Federal courthouse to be named for civil rights attorney

ALBANY - Albany&#39;s new federal courthouse will be named Friday for C.B. King, the first black attorney to set foot in a courtroom in the city. <br> <br> Georgia Court of Appeals Judge Herbert Phipps says King did so much good work in that courthouse and it&#39;s only fitting that it should be named for him. <br> <br> King died in 1988. Since he first appeared in an Albany courtroom in October 1954, he waged legal battles to end literacy tests barring blacks from voting, to desegregate schools in Albany and other areas and to integrate the city government&#39;s work force. <br> <br> He also worked to increase black representation on courthouse juries and represented Martin Luther King Junior, who was not related to C.B. King, in local court. <br> <br> King&#39;s successes and failures shaped Albany&#39;s history. <br> <br> King won a reversal on the conviction of an Early County defendant who was arrested, arraigned and sentenced to death in two days. <br> <br> But he was not able to stop the federal conviction of his brother, Preston King, for dodging the Vietnam War draft. <br> <br> His victories allowed his clients to continue fighting for civil rights long after they left the courthouse. <br> <br> The federal legislation designating the naming of the courthouse was sponsored by the late U.S. Sen. Paul Coverdell and U.S. Representative Sanford Bishop.