Sources & Credits
Where this came from
This site draws on two recorded interviews, newspaper archives, a research file compiled by Frederick Burger, and the memories of the Rodgers family. Every fact, quote, and image links back to where it came from.
Bibliography
Oral Histories
Alabama Oral History No. 93: Dr. Gordon A. Rodgers Jr.
Interview by Shaun Simmons for Dr. Suzanne Marshall’s oral history project, April 12, 1995. Courtesy of Jacksonville State University, Houston Cole Library.
Jacksonville State University, Houston Cole Library · 1995-04-12
Dr. Gordon A. Rodgers Jr. on Blacks in Anniston
Interview recorded April 17, 2002, Frederick Burger Research Collection. Courtesy of the Public Library of Anniston-Calhoun County Digital Collections.
Public Library of Anniston-Calhoun County · 2002-04-17
Newspapers & Periodicals
“Gordon Rodgers, Anniston dentist, civil rights leader, activist dies at 92”
William Thornton, The Birmingham News, December 27, 2007. Via the Burger research file.
The Birmingham News · 2007-12-27
Birmingham News clipping on the NAACP in Alabama
The Birmingham News, March 26, 1956, p. 11. Via the Burger research file.
The Birmingham News · 1956-03-26
“Sands is driven to improve communities”
Linda Rosley Dailey, Columbus Ledger-Enquirer, February 6, 1995. Included in the JSU oral history documentation.
Columbus Ledger-Enquirer · 1995-02-06
“Dr. Beverly Rodgers”
The Anniston Star, profile of Dr. Beverly Rodgers (undated).
The Anniston Star
Subscriber access; also available through library newspaper databases.
Rodgers, Hodges win council seats
Patricia Greene and Howard Miller, The Anniston Star; photograph by Ken Elkins. Clipping from the Rodgers family collection.
Rodgers family collection
Undated clipping.
Documents & Archival Files
Rodgers, Dr. Gordon A. Jr. (research file, burger0320)
Frederick Burger Research Collection, Public Library of Anniston-Calhoun County. Includes interview notes and newspaper clippings.
Public Library of Anniston-Calhoun County
Legal Records
Scott v. City of Anniston, 682 F.2d 1353 (11th Cir. 1982)
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, 1982.
Web Sources
Anniston Civil Rights Trail: West 15th Street Historic District
City of Anniston Civil Rights Trail.
City of Anniston
The Radio Jock and Preacher Who Redeemed a Southern Town
Andrew Dubbins, The Daily Beast.
The Daily Beast
Samuel U. Rodgers Health Center history
Samuel U. Rodgers Health Center, Kansas City, Missouri.
Dr. Gordon Alexander Rodgers Sr. (Find a Grave #59474154)
Find a Grave, contributed memorial.
Anniston Civil Rights Trail: Human Relations Council
City of Anniston Civil Rights Trail.
City of Anniston
Obituary of the Rev. Dr. James Phillips Noble
A.S. Turner & Sons Funeral Home, obituary of Dr. James Phillips Noble.
A.S. Turner & Sons
Attack on Freedom Riders, 1961
Encyclopedia of Alabama, Alabama Humanities Alliance.
Encyclopedia of Alabama
Dr. Gordon A. Rodgers Sr. and Jr. Legacy Scholarship
Meharry Medical College scholarship listing. Dedication confirmed by the family.
Meharry Medical College
Family Sources
Rodgers family
Family knowledge and records, shared by the Rodgers family.
Credits & thanks
This memorial exists because several institutions and individuals preserved Dr. Rodgers's voice and paper trail for decades and then generously made it available. We are grateful to:
- Jacksonville State University, Houston Cole Library — for recording, preserving, and sharing Alabama Oral History No. 93.
- Dr. Suzanne Marshall — for directing the 1995 oral history project that produced the interview.
- Shaun Simmons — who conducted the 1995 interview with care and patience.
- The Public Library of Anniston-Calhoun County and theFrederick Burger Research Collection — for the 2002 interview, the research file, and decades of local civil-rights documentation.
- The Birmingham News — for the reporting that recorded his life and his death.
- The Columbus Ledger-Enquirer — for its 1995 profile connecting his work to his daughter Michelle's.
- The City of Anniston Civil Rights Trail — for marking and preserving the sites where this history happened.
Thank you also to the Rodgers family members who checked facts, correcting names, and sharing what the historical record alone could not.
How this site was made
The two recorded interviews were transcribed automatically using Parakeet, a speech-to-text model, then cleaned up with AI assistance to fix names, places and words the machine misheard. They have not yet been fully checked against the audio by the family.The recording is always the authoritative version; the transcript is a reading aid.
Facts drawn from web research, library catalogs, and the oral histories were cross-checked against each other. Where two or more independent sources agree, or a primary record confirms a fact, it is markedVerified. Where one good source supports a fact and nothing contradicts it, it is marked Probable. Family memories or single-source claims not yet corroborated elsewhere are marked Uncertain. The goal is honesty about what is well established and what is still being confirmed, not certainty for its own sake.
The site itself is built with Astro and hosted as a static site, maintained by Dr. Rodgers's grandson.
Corrections & takedown requests
Every recording, transcript, and scan on this site was already freely available from the institution that holds it, and each item carries credit and a link back to the original above.
If you hold rights to anything here and would like it removed, corrected, or credited differently — or if you simply believe something here is wrong — please tell us. Use thesame form we use for memories and choose "A correction" or "A rights or removal request" from the menu. We read every submission and will act promptly.
Help us fill the gaps
This site will keep growing. Some dates and details in Dr. Rodgers's life are still being confirmed, and photographs, letters, and documents almost certainly exist that we don't yet have copies of.
One open question in particular:
- The photographs with Dr. King. The family has two photographs of Dr. Rodgers with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., one of them at a dinner table with three other men. We don't know when or where they were taken, or who the other men are.
If you have a photograph, a document, or a memory of Dr. Rodgers — as a patient, a neighbor, a fellow church or NAACP member, a City Council colleague, or family — we would be grateful for it.