84-514: The Equal Justice Initiative ( EJI ) is a non-profit organization, based in Montgomery, Alabama , that provides legal representation to prisoners who may have been wrongly convicted of crimes, poor prisoners without effective representation, and others who may have been denied a fair trial. It guarantees the defense of anyone in Alabama in a death penalty case. Founder Bryan Stevenson was depicted in
168-468: A riverboat dock, a river walk, and Riverwalk Stadium . The completion of a 112,000-square-foot (10,400 m ) space in 2007, the Convention Center, has encouraged growth and activity in the downtown area and attracted more high-end retail and restaurants. Three blocks east of the Convention Center, Old Alabama Town showcases more than 50 restored buildings from the 19th century. The Riverwalk
252-477: A 6th-7th century Gaelic overkingdom; a subsequent misspelling in an advertisement led to the current spelling. The first lots were sold in 1914. The city's two largest shopping malls ( Eastdale Mall and The Shoppes at Eastchase ), as well as many big-box stores and residential developments, are on the east side. The area is also home of the Wynton M. Blount Cultural Park . This 240-acre (1.0 km ) park contains
336-710: A century later, when an English expedition from Carolina went down the Alabama River in 1697. The first permanent European settler in the Montgomery area was James McQueen , a Scots trader who settled there in 1716. He married a high-status woman in the Coushatta or Alabama tribe. Their mixed-race children were considered Muskogean, as both tribes had a matrilineal system of property and descent. The children were always considered born into their mother's clan , and gained their status from her people. In 1785, Abraham Mordecai,
420-402: A family of four. These are slightly higher than the state averages of $ 20.15 per hour for an individual and $ 41.11 for a family of four. US$ 7.25 per hour minimum wage in Alabama. Montgomery serves as a hub for healthcare in the central Alabama and Black Belt region. Hospitals located in the city include Baptist Medical Center South on South East Boulevard, Baptist Medical Center East next to
504-560: A former slave plantation (his first visit to any plantation), which he felt marginalized the slave experience in favor of the slaveowner's mansion's architecture. In 2019, the initiative cooperated with the Levine Museum of the New South in preparing their exhibit "The Legacy of Lynching: Confronting Racial Terror in America". Montgomery, Alabama Montgomery is the capital city of
588-689: A general matter the punishment was out of bounds." Justice Antonin Scalia , joined by Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito dissented. Criticizing the majority's "sleight of hand", Scalia wrote that Kennedy had twisted the language in the Miller decision to make it sound categorical when it merely required a new sentencing procedure. Scalia also stated that it would be very difficult for judges and juries to decide whether defendants were incorrigible decades after they were originally sentenced. Justice Thomas filed another dissenting opinion, alone, stating that
672-541: A jury again convicted Montgomery of murder, triggering an automatic sentence of life in prison without parole, which was affirmed by the Louisiana Supreme Court in November 1970, over the dissent of Justice Mack Barham . Montgomery became a model member of the prison community, serving as a coach on the prison boxing team, working in the prison's silk-screen program, and offering advice to younger prisoners. After
756-795: A litigation campaign to challenge the sentencing of minors to life-without-parole. Stevenson testified before the court in 2009 in one case. In Graham v. Florida (2010), the Court ruled that "mandatory life-without-parole sentences for all children 17 or younger in non-homicide cases are unconstitutional." Since 2010, EJI has provided legal representation to nearly 100 people in the United States who are entitled to new sentences under Graham. At that time, there were nearly "3000 children age 17 or younger who had been sentenced to imprisonment until death through life-without-parole sentences imposed with very little scrutiny or review. Children as young as 13 were among
840-685: A mercantile port on the Gulf Coast. In February 1861, Montgomery was chosen the first capital of the Confederate States of America , which it remained until the Confederate seat of government moved to Richmond, Virginia , in May of that year. In the middle of the 20th century, Montgomery was a major center of events and protests in the Civil Rights Movement , including the Montgomery bus boycott and
924-555: A non-profit, the Equal Justice Initiative. In 1995 he was awarded a MacArthur fellowship , and he applied all of the money to support the EJI. The EJI "guarantees legal representation to every inmate on the state's death row." It has worked to eliminate excessive and unfair sentencing, exonerate innocent death row prisoners, confront abuse of the incarcerated and the mentally ill, and aid children prosecuted as adults. By 2013 EJI had
