Abraham Woods Jr

The Reverend Abraham Lincoln Woods, Jr is an African American minister, President of the Birmingham Chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, a civil rights activist and organizer who continues to preach the gospel and to press for human rights well into his retirement.

Woods received his Bachelor of Theology from Birmingham Baptist College. a Bachelor of Sociology for Miles College, and a Masters in History from the University of Alabama. He began preaching at age 22 and served for thirteen years at First Metropolitan Baptist Church and then thirty-seven years at St Joseph Baptist Church in West End.

He became a charter member and Vice-President of the Alabama Christian Movement (1950-1960) and was a member of the Strategy Committee that planned the 1963 Birmingham Campaign led by Martin Luther King, Jr. He has led campaigns to register voters at Miles College, was Deputy Director for the Southeast historical March on Washington, and, since 1978, has been president of the Birmingham SCLC.

Woods was instrumental in Richard Arrington Jr's first mayoral campaign and helped with Jesse Jackson's 1984 presidential bid. He was a leader in efforts to desegregate Shoal Creek.

In recent years, Woods fought to reopen the investigation into the 1963 church bombing at 16th Street Baptist Church and has been instrumental in establishing the Civil Rights Institute. He is the principal organizer of the annual MLK Unity Breakfast and Martin Luther King Day celebration and gun buy-back program.