HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — A visionary, leader of faith, and advocate for education and equality. Dr. William Hooper Councill's footprint embedded in the very history of Huntsville.
Councill's journey took him from slavery to a lasting Huntsville legacy.
ALABAMA A&M UNIVERSITY
"I walked three miles, three times a week, for lessons a week in physics and chemistry, and pay to learn professor fifty cents for each lesson. God forbid that anybody White or Black, should ever be forced to battle against such odds."
Those words from Dr. William Hooper Councill are echoed by the writer of his first-ever biography. Author and Alabama A&M University alumnus Eddie Davis, Jr. shares the passion of Councill's first love...striving toward educational excellence.
Davis explains, "[Councill] was the first ex-slave to found and become president of a college in America. And as a boy he was sold on the auction block here on this ground." That ground would later become Alabama A&M University, founded in 1875. Davis said he was really able to witness the sacrifices that Councill made to provide an education for descendants of slaves and freedmen during that period.
Councill was born on July 12, 1848 in Fayettville, North Carolina on Councill plantation and was one of four sons. He was purchased by a Huntsville slaveowner, Judge D.C. Humphreys. Councill and his mother and brother fled north and Councill returned to Alabama after the civil war in 1865. Councill later learned at a Quaker school in Jackson County, and became a teacher at the county school system in 1868.
ST. JOHN AME CHURCH
His passion to establish an institution for higher learning was followed by his establishment of St. John AME church in 1885.
Barbara Johnson, St. John AME Steward, Historian, says, "African Methodism was very influential in the South. And he loved the African Methodist Episcopal philosphy because it was based in African culture. The actual first service for St. John was held at a barber shop which was located on West Miller and Holmes Street."
Huntsville historian William Hampton says Councill was a "civil rights pioneer in his own right"… by purchasing a first class train ticket during the Jim Crow Era. "He was asked to remove himself from a first class section. Dr. Councill did not so, and was forcibly removed from that first class section and he sued the interstate commerce, " says Hampton.
WILLIAM HOOPER COUNCILL HIGH SCHOOL PARK MEMORIAL
His name further carried on in education with the opening of Huntsville's first public African American school in 1892: William Hooper Councill High School. The school closed in 1966 due to integration. In October 2020, the city opened William Hooper Councill High School Park and later unveiled his statue in December.
James Donaldson, one of the school's former students - taking a walk down memory lane - says he feels joy. He attended the school in 1960. "[It's] all so heartfelt. I remember when the park first opened, and I was able to walk through, I was very excited to that we had this memorial for the school."
Councill died on April 9, 1909. He's buried with his wife, Maria H. Councill, on the campus of Alabama A&M University. His legacy still lives on. Donaldson says that, "When we think about Huntsville and education, that statue to me it solidifies the impact Dr. Councill made regardless of ethnicity in Huntsville, and he solidified his stamp when it comes to educational excellence."