Business Growth Strategy

The Birmingham Civil Rights Institute is honoring the life and legacy of one of its founding members.Earlier this month, Odessa Woolfolk, a lifelong advocate for civil rights and a champion of social justice, was named the recipient of the 2024 Fred L. Shuttlesworth Human Rights Award.A beacon of change in the community, Shuttlesworth devoted himself to challenging segregation, establishing the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights, as well as joining Martin Luther King Jr. in the formation of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.Recipients of the prestigious award are said to embody Shuttlesworths spirit of courage, determination, and unwavering commitment to justice, all of which shine through as major facets of Woolfolks character.Born in Birminghams Titusville community, Woolfolk graduated from Parker High School before attending Talladega College, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts in history and political science.She also obtained a Master of Arts in urban studies at Occidental College in California and was a national urban fellow at Yale University, according to the Alabama Academy of Honor.Following her studies, Woolfolk returned to Birmingham, where she began a career as an educator, taking a teaching job at the now-closed Ullman High School in the early 60s. While there, she played an instrumental role in shaping the minds of several foot soldiers in the Civil Rights Movement, many of whom marched with Shuttlesworth and King.Woolfolk then left the classroom behind to pursue a career in public policy, holding positions at the Urban Reinvestment Task Force in Washington, D.C., as well as the New York State Urban Development Corporation, YWCA, and Arbor Hill Community Center and Inter-Racial Council in New York.In the 1970s, Woolfolk was once again called home to Alabama when she was tasked with heading up the Birmingham Opportunity Industrialization Center and the Jefferson County Committee for Economic Opportunity as executive director and associate executive director, respectively.Her return to the Magic City also marked her return to the field of education. She held various positions at UAB, including lecturer, staff associate, assistant to the president for community relations and director of the Center for Urban Affairs for more than 20 years until her retirement in the early 90s.In 1992, Woolfolk played a key role in founding the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, serving as both its first president and board chair.The Birmingham Civil Rights Institute signifies that Birmingham does not hide from its past, Woolfolk once wrote. It acknowledges that where once the city housed two people, Black and White, unknown to one another except through the painful thread of segregation, Birmingham now embraces its past, neither forgetting nor dwelling on it, but using it to foster understanding.The Institute recognizes the redemptive importance of memory, she continued. It is both a time capsule, and a modern day think-tank focused on seeking equitable solutions to common problems. In some ways the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute functions as a town square where the community gathers to discuss common concerns. It is a place where yesterdays struggles inspire a brighter tomorrow. It is a meeting ground for the makers of everyday history, and for those who write about the present.Woolfolk will receive the award at the Institutes 32nd-anniversary celebration Thursday between 4 and 7 p.m.Miss Woolfolk embodies truly the civic leadership, human rights advocacy, education and the power that it brings for us to connect, for us to advance forward, for us to all really be empowered in our own capabilities, BCRI Vice President Tiffani Saxton said. As we were thinking about reimagining the Institute and sitting down to evaluate the opportunity to honor someone, she just rose to the top as someone who embodies true opportunity to bring our community together–connect across generations She is one of our most esteemed citizens, and we don’t want to miss the opportunity to engage her in that way and to bring forward the opportunity to honor her. Mostly because she just truly deserves it.She’s standing up for human rights organizations and leadership organizations here in the city. It’s just the perfect person who connects both the past and the present and the future.