CR211
December 11, 1969
C.B. King, Civil Rights Attorney
Press Photo
(October 12, 1923 – March 15, 1988)
C. B. King was a prominent African American lawyer known for his courage, courtroom eloquence, and legal skills in the face of fierce and even violent opposition during the civil rights struggle in southwest Georgia. The first black lawyer in the area, King was an inspiration to an entire generation of young law interns and civil rights activists.
The third of seven sons, Chevene Bowers King was born in Albany in 1923 to Margaret Slater and Clennon W. "Daddy" King, both of whom were graduates of Alabama's Tuskegee Institute. Daddy King had earned Tuskegee expenses by working as a "buggy boy" for the institute's celebrated president, Booker T. Washington.
C. B. King was educated in Albany's segregated school system. Following a brief period at Tuskegee, he served a tour of duty in the U.S. Navy. King then attended Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee, graduating in 1949. Denied access to Georgia's whites-only law schools, King enrolled at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio.
Back in Georgia, where he opened his law practice in the mid-1950s, King was one of only a handful of African American lawyers in the state and the only black lawyer south of Atlanta who would take on civil and criminal cases. Frequently King's reception in the courts was markedly uncivil.
The 1960s brought a new set of complexities and challenges when ongoing struggles for equality of opportunity came to a head in southwest Georgia, as they did throughout the South. Civil rights protesters in the area looked to King, who aided them immeasurably. He was central to legal defense throughout the Albany Movement and beyond, defending Freedom Riders, the Americus Four, incarcerated civil rights protestors, and others caught up in the struggle for equality. Among his more famous clients were Ralph David Abernathy, Andrew Young, John Lewis Martin Luther King Jr., and William G. Anderson, leader of the Albany Movement.In 1962, when King visited the jail to check up on white civil rights protester Bill Hansen, whose white fellow prisoners had broken his jaw, Sheriff Cull Campbell assaulted King with a cane. A national photographer's snapshot of the battered, bloodied, and bandaged attorney was picked up by the wire services, made the first section of the New York Times, and was flashed around the world. These and other incidents inspired King in his fight to counter the forces that so often tried to stop his legal defense work. He worked hard to block literacy test requirements for voters and to integrate schools, polling booths, public accommodations, the pool of city employees, and the jury system. His efforts led to the 1968 Jury Selection and Service Act.
King made two attempts to secure political office. His race to win a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in 1964, though unsuccessful, was a landmark effort, for he was the first black candidate in Georgia to run for Congress since the Reconstruction era. Nominated five years later, in 1969, by the state's black leadership, he became Georgia's first African American candidate for governor. Although he did not win the governorship, his candidacy inspired large numbers of black people to register, and their voting power ensured the election of several black candidates for local and regional offices. As a mentor for legal interns, King has had a far-reaching influence on the nation's legal system. Law students came to his Albany firm from Harvard, Columbia, Yale, Howard, and Princeton universities, and from the University of Massachusetts and the University of California at Berkeley. A startling number of these young proteges underwent life-changing experiences under his tutelage, and a considerable number went on to become highly distinguished judges, members of Congress, and respected civil and environmental rights advocates.
In January 1988, only a few weeks before his death, the Georgia state legislature formally recognized his contribution to society. At the state capitol he was presented the first Martin Luther King Jr. Humanitarian Award by the Georgia legislature and Governor Joe Frank Harris. As a culminating tribute to King's legacy, in November 2002 the new federal courthouse in downtown Albany was named in his honor. It is the first Federal Courthouse in the former 'Jim Crow South' to be named for a black man. King is the fourth African American to serve as a namesake of a federal courthouse; the other three were Martin Luther King Jr., Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, and Cleveland Mayor Carl Stokes.
C. B. King was a prominent African American lawyer known for his courage, courtroom eloquence, and legal skills in the face of fierce and even violent opposition during the civil rights struggle in southwest Georgia. The first black lawyer in the area, King was an inspiration to an entire generation of young law interns and civil rights activists.
The third of seven sons, Chevene Bowers King was born in Albany in 1923 to Margaret Slater and Clennon W. "Daddy" King, both of whom were graduates of Alabama's Tuskegee Institute. Daddy King had earned Tuskegee expenses by working as a "buggy boy" for the institute's celebrated president, Booker T. Washington.
C. B. King was educated in Albany's segregated school system. Following a brief period at Tuskegee, he served a tour of duty in the U.S. Navy. King then attended Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee, graduating in 1949. Denied access to Georgia's whites-only law schools, King enrolled at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio.
Back in Georgia, where he opened his law practice in the mid-1950s, King was one of only a handful of African American lawyers in the state and the only black lawyer south of Atlanta who would take on civil and criminal cases. Frequently King's reception in the courts was markedly uncivil.
The 1960s brought a new set of complexities and challenges when ongoing struggles for equality of opportunity came to a head in southwest Georgia, as they did throughout the South. Civil rights protesters in the area looked to King, who aided them immeasurably. He was central to legal defense throughout the Albany Movement and beyond, defending Freedom Riders, the Americus Four, incarcerated civil rights protestors, and others caught up in the struggle for equality. Among his more famous clients were Ralph David Abernathy, Andrew Young, John Lewis Martin Luther King Jr., and William G. Anderson, leader of the Albany Movement.In 1962, when King visited the jail to check up on white civil rights protester Bill Hansen, whose white fellow prisoners had broken his jaw, Sheriff Cull Campbell assaulted King with a cane. A national photographer's snapshot of the battered, bloodied, and bandaged attorney was picked up by the wire services, made the first section of the New York Times, and was flashed around the world. These and other incidents inspired King in his fight to counter the forces that so often tried to stop his legal defense work. He worked hard to block literacy test requirements for voters and to integrate schools, polling booths, public accommodations, the pool of city employees, and the jury system. His efforts led to the 1968 Jury Selection and Service Act.
King made two attempts to secure political office. His race to win a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in 1964, though unsuccessful, was a landmark effort, for he was the first black candidate in Georgia to run for Congress since the Reconstruction era. Nominated five years later, in 1969, by the state's black leadership, he became Georgia's first African American candidate for governor. Although he did not win the governorship, his candidacy inspired large numbers of black people to register, and their voting power ensured the election of several black candidates for local and regional offices. As a mentor for legal interns, King has had a far-reaching influence on the nation's legal system. Law students came to his Albany firm from Harvard, Columbia, Yale, Howard, and Princeton universities, and from the University of Massachusetts and the University of California at Berkeley. A startling number of these young proteges underwent life-changing experiences under his tutelage, and a considerable number went on to become highly distinguished judges, members of Congress, and respected civil and environmental rights advocates.
In January 1988, only a few weeks before his death, the Georgia state legislature formally recognized his contribution to society. At the state capitol he was presented the first Martin Luther King Jr. Humanitarian Award by the Georgia legislature and Governor Joe Frank Harris. As a culminating tribute to King's legacy, in November 2002 the new federal courthouse in downtown Albany was named in his honor. It is the first Federal Courthouse in the former 'Jim Crow South' to be named for a black man. King is the fourth African American to serve as a namesake of a federal courthouse; the other three were Martin Luther King Jr., Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, and Cleveland Mayor Carl Stokes.