[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 181 (Monday, December 14, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Page S8633]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          TRIBUTE TO FRED GRAY

 Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. President, today I wish to recognize the 
life and accomplishments of civil rights attorney Fred Gray, Sr., of 
Montgomery, AL.
  Fred Gray was born in Montgomery, AL, on December 14, 1930. He 
attended the Nashville Christian Institute and received a baccalaureate 
degree from the then-Alabama State College for Negroes. From there, he 
went on to receive a law degree from Case Western Reserve University 
School of Law in Cleveland, OH. Mr. Gray passed the bar examination and 
returned to his home town of Montgomery to establish a law office. He 
dedicated himself to the goal of ``destroying everything segregated he 
could find.'' He also began preaching at the Holt Street Church of 
Christ.
  During the 1950s and 1960s civil rights movement, Mr. Gray worked 
alongside Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., E.D. Nixon, and other leaders of 
the movement. He represented Claudette Colvin and Rosa Parks, who were 
charged with disorderly conduct for refusing to seat themselves in the 
rear of segregated city buses. Mr. Gray also successfully defended Dr. 
Martin Luther King, Jr., against tax evasion charges.
  In addition, he represented the Montgomery Improvement Association 
during the more than yearlong Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1955, which 
ultimately led to the United States Supreme Court case Browder v. 
Gayle. This case was filed by Mr. Gray. Additionally, Mr. Gray filed 
and argued the historic and much-cited case of Gomillion v. Lightfoot 
before the U.S. Supreme Court, which overturned State redistricting of 
Tuskegee, AL. After this case, Mr. Gray continued to lead legal efforts 
to desegregate schools in Alabama.
  In 1970, Mr. Gray was one of the first African Americans elected as a 
State legislator in Alabama. However, he did not allow his new role to 
prevent him from continuing to represent local Alabamians in the 
judicial system.
  In the early 1970s, Mr. Gray represented plaintiffs in the class-
action lawsuit regarding the Federal Tuskegee syphilis study and 
succeeded in securing appropriate damages and restitutions for 72 study 
survivors. As a result of efforts led by Mr. Gray, President Clinton 
invited the study survivors and their families to a ceremony at the 
White House, where he officially apologized for the actions of the 
Federal Government regarding the study.
  In 2002, Fred Gray became the first African-American president of the 
Alabama Bar Association. Mr. Gray has spent his life working to achieve 
equal justice and liberty for the citizens of Alabama. His dedication 
to the civil rights movement is unequaled, and we are all grateful for 
the tireless work he has done on behalf of all Americans.

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