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#17328451016921008-534: A person who had been a minor under 18 at the time of the crime, Stevenson began to work to have similar thinking applied to the sentencing of a convicted minor to life-without-parole in prison. He has argued several cases in the Supreme Court, and has been part of a movement to urge changes in extreme sentencing of juveniles convicted of crimes. The Court has made several significant rulings to lighten sentencing of juveniles since Roper v. Simmons. In 2006 EJI started
1092-584: A sheriff's deputy, in East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana . A jury convicted Montgomery of murder and sentenced him to death in February 1964 but, in January 1966, the divided Louisiana Supreme Court annulled that verdict, finding he had not received a fair trial due to public prejudice. In October 1966, Montgomery escaped from the parish jail and was rearrested two hours later. In February 1969,
1176-655: A staff of 40, including attorneys and support personnel. On April 26, 2018, the EJI opened two new venues in Montgomery in memory of the victims of lynchings in the Southern United States : the National Memorial for Peace and Justice , and The Legacy Museum . Following the Roper v. Simmons (2005) ruling, in which the United States Supreme Court ruled that it was unconstitutional to sentence to death
1260-578: A system that was nicknamed the Lightning Route . Residents followed the streetcar lines to settle in new housing in what were then "suburban" locations. As the Reconstruction era ended, mayor W. L. Moses asked the state legislature to gerrymander city boundaries. It complied and removed the districts where African Americans lived, restoring white supremacy to the city's demographics and electorate. This prevented African Americans from being elected in
1344-644: A war veteran from a Sephardic Jewish family of Philadelphia , Pennsylvania, established a trading post . The Coushatta and Alabama had gradually moved south and west in the tidal plain. After the French were defeated by the British in 1763 in the Seven Years' War and ceded control of their lands, these Native American peoples moved to parts of present-day Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas, then areas of Spanish rule , which they thought more favorable than British-held areas. By
1428-476: Is Steven Reed , who was elected as the city's first African-American mayor in a runoff election which was held on October 8, 2019. The city is served by a nine-member city council, elected from nine single-member districts of equal size population. As the seat of Montgomery County , the city is the location of county courts and the county commission, elected separately. Montgomery is the capital of Alabama, and hosts numerous state government offices, including
1512-561: Is 46.6 °F (8.1 °C), and there are 3.4 days of sub 20 °F (−7 °C) lows; 10 °F (−12 °C) and below is extremely rare. The daily average in July is 81.8 °F (27.7 °C), with highs exceeding 90 °F (32.2 °C) on 86 days per year and 100 °F (37.8 °C) on 3.9. Summer afternoon heat indices, much more often than the actual air temperature, are frequently at or above 100 °F. The diurnal temperature variation tends to be large in spring and autumn. Rainfall
1596-477: Is built on the site of two Alibamu towns: Ikanatchati (Ekanchattee or Ecunchatty or Econachatee), meaning "red earth;" and Towassa , built on a bluff called Chunnaanaauga Chatty. The first Europeans to travel through central Alabama were Hernando de Soto and his expedition, who in 1540 recorded going through Ikanatchati and camping for one week in Towassa. The next recorded European encounter occurred more than
1680-677: Is home to the newly built Wright Brothers Park. High-end apartments are planned for this area. The Bell Building , located across from the Rosa Parks Library and Museum, is being redeveloped for mixed-use retail and residential space. The National Memorial for Peace and Justice opened in downtown Montgomery on April 26, 2018. Founded by the Equal Justice Initiative , it acknowledges the historic past of racial terrorism and lynching in America. South of downtown, across Interstate 85 , lies Alabama State University . ASU's campus
1764-582: Is in its 3rd edition. It concludes that a total of 3,959 lynchings of African Americans had occurred in the twelve states of the South from 1877 to 1950. The victims were mostly African-American men, although women and children were also killed. The report classified the lynchings as racial terrorism , designed to suppress the African-American community, especially as the southern legislatures were passing new laws and constitutions to disenfranchise most blacks at
