credit Union. This month, we’ve hidden some Mardi Gras beads. (Mardi Gras begins Feb. 21.) Good luck, and let the good times roll!

Sponsored by

Whereville, AL

By mail: Find the Dingbat Alabama Living PO Box 244014 Montgomery, AL 36124

By email: dingbat@alabamaliving.com

Identify and place this Alabama landmark and you could win $25! Winner is chosen at random from all correct entries. Multiple entries from the same person will be disqualified. Send your answer with your name, address and the name of your rural electric cooperative, if applicable. The winner and answer will be announced in the March issue.

Submit by email: whereville@alabamaliving.coop, or by mail: Whereville, P.O. Box 244014, Montgomery, AL 36124. Do you like finding interesting or unusual landmarks? Contribute a photo you took for an upcoming issue! Remember, all readers whose photos are chosen also win $25!

January’s answer: This group of large stones is in the Civil Rights Memorial Park, located at the base of the southern end of the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma. The small fence surrounding it resembles the bridge. On the center stone is the verse from Joshua 4:21-22. (Photo by Allison Law of Alabama Living) The randomly drawn correct guess winner is Kathy Sexton of Black Warrior EMC.