TUSKEGEE, Ala. — Fred Gray has a well-deserved medal for his civil right work. At a ceremony at the White House in 2022, the famous civil rights attorney from Tuskegee joined 16 others who received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Joe Biden.
“When Rosa Parks refused to move to the back of the bus, Fred Gray represented her at the front of the courtroom,” began Gray’s introduction during the medal ceremony. Gray stood alongside Biden, as a brief history of his accomplishments were listed.
“Fred’s legal brilliance and strategy desegregated schools and secured the right to vote,” Biden said. “He went on to be elected as one of the first African Americans elected to the Alabama legislature since Reconstruction. An ordained minister, he imbued a righteous calling that touched the soul of our nation.”
At 91, Gray still actively practices law and can be found most days in his Tuskegee law office.