View source for Jonathan McPherson

[[File:1974 McPherson campaign ad.jpg|right|thumb|375px|1974 campaign ad for McPherson]]
'''Jonathan McPherson''' is pastor of [[St John Baptist Church]] in [[Edgewater]], operator of the [[Scott-McPherson Funeral Home]] in [[Fairfield]], and a former [[Miles College]] chemistry professor and [[Civil rights movement|Civil Rights]] activist.

McPherson and student [[Frank Dukes]] worked together to plan the [[1962]] [[Selective Buying Campaign]] and guarded homes in [[Dynamite Hill]] used as meeting places for leaders of the [[1963]] [[Birmingham Campaign]]. He, along with Dukes, [[U. W. Clemon]] and [[Shelley Millender]] delivered a petition in favor of [[desegregation]] to the [[Birmingham City Commission]] during a public meeting. He was jailed along with [[Martin Luther King, Jr]] and other protesters in April 1963.

Later that year, McPherson became the first African American to pass the patrolman examination given by the [[Birmingham Police Department]]. He also passed civil service examinations for firefighter, clerk, and deputy sheriff. His application to become a police officer was initially rejected because it was claimed he failed to appear for an interview (of which he claims never to have been notified). In October, Birmingham personnel director [[Ray Mullins]] told the ''[[Birmingham News]]'' that McPherson had failed a credit check (which he also denies). His application was ultimately rejected because he had moved to [[Hueytown]]. The department hired its first black officer, [[Leroy Stover]], in [[1966]].

A Ph.D. recipient, McPherson taught chemistry at Miles for 28 years and assumed operations of the Scott-McPherson Funeral Home in [[1978]].

McPherson ran for [[Jefferson County Commission]] in [[1974]], for the [[7th Congressional District of Alabama]] in [[1992 primary elections|1992]], and to represent [[Alabama House District 57|District 57]] in the [[Alabama State House of Representatives]] in [[2006 primary elections|2006]]. In 1992 McPherson ran on the Republican ticket, but supported Barack Obama in the [[2008 general election|2008 election]].

==References==
* Gray, Jeremy (February 28, 2011) "Martin Luther King guard, Birmingham's Rev. Jonathan McPherson, working on memoir." {{BN}}
* Gray, Jeremy (October 31, 2013) "How a chemistry professor nearly became Birmingham's first black police officer in 1963." {{BN}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:McPherson, Jonathan}}
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Miles College alumni]]
[[Category:Miles College faculty]]
[[Category:Civil rights activists]]
[[Category:Baptist ministers]]
[[Category:Authors]]