1972 Billy Graham Alabama Crusade
Evangelist Billy Graham's 1972 Alabama Crusade was held May 14–21 at Legion Field.
The event helped celebrate Birmingham's selection as an All-American City by the National Municipal League. It was marked by the attempt on Governor George Wallace's life while he campaigned for president in Laurel, Maryland.
Platform guests included Bear Bryant, Mary Bryant Joe Namath, Ray Perkins, Tom Landry, Scott Hunter, Mike Kolen and others. Perkins, Landry and Kolen gave their testimonies during the event. The Crusade Choir was joined by Tedd Smith and John Innes and by musical guest Norma Zimmer of the Lawrence Welk Show.
Both Graham and local press took the event as an opportunity to compare conditions in 1972 with those surrounding Graham's last rally in 1964. To many at the time, the significant improvements in racial tensions suggested that the city had solved its most distressing problems. The Crusade Choir, notably, was racially integrated.
References
- Wirt, Sherwood Eliot (1997) Billy: A Personal Look at the World's Best Loved Evangelist. Crossway Books.
- Miller, Steven P. (Winter 2007) "'Another Kind of March': Billy Graham in Civil Rights Era Alabama." Alabama Heritage. No. 83, p. 41-48.
External links
- Video from the 1972 Greater Alabama Crusade with Tom Landry, Norma Zimmer, the Crusade Choir, and Billy Graham