Ezra Cunningham

Civil rights activist dies at age 89
Thursday, December 14, 2006
By CONNIE BAGGETTStaff Reporter

MONROEVILLE -- A man hailed as a civil rights champion was laid to rest Wednesday in the county he loved.

Ezra Cunningham, 89, was born the son of a blacksmith and farmer in Beatrice in north Monroe County. He died Dec. 7.

He was educated at Alabama State University and became a teacher. He soon left that career to farm and organized other black farmers in a 10-county area of west Alabama into a cooperative.

That co-op produced truckloads of cucumbers the farmers marketed in Selma. The work earned him a place in the civil rights movement, he often said. He attended political meetings and soon became a liaison with the U.S. Department of Justice as desegregation began.

Local leaders said Wednesday that Cunningham helped dozens of black residents in Monroe County register to vote, at times risking his own life.
"I drove up to Beatrice and interviewed him for the museum," said Mary Tucker, a former educator and current Monroe County Heritage Museums board member.

"We talked extensively about his activities in the civil rights movement during the 1950s and 1960s," Tucker said.

"He told me that he made a deal with county registrars in order to be able to register blacks to vote. The officials agreed to register only five people at a time," Tucker said.

"That way, it wouldn't look like there was a huge influx of people being registered. He brought many in to register, five at the time," Tucker said.
Cunningham related how he had to avoid going to town some days when he was warned or threatened because of his activities. He told Tucker that he was denied a loan for purchasing a car.

"At one point," Tucker said, "county officials threatened to have his wife moved from the school at Beatrice, where she taught, to Lower Peachtree on the other side of the river, miles from home."
Still, Cunningham didn't waver.

"He was very smart," Tucker said, "very intelligent. He just could not accept things the way they were. He had quite an impact in gaining rights for us."
Monroe County Commissioner Charlie McCorvey said he recalled Cunningham fondly.

"He was a wise man," McCorvey said, "and a bit ahead of his time in many ways.

"He was working on a plan to create fuel from corn 40 years ago. He and the other farmers couldn't get financial backing then, but that's all the move now," McCorvey said.

"He was a good man, controversial at times. He never seemed to get tired, and he was multi-talented," McCorvey said.

Cunningham was instrumental in setting up the Federation of Southern Cooperatives Land Assistance Fund in the area and helped organize the Freedom Quilting Bee.

In one address to students, Cunningham encouraged his young listeners to think about their futures, become independent thinkers and leave welfare and drug abuse alone. He encouraged children to listen to their parents, study and go to church. He told children they make history every day.
"Ezra Cunningham was not content," Tucker said. "He always wanted to be a part of change, part of improving things, not just in the civil rights arena but all through his life."

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