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#17328451016921848-561: Is located at 32°21′42″N 86°16′45″W / 32.36167°N 86.27917°W / 32.36167; -86.27917 . According to the United States Census Bureau , the city has a total area of 162.27 square miles (420.3 km ), of which 159.86 square miles (414.0 km ) is land and 2.41 square miles (6.2 km ) (0.52%) is water. The city is built over rolling terrain at an elevation of about 220 feet (67 m) above sea level. Downtown Montgomery lies along
1932-505: Is one in a series since 2005 that have mitigated the harshness of sentencing of juveniles and persons who committed crimes as juveniles. It is based in part on scientific evidence showing that juvenile brains are not equivalent to those of adults. In Roper v. Simmons (2005), the Supreme Court of the United States by a 5–4 vote established that the death penalty for children under 18 was unconstitutional. In Graham v. Florida (2010),
2016-400: Is part of a larger plan to revitalize the downtown area and connect it to the waterfront. The plan includes urban forestry , infill development, and façade renovation to encourage business and residential growth. Other downtown developments include historic Dexter Avenue, which will be the center of a Market District. A$ 6 million streetscape project is improving its design. Maxwell Boulevard
2100-492: Is well-distributed throughout the year, though February, March and July are the wettest months, while October is significantly the driest month. Snowfall occurs only during some winters, and even then is usually light. Substantial snowstorms are rare, but do occur approximately once every 10 years. Extremes range from −5 °F (−21 °C) on February 13, 1899 to 107 °F (42 °C) on July 7, 1881. Thunderstorms bring much of Montgomery's rainfall. These are common during
2184-474: The 2020 census , there were 200,603 people, 82,835 households, and 49,303 families residing in the city. There were 93,920 housing units. As of the 2010 census , there were 205,764 people, 81,486 households, out of which 29% had children under the age of 18 living with them. The racial makeup of the city was 37.3% White , 56.6% Black , 2.2% Asian , 0.2% Native American , 0.1% Pacific Islander , 2.2% from other races , and 1.3% from two or more races. 3.9% of
2268-872: The Alabama Shakespeare Festival and Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts . Montgomery has been recognized nationally for its continuing downtown revitalization. In the early 2000s, the city constructed the Montgomery Biscuits minor league baseball stadium and Riverfront Park. Following those developments, hundreds of millions of dollars have been invested by private companies that have adapted old warehouses and office buildings into loft apartments, restaurants, retail, hotels, and businesses. The demand for downtown living space has risen, as people want to have walkable, lively neighborhoods. More than 500 apartment units are under construction, including The Heights on Maxwell Boulevard, The Market District on Dexter Avenue,
2352-620: The Alabama Shakespeare Festival , the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts , and the National Memorial for Peace and Justice . Montgomery has also been recognized nationally for its downtown revitalization and new urbanism projects. It was one of the first cities in the nation to implement SmartCode Zoning . Prior to European colonization, the east bank of the Alabama River was inhabited by the Alibamu tribe of Native Americans . The Alibamu and
2436-729: The Alabama State Capitol . The Capitol is located atop a hill at one end of Dexter Avenue, along which also lies the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church , where Martin Luther King Jr. was pastor. Both the Capitol and Dexter Baptist Church are recognized as National Historic Landmarks by the U.S. Department of the Interior . Other notable buildings include RSA Dexter Avenue, RSA Headquarters, Alabama Center for Commerce, RSA Union, and
2520-614: The Confederate States of America . Montgomery was named the first capital of the nation, and Jefferson Davis was inaugurated as president on the steps of the State Capitol . The capital was later moved to Richmond, Virginia. On April 12, 1865, following the Battle of Selma , Major General James H. Wilson captured Montgomery for the Union. In 1886 Montgomery became the first city in the United States to install citywide electric streetcars along
2604-730: The Coushatta , who lived on the west side of the river, were descended from the Mississippian culture . This civilization had numerous chiefdoms throughout the Midwest and South along the Mississippi and its tributaries, and had built massive earthwork mounds as part of their society about 950–1250 AD. Its largest location was at Cahokia , in present-day Illinois east of St. Louis . The historic tribes spoke mutually intelligible Muskogean languages , which were closely related. Present-day Montgomery
