Oral history interview with Cecil Alexander, 2009 July 8
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@ University of West Georgia. Special Collections
Alexander, Cecil
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Cecil Abraham Alexander Jr. (b. 1918) is a prominent architect and former partner of the Atlanta architectural firm, FABRAP. As Alexander's practice prospered during the 1950s, he was motivated to become active in Atlanta's civic and political scene. Atlanta Mayor William B. Hartsfield appointed him chair of the Citizen's Advisory Committee for Urban Renewal, and Mayor Ivan Allen Jr. chose Alexander to lead a number of programs intended to guide Atlanta toward racial equality. Alexander helped to direct the Committee to Mediate Racial Unrest and, with John Lewis, formed the Atlanta Black Jewish Coalition. In 2001, the Georgia General Assembly approved a new state flag that Alexander designed to replace Georgia's 1956 state flag.; Interviewed by Dr. Mel Steely on July 8, 2009 at Alexander's home in Atlanta, Georgia.; Alexander begins by discussing his background, recounting bits and pieces of his family history from family members who had fought in the Revolutionary War, to his father, who had fought in the Civil War under William Sherman. His father, Cecil A. Alexander, Sr., was in the hardware business by the Great Depression and his mother, Julia, was a principal of a school in Montgomery, AL. He describes his youth as growing up with Atlanta and talks about his education. He attended Georgia Institute of Technology initially intending to pursue a degree in mechanical engineering; he soon turned to architecture, realizing that he had no talent for chemistry. Alexander talks about his time at Yale University where he majored in architecture and...
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Steely, MelUniversity of West Georgia. Georgia Political Papers and Oral History Program
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Digital Library of GeorgiaKeywords
- Affirmative Action Programs
- Alexander, Cecil
- Alexander, Doug (Son)
- Alexander, Hermione (Wife)
- America Civil War
- American Institute Of Architects, Atlanta Chapter
- American Jewish Committee
- American Legion, The
- Atlanta Black Jewish Coalition
- Atlanta Constitution
- Atlanta Fulton County Stadium
- Atlanta History Center
- Barnes, Roy Eugene
- Bass Junior High School, Atlanta, Ga
- Bauhaus Architecture
- Beck, Joseph (Joe)
- Bloomingdale, Louise
- Bombing Of The Hebrew Benevolent Congregation Temple (1958)
- Boy's High School, Atlanta, Ga
- Bozar Architecture
- Breuer, Marcel Lajos
- Bundy, Mc George (Mac)
- Callaway, Howard Hollis (Bo)
- Capital City Club
- Carnegie Institute Of Technology
- Civil Rights
- Civil War
- Civilian Pilot Training Program (Cptp)
- Clark Atlanta University
- Coleman, Norman Bertram, Jr. (Norm)
- Commerce Club Atlanta
- Confederate States Army
- Confederate States Of America
- Connolly, Christopher Powell
- Cook, Homer E
- Coulter, Ann Hart
- Cullman, Edgar, Sr
- Depressions
- Dorsey, Hugh
- Episcopal Church
- Farrakhan, Louis
- Finch, Alexander, Barnes, Rothschild, And Pascal, Fabrap
- Finch, James H. (Bill)
- Flag Of Georgia
- Ford, Gerald Rudolph, Jr. Jerry
- Ford, Henry
- Forrest, Nathan Bedford
- Frank, Leo Max
- Franken, Alan Stuart (Al)
- Games Of The Xxvi Olympiad
- Georgia
- Georgia Institute Of Technology
- Georgia Power
- Glidden, Elmer
- Gone With The Wind
- Government
- Governors
- Groover, Denmark, Jr
- Gropius, Walter Adolph Georg
- Hartsfield, William B
- High Museum Of Art, Atlanta, Ga
- Jackson, Maynard Holbrook
- Jaluit Atoll
- Johnson, Conrad A., Jr
- King, Coretta Scott, 1927 2006
- Kiwanis International
- Ku Klux Klan
- La Guardia Airport, New York
- Lane, Mills Bee, Iii
- Legislators
- Lewis, John Robert
- Lies (And The Lying Liars Who Tell Them): A Fair And Balanced Look At The Right
- Little White House, Warm Springs, Ga
- Lovett School, The
- Maddox, Lester Garfield
- Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point
- Marist School, Ga
- Martial Islands
- Marx, David, Rabbi
- Massachusetts Institute Of Technology
- Massell, Ben
- Massell, Sam
- Mc Dougall, Duncan C
- Midway Atoll
- Miller, Zell Bryan
- Mitchell, Margaret
- Montgomery Fairgrounds, Al
- Montgomery, Arthur L
- Murphy, Thomas Bailey (Tom)
- N3 N 3 Yellow Peril
- Neely, Frank H
- Nimitz, Chester William
- North American B 25 Mitchell
- Pan American World Airways
- Patterson, Eugene C
- Pearl Harbor
- Pennsylvania Central Airlines
- Perdue, George Ervin, Iii (Sonny)
- Pierson College, Yale University
- Politics And Government
- Rotary International
- Rothschild, Rocky
- Sherman, William
- Smith College
- Spanish American War
- Sullenberger, Chelsey Burnett, Iii (Sully)
- Temple, The, Atlanta, Ga
- Toombs, Henry J
- Tuskegee Airmen
- United Services Automobile Association (Usaa)
- Uss Gambier Bay (Cve 73)
- Wesleyan College
- Whitney M. Young Jr. Award
- Williams, Hosea Lorenzo
- Williams, Samuel W
- Woodruff, Robert Winship
- World War I (Wwi)
- World War Ii (Wwii)
- Wright Brothers
- Yale University