E. C. Overton

Elisha C. "Doc" Overton, Jr (born 1919) was an optometrist and five-term member of the Birmingham City Council.

Overton served in the Pacific in World War II as a Marine Corps pilot.

His optometrist's office was located in a former residence at 2105 Warrior Road near Avenue V in Five Points West.

Overton was one of the first nine members of the Birmingham City Council elected at-large to a two-year term in the 1963 Birmingham municipal election and was re-elected to four-year terms in the 1965, 1969, 1973 and 1977 Birmingham municipal elections.

Overton was considered to be a "moderate" segregationist. He sided with Mayor Albert Boutwell in opposing the implementation of concessions made in the Birmingham Truce to end demonstrations by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights such as the creation of a bi-racial committee. However, he was endorsed in the 1965 runoff by the Jefferson County Progressive Democratic Council.

During his time on the council, Overton served on the Public Improvements committee and oversaw the reopening of city swimming pools in 1970 and landscaping improvements to Bush Boulevard. Overton spoke out against the proliferation of independent suburbs, warning of the danger to Birmingham, the "mother city."

Overton also sang in the choir at Central Park Baptist Church. He and his family lived on 47th Street Ensley.

References

• Cotton, Stephen E. (November 13, 1965) "Birmingham Negroes Get the Men They Want." Southern Courier
• Eskew, Glenn T. (1997) But for Birmingham: The Local and National Movements in the Civil Rights Struggle. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 0807846678