Abraham Woods Jr

Reverend Abraham Lincoln Woods, Jr (born October 7, 1928 in Birmingham - died November 7, 2008 in Birmingham) was an African American minister, history professor, president of the Birmingham Chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and a civil rights activist and organizer who continued to preach and to press for human rights well into his retirement.

Woods was the son of Maggie and Abraham Woods of Birmingham. He graduated from Parker High School and earned a scholarship to Morehouse College in Atlanta. After a year there he became ill and returend to Birmingham. He felt a call to the ministry and received his Bachelor of Theology from Birmingham Baptist College. He later earned a Bachelor of Sociology from Miles College, and a Masters in History from the University of Alabama. He completed the necessary credits for a Doctorate in History, as well.

Woods 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 taught history at Miles College for 41 years before retiring in 2002.

He became a charter member and Vice-President of the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights in 1956, assisting Fred Shuttlesworth in organizing protests and challenges to Birmingham's segregation laws. He was jailed for five days for leading a sit-in at a downtown department store. He was a member of the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights' central committee that planned the 1963 Birmingham Campaign led by Martin Luther King, Jr. He helped organize participation from the Southeast in the march on Washington later that year and stood behind King during his "I Have a Dream" speech.

Woods later led campaigns to register voters at Miles College and to recruit African-American applicants to the Birmingham Police Department. In 1979 he was instrumental in laying the groundwork for Richard Arrington's first mayoral campaign, which followed a much-publicized police brutality case. He helped with Jesse Jackson's 1984 presidential bid and marched with Arrington in 1991 to protest a federal investigation of City Hall. 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 was the principal organizer of the annual Martin Luther King, Jr Unity Breakfast and Martin Luther King Day celebration and gun buy-back program.

Woods died at Princeton Baptist Medical Center in November 2008 after a long bout with cancer. A funeral service with songs and hymns selected by Woods was held on November 15, followed by burial at Elmwood Cemetery. On November 12 the Birmingham City Council approved a proposal by Mayor Larry Langford to rename 8th Avenue North in Woods' honor.

References

• Floyd, Shirley Gavin. (Spring 2006). "Spotlight: Dr. Abraham Lincoln Woods, Jr." The Foot Soldier Informer.
• Bryant, Joseph D. (November 12, 2008) "Birmingham City Council to rename city street in honor of Rev. Abraham Woods." Birmingham News