COLUMBUS - Civil rights pioneer A.J. McClung has died. He was 90 years old. <br>
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McClung was the first black person ever to serve as mayor of a major Southern city -- Columbus. He was a member of the Columbus Council for 28 years. After Mayor J.R. Allen was killed in 1973 in a plane crash, McClung stepped in to serve as mayor for 52 days. <br>
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In the 1960s, McClung helped negotiate a peaceful desegregation of Columbus while violent confrontations broke out in other cities in the South. <br>
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Senator Zell Miller says McClung ``demonstrated for all of us that one does not have to raise his voice to be heard clearly.'' <br>
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Memorial services are being planned and a city-wide celebration will be announced.