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2688-474: The Miller v. Alabama rule retroactively, holding that prisoners previously given automatic life sentences with no chance of parole for crimes committed as juveniles must have their cases reviewed for re-sentencing or be considered for parole . The Court first found that it had jurisdiction over Louisiana's prisoner because the rule governing retroactivity is constitutional, not statutory. Next, Justice Kennedy wrote that "prisoners like Montgomery must be given
2772-465: The Muscogee language , the language of the indigenous people of the park's area. The park also includes various sculptures created by Charles Gaines , Alison Saar , and Kwame Akoto-Bamfo , Simone Leigh , Wangechi Mutu , Rose B. Simpson , Theaster Gates , Kehinde Wiley , and Hank Willis Thomas . The park opened on March 27, 2024. Stevenson stated to W that the idea was inspired by his 2021 visit to
2856-563: The Selma to Montgomery marches . In addition to housing many Alabama government agencies, Montgomery has a large military presence, due to Maxwell Air Force Base . It has three public universities ( Alabama State University , Troy University (Montgomery campus), and Auburn University at Montgomery ), two private post-secondary institutions ( Faulkner University and Huntingdon College ), high-tech manufacturing (particularly Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama ), and many cultural attractions, such as
2940-532: The U.S. state of Alabama and the county seat of Montgomery County . Named for Continental Army Major General Richard Montgomery , it stands beside the Alabama River , on the coastal Plain of the Gulf of Mexico . The population was 200,603 at the 2020 census . It is the third-most populous city in the state after Huntsville and Birmingham , and is the 128th most populous in the United States. The Montgomery Metropolitan Statistical Area 's population in 2022
3024-549: The Uniform Crime Report statistics compiled by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in 2022, there were 522 violent crimes and 2,636 property crimes per 100,000 residents. Of these, the violent crimes consisted of 18 murders, 9 forcible rapes, 141 robberies and 354 aggravated assaults, while 562 burglaries, 1,773 larceny-thefts, 301 motor vehicle thefts and 0 acts of arson defined the property offenses. According to
3108-581: The federal land office in Milledgeville, Georgia . The first group of white settlers to come to the Montgomery area was headed by General John Scott . This group founded Alabama Town about 2 miles (3 km) downstream on the Alabama River from present-day downtown Montgomery. In June 1818, county courts were moved from Fort Jackson to Alabama Town. Alabama was admitted to the Union in December 1819. Soon after, Andrew Dexter Jr. founded New Philadelphia,
3192-487: The 4.7 million formerly enslaved African Americans listed on the 1870 United States census , the first census to list African Americans entirely as free people. QR codes on display near the monument allow visitors to find other African Americans listed in later censuses with the same surname. The park includes 170-year-old dwellings from nearby cotton plantations, objects made by enslaved persons, replicas of rail cars and holding pens, and audio recordings of people speaking in
3276-424: The Alabama River to deliver enslaved laborers to planters, to work the cotton . Buoyed by the revenues of the cotton trade at a time of high market demand, the newly united Montgomery grew quickly. In 1822, the city was designated as the county seat. A new courthouse was built at the present location of Court Square, at the foot of Market Street (now Dexter Avenue). Court Square had one of the largest slave markets in
3360-510: The Court ruled that it was unconstitutional to impose mandatory life sentence without parole on prisoners who committed non-murder crimes as juveniles. Two years later, in Miller v. Alabama (2012), the Court by a 5–4 vote decided that mandatory life sentence without parole should not apply to persons who committed the crime as juveniles . Henry Montgomery was 17 years old on November 13, 1963, when he shot and killed police officer Charles Hurt,
3444-625: The Garden District, Cloverdale, and Huntingdon are all listed on the National Register of Historic Places as historic districts . Montgomery's east side is the fastest-growing part of the city. Development of the Dalraida neighborhood, along Atlanta Highway, began in 1909, when developers Cook and Laurie bought land from the Ware plantation. A Scotsman, Georgie Laurie named the area for Dál Riata ,
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3528-492: The Kress Building on Dexter Avenue, The Bell Building on Montgomery Street, and a new complex by the convention center. Additionally, Montgomery has recently opened a 50 million dollar white water park on July 7, located off Maxwell Boulevard. Montgomery has a humid subtropical climate ( Köppen Cfa ), with short, mild winters, warm springs and autumns, and long, hot, humid summers. The daily average temperature in January
