Fred Gray

Of course, this would go to trial.

Claudette was represented by Black lawyer Fred Gray, who hailed from the Montgomery Improvement Association, which was organizing civil rights actions.

The three charges she was convicted with would be tried in juvenile court.

The case went to trial in May, and by the time it began, the judge had strategically dropped two of the charges, disturbing the peace and breaking the segregation law, focusing solely on the charge of assaulting a police officer.

This meant that she was officially a juvenile delinquent.

But even so, this was said to have been the linchpin to setting off the Montgomery bus boycott.

About two months after the boycott began, Claudette's attorney, Fred Gray, along with others like E.D. Nixon and Clifford Durr, began to search for the quote-unquote ideal case to challenge the constitutional legitimacy of Montgomery and Alabama bus segregation laws.

Durr believed that it wasn't the right choice to go with Rosa Parks' state case.

The National Civil Rights Museum named its four 35th Freedom Award honorees on Tuesday.

Among them are Fred Gray, a civil rights attorney who represented Martin Luther King Jr. in Rosa Parks.

At age 93, he is still actively practicing law.

Also on the list is WNBA champion Nneka Awumike of the Los Angeles Sparks.

But we had worked for at least three years getting that thing organized.

The night of the evening that Rosa Parks was arrested, Fred Gray called me and told me she was arrested.

Somebody had known her bail, but her case would be on Monday.

And I, as president of the main body, of the Women's Political Council, got on the phone and I called all the officers of the three chapters.

The community owes a debt of gratitude to the leaders and supporters who 40 years ago turned a vision into a movement that forever changed our community and provided inspiring inspiration for youth to reach their full potential, said CPJI legacy event co-chair Patrick Carter.

Past CPJI legacy honorees are community and higher education leader Dr. Krista Martin, retired Tennessee Secretary, I'm sorry, Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association Executive Director Bernard Childress, civil rights attorney Fred Gray, and educator Barbara Dobbins.

Columbia State Community College will host AI for Small Business, a one-day conference designed to help entrepreneurs, business owners, and professionals learn how to leverage artificial intelligence to streamline operations, strengthen marketing efforts, and improve productivity.

The conference will take place on Friday, October 9th from 8.30 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Columbia State's Williamson Campus in Franklin.