James G. Birney Named to Alabama Lawyers Hall of Fame
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James G. Birney, (1792-1857) --- Hall of Fame
Kentucky-born James G. Birney, (1792-1857) a Bay City pioneer and twice abolitionist candidate for President, has finally earned some respect in the South.
Birney has been named to the Alabama Lawyer's Hall of Fame along with Clement Comer Clay, (1789-1866) who collaborated with Birney on legislative matters when Birney lived in Huntsville 1818-1834.
A native of Danville, Kentucky, Birney was educated at Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky, and Princeton and earned a law degree in Philadelphia under tutelage of the eminent George M. Dallas. He practiced law and served in the Kentucky Legislature before moving to Alabama.
The Alabama lawyer's group created a separate category for honorees dead more than 100 years that was used to recognize both Birney and Clay. Clay was governor of Alabama, 1835-1837, and served as a member of the U.S. House and Senate.
Among recent inductees to the hall of fame were a Confederate peace commissioner during the Civil War, John A. Campbell, (1811-1889) also U.S. Supreme Court Justice 1853-1861; U.S. Sen. Howell T. Heflin, (1921-2005) and Thomas Goode Jones, (1844-1914) who carried the Confederate flag of truce at Appomattox and later served as a federal judge.
Not only did James G. Birney serve as a Constitutional delegate to the first Alabama Constitution, he was a state solicitor, mayor of Huntsville, a founding trustee of the University of Alabama and a lawyer for the Cherokee Indian tribe.
Provisions he sponsored in the first Alabama Constitution resulted in freedom for about 200 slaves and legal protections for all blacks. The constitutional provision allowed the legislature to manumit slaves and was in place during the years Birney remained in Alabama, resulting in freedom for about 20 slaves per year.
His work representing the Indians 1828-1831 has recently been recognized by two writers from the Duke University Law School as having started the abolitionist movement.
After Birney returned to Kentucky, freed his slaves and those of his father and launched an anti-slavery newspaper advocating immediate abolition, his name was purged from the list of lawyers qualified to practice before the Alabama Supreme Court and he was expelled from several societies at the University of Alabama even though he had been a founding trustee.
His recognition has been a long time coming -- 175 years since he left Alabama. Birney's main advocate for the honor was Herman Hoffman "Topper" Birney III, a great-great grandson, who lives in Huntsville. Topper Birney is descended through Birney's son, William, born in Alabama, who served as a major general in the Union Army during the Civil War.
Another descendant, Frank Birney, an actor from Studio City, California, said the honor by Alabama lawyers came after many years of opposition, apparently based on historical prejudices in the South against abolitionists.
James G. Birney will be inducted into the Alabama Lawyers Hall of Fame this coming June.
Topper Birney is continuing his ancestor's fight against inequality. As a member of the Huntsville Board of Education, he struggles against a new development in the racial divide: re-segregation.
Huntsville and much of Alabama are reverting to separate schools - schools divided by race and money, according to news reports from that state.
"I have heard a few blacks say we were doing better when we had segregated schools," Dr. James Dawson, a black member of the Huntsville school board said. "That's false."
Birney attended segregated schools in Huntsville when his father was stationed there during World War II. Birney said he felt deprived by the experience and Dr. Dawson said student success is linked to integration.
"If you grow up with diversity," said Birney, "you'll tend to have a little better understanding." Birney represents an inner city district in Huntsville.
Huntsville schools still operate under a 33-year-old federal court order to desegregate the schools and it could be charged with violating that order. But lately, federal courts have shifted focus from integrating neighborhood schools to ensuring the quality of education in each school.
Birney and Dawson are among city leaders who argue that separate schools can't be equal, that some students will be cheated, that tolerance should be part of a basic education.
In this regard, Birney follows the lead of his great-great grandfather. The Birney name is still controversial in Alabama after all these years but the Alabama Lawyers Association finally has recognized the contributions of James G. Birney to American history.
After living the first 11 years of his life in a small town 17 miles southwest of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Topper Birney moved in 1947 to El Paso, Texas, where his father was working with a group of German rocket scientists. This stay lasted until 1950 when the rocket team was moved to Huntsville, thus changing Huntsville from the watercress capital of the world to Rocket City, USA.
Topper graduated from Huntsville High School and later from the University of Alabama with an engineering degree. After working a few years with the Department of the Army, he transferred to the Marshall Space Flight Center where he spent the rest of his working career.
In 1967, he met a young schoolteacher named Sherry Burnett whom he married the following year. They celebrated the birth of their son Toby in 1971 and the birth of their daughter Kelley in 1973.
Topper spent many of his years in Huntsville as a community volunteer serving various agencies such as Chi Ho, T.A.S.C., CASA, the Food Bank of North Alabama, and the HEALS Clinic. He has also driven the Mobile Soup Van each month since its inception and tutors as often as he can. He is a member of the South Huntsville Kiwanis Club, Madison County Emergency Food and Shelter Board, HEALS Board, CAJA Friends Board and First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).
When Topper retired from NASA in 1993, he wanted to continue his volunteering in Huntsville by helping young children. Topper's volunteer service with Lincoln Elementary School were some of the most rewarding hours he has ever had. Topper later became a substitute teacher, and experience that helped make him aware of the problems teachers face in the classroom and what the schools need to prepare their students for the future.
Sometime during these years as a substitute teacher, the idea of running for the school board entered his mind. This dream became a reality in 2002 when the voters in District 4 elected him to the school board and re-elected him in 2006. He tries to visit each school in the city every year he is in office.
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mlernst Says:
On January 11, 2010
at 07:11 AM
Great story! While growing up in Bay City, I had no idea about the namesake of Birney Street. But what is the story of his Bay City sojourn? I have recently learned of Bay City's probable role in the Underground Railroad. Any connection to Birney?
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