3612-488: The Memorial is intended to call attention to "an aspect of the nation's racial history that's discussed the least", according to Equal Justice Initiative Bryan Stevenson : the 4,400 victims of "terror lynchings" black people from 1877 through 1950. "The memorial's design evokes the image of a racist hanging, featuring scores of dark metal columns suspended in the air from above. The rectangular structures, some of which lie flat on
3696-691: The Renaissance Hotel and Spa. One block south of the Capitol is the First White House of the Confederacy , the 1835 Italianate-style house in which President Jefferson Davis and family lived while the Confederate capital was in Montgomery. Montgomery's third National Historic Landmark is Union Station . Passenger train service to Montgomery ceased in 1989. Today Union Station is part of the Riverfront Park development, which includes an amphitheater,
3780-475: The South. The state capital was moved from Tuscaloosa to Montgomery, on January 28, 1846. As state capital, Montgomery began to influence state politics, and it would also play a prominent role on the national stage. Beginning February 4, 1861, representatives from Alabama, Georgia , Florida, Louisiana , Mississippi , and South Carolina met in Montgomery , host of the Southern Convention , to form
3864-547: The South: to be allowed to vote and participate in politics, to freely use public places, to end segregation. According to the historian David Beito of the University of Alabama , African Americans in Montgomery "nurtured the modern civil rights movement ." African Americans comprised most of the customers on the city buses, but were forced to give up seats and even stand in order to make room for whites. On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks
3948-507: The U.S. Supreme Court decided Miller v. Alabama , Montgomery made a motion to correct an illegal sentence, which, in June 2014, was denied by the Louisiana Supreme Court, over the dissent of Chief Justice Bernette Joshua Johnson . In September 2014, Montgomery filed a petition for a writ of certiorari from the U.S. Supreme Court, which was granted. Seventy-five minutes of oral arguments were heard on October 13, 2015, with attorneys appearing for
4032-457: The age of 18, 11.7% from 18 to 24, 27.3% from 25 to 44, 24.2% from 45 to 64, and 11.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females, there were 88.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 84.5 males. The median income for a household in the city was $ 41,380, and the median income for a family was $ 53,125. Males had a median income of $ 40,255 versus $ 33,552 for females. The per capita income for
4116-480: The campus of Auburn University Montgomery on Taylor Road, and Jackson Hospital, which is located next to Oak Park off interstate 85. Montgomery is also home to two medical school campuses: Baptist Medical Center South (run by University of Alabama at Birmingham ) and Jackson Hospital (run by Alabama Medical Education Consortium). Montgomery operates under a Mayor–council government system. The mayor and council members are elected to four-year terms. The current mayor
4200-706: The capital to press for voting rights. These actions contributed to Congressional passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 , to authorize federal supervision and enforcement of the rights of African Americans and other minorities to vote. On February 7, 1967, a devastating fire broke out at Dale's Penthouse, a restaurant and lounge on the top floor of the Walter Bragg Smith apartment building (now called Capital Towers) at 7 Clayton Street downtown. Twenty-six people died. In recent years, Montgomery has grown and diversified its economy. Active in downtown revitalization,
4284-432: The city adopted a master plan in 2007; it includes the revitalization of Court Square and the riverfront, renewing the city's connection to the river. Many other projects under construction include the revitalization of Historic Dexter Avenue, pedestrian and infrastructure improvements along the Selma to Montgomery National Historic Trail , and the construction of a new environmental park on West Fairview Avenue. Montgomery
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#17328451016924368-492: The city processed 160,000–200,000 bales of cotton annually. Montgomery has also had large metal fabrication and lumber production sectors. Due to its location along the Alabama River and extensive rail connections, Montgomery has been and continues to be a regional distribution hub for a wide range of industries. Since the late 20th century, it has diversified its economy, achieving increased employment in sectors such as healthcare, business, government, and manufacturing. Today,
4452-405: The city was $ 23,139. About 18.2% of families and 21.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 34.8% of those under age 18 and 8.4% of those age 65 or over. Montgomery's central location in Alabama's Black Belt has long made it a processing hub for commodity crops such as cotton, peanuts, and soybeans . In 1840 Montgomery County led the state in cotton production, and by 1911,
