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Civil rights leader dies

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Posted 2:53PM on Tuesday 19th November 2002 ( 22 years ago )
COLUMBUS - Civil rights pioneer A.J. McClung has died. He was 90 years old. <br> <br> 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> <br> In the 1960s, McClung helped negotiate a peaceful desegregation of Columbus while violent confrontations broke out in other cities in the South. <br> <br> Senator Zell Miller says McClung ``demonstrated for all of us that one does not have to raise his voice to be heard clearly.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> Memorial services are being planned and a city-wide celebration will be announced.

http://accesswdun.com/article/2002/11/187486

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