Gentle Giant of Dynamite Hill

Arthur Davis Shores, a lawyer and Smithfield real estate developer near Birmingham, played a central role in African Americans' legal fight to build and buy houses where they wished, including on the "White side" of Center Street and in any other neighborhood, and housing was one of many legal fronts he fought in the battle for civil rights for Blacks throughout his long career. Though short in stature, he loomed large in Birmingham for his courage in the face of blatant disrespect, opposition, and violence because of his race. Born in 1904 near Birmingham, Shores received an associate bachelor's degree from Talladega College in 1927, taught and served as a local high school principal, and met his wife Theodora, a teacher. Although his peers ridiculed his ambition to be a lawyer in Alabama, he completed his law degree through an extension course from Chicago's LaSalle University in 1934 and had already passed the Alabama State Bar exam in 1931, becoming one of only three Black lawyers in the state at the time. From 1940 to 1950, after the other two retired, he was the only licensed Black lawyer in Alabama, and his daughters Helen and Barbara later reflected that he devoted his legal career to the advancement of African Americans' civil and human rights.

Birmingham, Alabama · United States