4536-720: The city's Gross Metropolitan Product is $ 12.15 billion, representing 8.7% of the gross state product of Alabama. According to Bureau of Labor Statistics data from October 2008, the largest sectors of non-agricultural employment were: Government, 24.3%; Trade, Transportation, and Utilities, 17.3% (including 11.0% in retail trade); Professional and Business Services, 11.9%; Manufacturing, 10.9%; Education and Health Services, 10.0% (including 8.5% in Health Care & Social Assistance); Leisure and Hospitality, 9.2%; Financial Activities, 6.0%, Natural Resources, Mining and Construction, 5.1%; Information, 1.4%; and Other services 4.0%. Unemployment for
4620-483: The city, there were 75 homicides in 2023. Montgomery v. Louisiana Montgomery v. Louisiana , 577 U.S. 190 (2016), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court held that its previous ruling in Miller v. Alabama (2012), that a mandatory life sentence without parole should not apply to persons convicted of murder committed as juveniles , should be applied retroactively. This decision potentially affects up to 2,300 cases nationwide. This case
4704-616: The conclusion of the Creek War . Following their defeat by General Andrew Jackson in August 1814, the Creek tribes were forced to cede 23 million acres to the United States, including remaining land in today's Georgia and most of today's central and southern Alabama. In 1816, the Mississippi Territory (1798–1817) organized Montgomery County . Its former Creek lands were sold off the next year at
4788-500: The death penalty and incarceration of African Americans. Stevenson and EJI staff believe this past must be acknowledged and commemorated "with memorials and monuments that encourage and create space for the 'restorative power of truthtelling' ", as has been done by other countries and communities. This new research added nearly 700 cases to previous documentation of lynchings of African Americans in this period. EJI has since published two updated editions of its summary data, which increased
4872-484: The ground and resemble graves, include the names of counties where lynchings occurred, plus dates and the names of the victims. The goal is for individual counties to claim the columns on the ground and erect their own memorials." Starting in 2021, EJI acquired 17 acres in Montgomery on the Alabama River to erect the National Monument to Freedom, a 43 feet tall, 155 feet long wall depicting 122,000 surnames adopted by
4956-479: The legal drama Just Mercy , which is based on his memoir Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption . The film tells the story of Walter McMillian and, in less detail, the stories of other Stevenson cases. The Equal Justice Initiative won the 2020 Webby People's Voice Award for Charitable Organization/Nonprofit in the category Web. The Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) was founded in 1989 in Montgomery, Alabama, by attorney Bryan Stevenson , who has served as
5040-576: The majority's decision "repudiates established principles of finality". On June 28, 2016, the Louisiana Supreme Court vacated Montgomery's life sentence and remanded for resentencing in a per curiam decision , with Justice Scott Crichton additionally concurring. In February 2017, Montgomery, now 70 years old, remained a prisoner at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola. In February 2018 and April 2019, Montgomery had parole hearings, and
5124-679: The mandatory sentences constituted " cruel and unusual punishment " and were therefore unconstitutional. The Court ruled in these cases in June 2012 that even when cases involved homicide, mandatory life-without-parole sentences for minors 17 or younger are unconstitutional. The ruling affected statutes in 29 states. In Montgomery v. Louisiana (2016), the Court ruled that the decision in Miller v. Alabama had to be applied retroactively, and required those sentencing to consider "children's diminished culpability, and heightened capacity for change." An estimated 2300 prisoners nationwide may be affected whose sentences will be reviewed. In April 2015, EJI won
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#17328451016925208-512: The municipality and denied them city services. On February 12, 1945, a devastating and deadly tornado struck the western portion of the city. The tornado killed 26 people, injured 293 others, and caused a city-wide blackout which lasted for hours. The United States Weather Bureau would describe this tornado as "the most officially observed one in history". In the post-World War II era, returning African-American veterans were among those who became active in pushing to regain their civil rights in
5292-592: The office of the Governor , the Alabama Legislature , and the Alabama Supreme Court . At the federal level, Montgomery is part of Alabama's 2nd , 7th , and 3rd Congressional district , currently represented by Barry Moore , Terri Sewell , and Mike Rogers , respectively. The 7th represents most of Western Montgomery, the 2nd Southern and Northern Montgomery, and the 3rd Eastern Montgomery. According to
