Haleyville native Judge Frank M. Johnson Jr. played a crucial role in shaping civil-rights law in America. Johnson’s legal decisions desegregated schools in Alabama and buses in Montgomery, eliminated the state poll tax, allowed blacks to serve on juries, and authorized the 1965 civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery. President Bill Clinton awarded Johnson a Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1995 for his landmark decisions.

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Encyclopedia of Alabama

Photos courtesy of: Alabama Department of Archives and History, Getty Images