Isom Clemon Civil Rights MEMORIAL PARK

The Local 1410 Union Hall was the hub of not only longshoremen labor, but also Black empowerment. In the 1940s and 50s, 80% of the African American community had a family member working at the Alabama State Docks.

Despite the difficult, everyday conditions of the Jim Crow South, the collective bargaining power of unions granted Black families the ability to gain financial independence.

The Union Hall is one of the few remaining anchors of Davis Avenue, renamed Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue in 1986, which was the center of business, shopping, socializing and entertainment for the Black community. Workers gathered here to share stories and also resources that helped lift up the entire community.

Isom Clemon served as President of the ILA Local 1410 during the height of the Civil Rights Movement. Clemon fought steadily to address specific workers issues. He fought to increase pension and welfare benefits, as well as to address political representation and advocated for civil rights for the greater community. He was a founding member of the Black Political Caucus of Alabama, later re-named the Alabama Democratic Caucus (ADC) in 1960.

Through his work, Clemon was instrumental in winning voting rights for Black citizens of Alabama. In the 21st century, Black voters constitute a majority in the State party and Alabama has seated more Black delegates per capita at the National Democratic Convention than any other state.

Isom Clemon’s lifetime of work within the ILA Local 1410 reminds us of the power of organized labor. His lifelong commitment to the power of the Vote, and to people of this community serve as an inspiration for restoration, reclamation, and revitalization of this historic American landscape.

In the decade of turmoil following the assassination of President Kennedy in 1963 and Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1968, racial tensions were high in Mobile. The issues raised by the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s were still largely unresolved. Powerful and long-standing local organizations rose to meet those challenges. The rights of African Americans have been vigorously and successfully defended and expanded throughout the 20th century by Alabamians and the success continues to this day.

In December 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on the case Allen v. Milligan affirming that the State of Alabama in failing to create a federal court-ordered second majority African American Congressional district was in violation of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the 14th Amendment to the Constitution. District 2 which connects majority African American voters from Mobile across South Alabama with Montgomery was created.

From 1911 until 1985, Mobile, Alabama had a three person, at-large commission form of government that functioned to deny Black Mobilians political representation. The landmark Supreme Court Case, Bolden v. City of Mobile, first argued in 1979, asserted that this form of government violated the 14th and 15th Amendments to the Constitution. The Court initially held that the City was not in violation. The decision was only overturned after a 1909 “smoking gun” letter was discovered that revealed the racist intent of the Commission form of government.

In 1985, Mobile’s state legislators proposed a mayor-council form of government for the City, consisting of seven members to be elected from single-member districts, with the mayor to be elected at-large. The three African Americans elected to the council that fall became the first Blacks to hold city office since Reconstruction. Even so, the lack of political representation during the 1960s and 70s resulted in Urban Renewal practices that erased and devalued this important neighborhood.