5376-587: The opportunity to show their crime did not reflect irreparable corruption; and if it did not, their hope for some years of life outside prison walls must be restored." Applying the presumption from Teague v. Lane (1989) that a new rule is not retroactive on collateral review unless it is substantive or "watershed", Kennedy said the decision was founded on substantive grounds, based "on the diminished culpability of all juvenile offenders, who are, he said, immature, susceptible to peer pressure and capable of change. Very few, he said, are incorrigible. But he added that as
5460-483: The organization's executive director ever since. Stevenson has been working on Alabama defense cases since 1989 for the Southern Center for Human Rights and was director of its center for Alabama operations. As of 2022, Alabama is the only state that does not provide state-funded legal assistance to death row prisoners; EJI has committed to representing them. Stevenson converted his operation in Montgomery by founding
5544-425: The population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. Non-Hispanic Whites were 36.1% of the population in 2010, down from 66% in 1970. The population density varies in different parts of the city; East Montgomery (Taylor Rd and East), the non-Hispanic White population is 74.5%, African American 8.3%, Latino 3.2%, other non-white races carry 2.7% of the population. The city population was spread out, with 24.9% under
5628-503: The present-day eastern part of downtown. He envisioned a prominent future for his town; he set aside a hilltop known as "Goat Hill" as the future site of the state capitol building. New Philadelphia soon prospered, and Scott and his associates built a new town adjacent, calling it East Alabama Town. Originally rivals, the towns merged on December 3, 1819, and were incorporated as the town of Montgomery, named for Richard Montgomery , an American Revolutionary War general. Slave traders used
5712-503: The prisoner and the state as well as an amicus curiae appointed by the Court, arguing against the Court's jurisdiction, and the U.S. Deputy Solicitor General, arguing as a friend of the prisoner. On January 25, 2016, the Supreme Court delivered judgment in favor of the prisoner, by a vote of 6–3. Writing for the Court, Justice Anthony Kennedy , joined by Chief Justice John Roberts , along with Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg , Stephen Breyer , Sonia Sotomayor , and Elena Kagan , applied
5796-539: The prosecution found that the bullets used in the crime did not match the gun they had traced to Hinton's home. There was no case, and the state dropped the charges. As of 2019, the EJI organization has prevented more than 125 people from receiving the death penalty. The EJI has published a number of studies, including Lynching in America: Confronting the Legacy of Racial Terror, which was first published in 2015 and
5880-646: The push for integration organized mob violence at stops along the Freedom Ride. In Montgomery, there was police collaboration when a white mob attacked Freedom Riders at the Greyhound Bus Station in May 1961. Outraged national reaction resulted in the enforcement of desegregation of interstate public transportation. Martin Luther King Jr. returned to Montgomery in 1965. Local civil rights leaders in Selma had been protesting Jim Crow laws and practices that raised barriers to blacks registering to vote. Following
5964-421: The release on different grounds of Anthony Ray Hinton , a black man who had been on death row in Alabama for nearly 30 years; he had continued to maintain his innocence. He was released after being wrongfully convicted of murder due to inadequate counsel and faulty evidence. He had finally gained a new trial on appeal, as the defense found flaws in the main evidence used by the prosecution. In preparation for trial,
6048-525: The same period was 5.7%, 2.5% higher than October 2007. The city also draws in workers from the surrounding area; Montgomery's daytime population rises 17.4% to 239,101. According to the city's 2022 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, the largest employers in the city are: According to the Living Wage Calculator, the living wage for the city is US$ 19.73 per hour (or $ 41,038 per year) for an individual and $ 37.14 per hour ($ 77,251 per year) for
6132-439: The shooting of a man after a civil rights rally, the leaders decided to march to Montgomery to petition Governor George Wallace to allow free voter registration. The violence they encountered from county and state highway police outraged the country. The federal government ordered National Guard and troops to protect the marchers. Thousands more joined the marchers on the way to Montgomery, and an estimated 25,000 marchers entered
