Alex Stanton

Alex is from Notasulga, a rural town approximately 10 miles from Tuskegee.  Although children from Notasulga had their own segregated elementary schools during Jim Crow, there were no segregated middle or high schools for them to attend.  Consequently, Black children had to ride buses approximately 12 miles to go to segregated Black middle and high schools in Tuskegee.

While poverty was more striking in Notasulga, basic church values and community relationships were strong.  Alex writes comedically about his mother’s efforts to help him and his siblings grow up to be good Christians and citizens without sparing the rod. Despite the poverty, unequal pay, discrimination, and constant reminders of the domination of the Klu Klux Klan in Notasulga during this time, most Black families strove to improve their fate, especially through educating their children.

Alex earned a good living for his family as a service worker in a local business in the area.  His children all went to Notasulga High after our classmates integrated it in 1964. Alex is very proud that all of his children either went to college or trade school. His great-granddaughter recently graduated valedictorian at Notasulga High School.

Alex became a respected member of the formerly all-White Notasulga Volunteer Fire Department, exclaiming, “If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em!”