Art Hanes Biography

Quick Facts

NAME: Art Hanes
OCCUPATION: Lawyer, Mayor
BIRTH DATE: October 19, 1916
DEATH DATE: May 08, 1997
PLACE OF DEATH: Birmingham, Alabama
AKA: Arthur J. Hanes Sr.
AKA: Arthur Hanes Sr.
AKA: Arthur Hanes
Full Name: Arthur Jackson Hanes Sr.
AKA: Arthur Jackson Hanes
AKA: Arthur J. Hanes
AKA: Art Hanes

Best Known For

Art Hanes was mayor of Birmingham, Alabama, between 1961 and 1963. He actively opposed racial integration.

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Art Hanes

APA Style

Art Hanes. (2013). The Biography Channel website. Retrieved 04:29, May 23, 2013, from http://www.biography.com/people/art-hanes-370154.

Harvard Style

Art Hanes. [Internet]. 2013. The Biography Channel website. Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/art-hanes-370154 [Accessed 23 May 2013].

MLA Style

"Art Hanes." 2013. The Biography Channel website. May 23 2013, 04:29 http://www.biography.com/people/art-hanes-370154.

MHRA Style

"Art Hanes," The Biography Channel website, 2013, http://www.biography.com/people/art-hanes-370154 [accessed May 23, 2013].

Chicago Style

"Art Hanes," The Biography Channel website, http://www.biography.com/people/art-hanes-370154 (accessed May 23, 2013).

CBE/CSE Style

Art Hanes [Internet]. The Biography Channel website; 2013 [cited 2013 May 23] Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/art-hanes-370154.

Bluebook Style

Art Hanes, http://www.biography.com/people/art-hanes-370154 (last visited May 23, 2013).

AMA Style

Art Hanes. The Biography Channel website. 2013. Available at: http://www.biography.com/people/art-hanes-370154. Accessed May 23, 2013.

Synopsis

Born on October 19, 1916, Art Hanes was mayor of Birmingham, Alabama from 1961 to 1963. When the federal court forced him to open public spaces to all residents, Hanes cut all funding to such facilities. After his term, he worked as a lawyer on several infamous cases. He represented Robert Chambliss who was tried for bombing the 16th Street Baptist Church and Ku Klux Klan members accused of killing a civil rights worker.

Hindering Civil Rights

Art Hanes, born on October 19, 1916, gained notoriety for his support of segregation in the United States during the 1960s. He served as mayor of Birmingham, Alabama, from 1961 to 1963, as part of the city commission. During his tenure, Hanes actively opposed racial integration. The city was ordered by a federal court to open its parks and other public places to all residents in 1961. In response to this order, Hanes and the rest of the city commission decided to cut all funding to these facilities instead of allowing blacks and whites to use the same pools, playgrounds and golf courses.

Later Life

After his term ended, Hanes worked as a lawyer for a number of years. He became involved in several infamous cases. Hanes represented Robert Chambliss who was tried for the 1963 bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, which killed four young African-American girls. The case floundered for years before Chambliss was finally convicted in 1977.

In 1965, Hanes represented three Ku Klux Klan members accused of murdering civil rights worker Viola Gregg Liuzzo. He successfully defended them in state court, but they were later convicted on federal charges related to the murder.

Working with his son, Arthur Hanes Jr., Hanes also served as co-counsel for James Earl Ray, the man who assassinated civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., in 1968. Ray dismissed them on the day his trial was supposed to begin??a move that is believed to have been an effort to stall the trial. Ray later pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 99 years in prison.

Hanes died on May 8, 1997, in Birmingham, Alabama, at the age of 80.