On Thursday, Huntsville City Council approved Council Member John Meredith’s Council Improvement fund allocation of $12,000 to the Historic Huntsville Foundation to establish the city’s first Civil Rights Historic District. The designation will recognize Lydia Drive, a 20-acre development within the Brandontown community, as the enclave of Black empowerment where most of the planning for Huntsville’s 1960s Civil Rights movement took place.
“It is a privilege to fund a National Register survey from my District 5 discretionary funds to honor the role of those who risked everything in the fight for racial equality within our city,” stated Meredith. Later adding, “I am honored to be in a position where I can facilitate the recognition of the work of local legends such as Dr. Sonnie Hereford, Thorton Stanley, Dr John Cashin, and Claud Martin.”
Created in the early 1960s, the community was Huntsville’s first Black-owned and financed modern subdivision. It was home to our city’s first Black physician to practice at Huntsville Hospital, the first Black engineer hired at Redstone Arsenal, one of the first Black Technical Supervisors at Marshall Space Flight Center, and many educators, businessmen and other professionals.
“This project could not have been possible without collaboration with Donna Castellano, the Executive Director of the Historic Huntsville Foundation, and the team of experts she assembled to make this dream a reality,” Meredith concluded.
