An Homage to Southern leaders of our Nation.

[Rider Haggard]

Thomas Jefferson
MLK
Truman Capote
Jimmy carter
Bill Clinton
Mark Twain (Conceived in TN, Grew up in MO)
Every Man A king guy, Mr. Long

And many many more. Help me fill in the blanks.

[southerncrone]

1. Al Gore

[Rider Haggard]

7. But he was smart???!!! n/t

[Are_grits_groceries]

2. Judge Frank Johnson

[Jane Austin]

6. Amen!! . . . . . . n/t

[Odin2005]

3. YOU FORGOT AL GORE!!! How could you!?!

[LuvNewcastle]

4. Washington, Madison

[Dogmudgeon]

5. Permit me the honor af adding a few names

George Washington
William Faulkner
Ralph Bunche (African-American scholar and Nobel Prize winner)
John T. Scopes (teacher prosecuted for teaching evolution)
Chester Nimitz
Omar Bradley
Joel Chandler Harris (early anthropologist/folklorist who also collected the Uncle Remus stories)
Paul Anderson (one of the first "strongman" weight lifters, Olympian, philanthropist, juvenile prison reformist)
Francis Scott Key
Henry Watterson (journalist and one-time Confederate soldier who strongly supported the early Civil Rights movement(s))
James Oglethorpe (early governor of Georgia, literary patron, social reformer)
George Mason
Harriet Tubman
Helen Keller
Sequoyah (aka George Gist) (invented the Cherokee alphabet, among other accomplishments)
Henry Clay (like Al Gore, as illustrious southerner whom the South defeated for President over emotional and trivial political issues)

The South isn't all just the Knuckleheaded Knights of the KKK, and Bubba, The Prison Rapist.

I'm sure I missed a few of the other greats.

--d!

[Rider Haggard]

8. What a great list!

And (as you and I both know) there are so many more.

[unc70]

9. Three of my NC heros -- Dr Frank, Terry Sanford, and Bill Friday

Dr. Frank Porter Graham was possibly THE leading liberal in the South in the 1930's and 1940's. Led the University of North Carolina, was the "father" of Social Security, an early civil rights leader, a Senator, and much more.

Terry Sanford -- governor, senator, president of Duke University. After law school, Sanford got his political start working for Dr. Frank. In 1960, he nominated JFK and lead the successful campaign that delivered NC for JFK. He guided NC through desegregation while avoiding the widespread problems of many other states, and he was responsible for significant advances in NC public education at all levels.

Bill Friday -- president of the University of North Carolina System for many years, active since "retirement" in various public and private foundations and boards making a difference in NC and through-out the world. While the issues of education and poverty are his main focus, he also co-chaired the Knight commission on college athletics.

I have had the privilege of knowing each of these gentlemen, and I am honored to count Bill Friday and his wife Ida among my friends.

[RubyDuby in GA]

10. John Lewis

[Rider Haggard]

11. Another great name not mentioned in the OP/

Thanks.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

12. John Coltrane, Eudora Welty, William Faulkner, Harper Lee, Barbara Jordan, Sissy Spacek.

To name a few.

[Va Lefty]

13. Claude Pepper

A former Senator from Fla, he was elected to the House in 1962. He fought tirelessly for the rights of Senior Citizens and preservation of Social Security. In 1986 championed a bill which abolished mandatory retirement ages