6216-653: The southern bank of the Alabama River , about 6 miles (10 km) downstream from the confluence of the Coosa and Tallapoosa rivers. The most prominent feature of Montgomery's skyline is the 375 ft (114 m), RSA Tower , built in 1996 by the Retirement Systems of Alabama . Other prominent buildings include 60 Commerce Street, 8 Commerce Street, and the RSA Dexter Avenue Building . Downtown also contains many state and local government buildings, including
6300-445: The summer months but occur throughout the year. Severe thunderstorms – producing large hail and damaging winds in addition to the usual hazards of lightning and heavy rain – can occasionally occur, particularly during the spring. Severe storms also bring a risk of tornadoes . Sometimes, tropical disturbances – some of which strike the Gulf Coast as hurricanes before losing intensity as they move inland – can bring very heavy rains. As of
6384-514: The thousands condemned to die in prison." Most of the sentences imposed on these juveniles were mandatory, but EJI continued to argue along the lines of the Court's ruling in Roper v. Simmons, that juveniles have "unique immaturity, impulsiveness, vulnerability, and capacity for redemption and rehabilitation." EJI argued in US Supreme Court cases Miller v. Alabama and Jackson v. Hobbs that
6468-442: The time Mordecai arrived, Creek had migrated into and settled in the area, as they were moving away from Cherokee and Iroquois warfare to the north. Mordecai married a Creek woman. When her people had to cede most of their lands after the 1813-14 Creek War , she joined them in removal to Indian Territory. Mordecai brought the first cotton gin to Alabama. The Upper Creek were able to discourage most white immigration until after
6552-883: The total number of black racial terror victims identified to 4,084 in the Southern states, and 300 in other states in this same time period. The Legacy Museum , in Montgomery, Alabama , and the nearby National Memorial for Peace and Justice, opened on April 26, 2018. The topic of the museum is the post-slavery treatment of African Americans by whites. Rather than ending, according to Equal Justice Initiative's head Bryan Stevenson , slavery "evolved": sharecropping , Jim Crow laws, mass incarceration, convict leasing , and lynching . The museum reflects "Stevenson's view that, unlike in [post-Apartheid] South Africa or post-Nazi Germany or many other societies traumatized by history, we've hardly begun to grapple with ours — and so cannot yet get beyond it." Opened on April 26, 2018, also in Montgomery,
6636-425: The turn of the century. Whites maintained this political exclusion, in part through regular intimidation and violence, through the mid-1960s. The report discusses the long-term effects of the decades of violence on the African-American community and southern society, and on relations between the races. According to the EJI, the history of lynching and white supremacy underlies the South's history of extensive use of
6720-469: Was 385,460; it is the fourth largest in the state and 142nd among United States metropolitan areas . The city was incorporated in 1819 as a merger of two towns situated along the Alabama River . It replaced Tuscaloosa as the state capital in 1846, representing the shift of power to the south-central area of Alabama with the growth of cotton as a commodity crop of the Black Belt and the rise of Mobile as
6804-561: Was arrested for refusing to give up her bus seat to a white man, sparking the Montgomery bus boycott . Martin Luther King Jr. , then the pastor of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church , and E.D. Nixon , a local civil rights advocate, founded the Montgomery Improvement Association to organize the boycott. In June 1956, the US District Court Judge Frank M. Johnson ruled that Montgomery's bus racial segregation
6888-668: Was built in Colonial Revival architectural style from 1906 until the beginning of World War II. Surrounding ASU are the Garden District and Cloverdale Historic District . Houses in these areas date from around 1875 until 1949, and are in Late Victorian and Gothic Revival styles. Huntingdon College is on the southwestern edge of Cloverdale. The campus was built in the 1900s in Tudor Revival and Gothic Revival styles. ASU,
6972-465: Was denied both times. On November 17, 2021, the Louisiana Board of Pardons and Parole granted parole to Montgomery by a unanimous vote of 3–0. Following the vote, Montgomery was freed from prison and released. His release was opposed by some of Hurt's family members, however, two of Hurt's daughters had met with Montgomery in prison and forgiven him. In March 2020, the Supreme Court agreed to hear
7056-426: Was unconstitutional. After the US Supreme Court upheld the ruling in November, the city desegregated the bus system, and the boycott was ended. In separate action, integrated teams of Freedom Riders rode South on interstate buses. In violation of federal law and the constitution, bus companies had for decades acceded to state laws and required passengers to occupy segregated seating in Southern states. Opponents of
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