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Alabama
Political repression plays out state by state — shaped by local institutions, prosecutors, and movements for defense. These are the documented political prisoners and cases the census holds for Alabama.
283Documented
5In custody
166Released
3Awaiting trial
Eras of repression in Alabama
Where Alabama’s entries fall across the census’s historical eras.
1930s 177
1960s 39
1970s 26
2020s 11
1950s 10
1980s 4
Recent dashboard entries from Alabama
The newest published events and reporting located in Alabama, updated automatically from the live dashboard.
Protest
About 400 march silently to the Edmund Pettus Bridge in an 'All Roads Lead to the South' voting-rights action
Protest
Thousands attend protests in Selma and Montgomery for voting rights
Prosecution
The Justice Department indicted the Southern Poverty Law Center on 11 federal fraud and money-laundering counts; the civil-rights group pleaded not guilty, called it a vindictive, politically motivated prosecution, and moved to dismiss the case
Prosecution
Fairhope "No Kings" costume protester Renea Gamble acquitted on all charges
Arrest
Woman in an inflatable costume arrested at the Fairhope No Kings protest
Protest
About 5,000 rally at Railroad Park for a Birmingham No Kings protest
Protest
A No Kings rally draws a crowd at the Houston County Courthouse in Dothan
Protest
Jeana Gamble arrested in a costume at an Alabama "No Kings" protest; acquitted of all charges
Documented cases
283 entries in the census — every one stays in the record, whether the case is open or closed.
R
Robert Washington
Released
Robert Washington was a Black organizer and local International Labor Defense leader in Alabama. Police jailed...
E
Eric Weinberger
Eric Weinberger was detained during civil-rights demonstrations reported in May 1963.
G
George West
George West was jailed near Tuskegee with his father Robert. A March 1921 report alleges racial hostility and...
R
Robert West
Robert West was jailed near Tuskegee with his son George. A March 1921 report alleges white farmers seized the...
A
Alfred White
Released
Alfred White was a Black sharecropper and Share Croppers' Union member wounded and arrested in the 19 December...
P
Pierce White
Released
Pierce White was a white farmer in the federal Rural Rehabilitation program at Lafayette, Chambers County, Ala...
J
Julia Wilder
Julia Wilder was a Black voting-rights organizer in Pickens County, Alabama, and president of the Pickens Coun...
F
Frank Williams
Frank Williams organized Birmingham’s Unemployment Council. Angelo Herndon recalls police raiding the council’...
L
Lewis Williams
Lewis was one of eight Black workers arrested in Birmingham home raids after the Cotta-Seville church relief p...
S
Saul Williams
Saul Williams was a Black worker in Bessemer, Alabama. A Bessemer dispatch dated February 1 in the Daily Worke...
S
Sol Williams
Sol Williams was a Bessemer activist reported kidnapped from his home in January 1935.
Black Bessemer militan...
A
Arthur Wilson
Released
Arthur Wilson was a conscientious objector from Alabama imprisoned during World War I. Court-martialed for ref...
J
Johnny Lee Wilson
Released
Johnny Lee Wilson was one of the eleven Atmore-Holman Brothers — Alabama prisoners and active members of Inmat...
N
Nora Wilson
Nora Wilson, a Black domestic worker, was imprisoned at Wetumpka in 1940 after defending her sister against a...
T
Tom Wilson
Tom Wilson was a Communist Party district organizer in Birmingham. Herndon saw police handcuff and take him aw...
B
Ben Winston
Ben Winston was among the Black iron-ore strikers arrested by National Guard troops near the Wenona mine, acco...
W
Willie Witcher
Released
Willie Witcher was a Share Croppers Union striker in Lowndes County, Alabama. He was shot and beaten on the Be...
C
Cornelius Wood
Cornelius Wood was an Alabama sharecropper imprisoned during the December 1932 repression of the Share Cropper...
E
Emmet Wood
Released
Emmet Wood was an Alabama sharecropper held in Macon County Jail at Tuskegee during the repression of the Shar...
Institutions in Alabama
Prisons, jails, and detention centers in Alabama that appear in the census’s case files.
Birmingham City JailBirmingham, Alabama
20 cases
Kilby PrisonMontgomery, Alabama
11 cases
Atmore State PrisonAtmore, Alabama
8 cases
Holman PrisonAtmore, Alabama
7 cases
Montgomery City JailMontgomery, Alabama
4 cases
Jefferson County Jail (Birmingham, Alabama)Birmingham, Alabama
4 cases
Montgomery County JailMontgomery, Alabama
3 cases
Etowah County JailGadsden, Alabama
1 case