Dr. Lucius Holsey Pitts, Sr.

Dr. Lucius Holsey Pitts, Sr. was born on February 28, 1915, in James, Georgia. Pitts served as President of Miles College in Fairfield, Alabama from 1961-1970. Throughout the 1960s, Pitts provided guidance and support to Miles College students, faculty, and staff as they championed many of the civil rights marches, boycotts, and protests in Birmingham, Alabama. In addition to supporting the student’s non-violent protests and actively participating and taking a leadership role in protest movements, Pitts successfully righted Miles College’s finances and secured the college’s accreditation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges in 1969. In 1971, Pitts became the first alumnus and African American President of Paine College in Augusta, Georgia.

As President of Miles College, Pitts was a key figure in the community and played a major role in the Civil Rights Movement in Birmingham. With the extreme pressure of balancing his support of student activism and the safety of his students, in February 1962, Pitts organized meetings between Miles students and Birmingham business and community leaders in an attempt to avert a student led boycott of segregated businesses. After several meetings, a small number of stores integrated water fountains and elevators, but maintained segregation throughout most of their establishments. Because full integration was not implemented, Miles students began the “Selective Buying Campaign” in March 1962, boycotting businesses that supported segregation. This campaign was the precursor to other protests that eventually led to the end of segregation in Birmingham.

In 1963, Pitts became a member of the “Central Committee” formed by the leaders of the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights (ACMHR), the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and other civil rights activists to create mass protests in 1963. The movement’s joint “Central Committee” met regularly at the A. G. Gaston Motel to coordinate plans and issue statements to the press. The Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights coordinated boycotts and sponsored federal lawsuits aimed at dismantling segregation in Birmingham and across Alabama through the 1950s and 1960s. Fred Shuttlesworth, pastor of Bethel Baptist Church, served as president of the group from its founding in 1956 until 1969. The ACMHR was responsible for inviting Martin Luther King, Jr, and Ralph Abernathy to come to Birmingham to lead mass demonstrations in 1963. On the day after the 1963 mayoral election, won by Albert Boutwell, the ACMHR distributed the “Birmingham Manifesto”, outlining the purpose and demands of the “Birmingham Campaign.” In 1969, Pitts was appointed co-chair of a biracial community relations committee organized through Operation New Birmingham to respond to ongoing concerns of the African American community. The committee, named Community Affairs Committee (CAC), continues to meet each Monday morning under the auspices of REV Birmingham.

In 1971, Pitts returned to his alma mater, Paine College, to become its 9th President, the first alumnus and African American to lead the college. At Paine he led the efforts to rebuild Haygood Hall, built in 1899 and destroyed by fire in 1968. Pitts died on February 25, 1974, in Augusta, Georgia. He was buried on the campus of Paine College next to Gilbert-Lambuth Memorial Chapel.