As people in cities and towns across the South reacted with violence to changes brought about by the Civil Rights Acts, Annistonians found a way to work together for racial harmony. On May 16, 1963, the Anniston City Commission, at the urging of City Finance Commissioner Miller Sproull, established two resolutions; one formed the bi-racial Human Relations Council, the other assigned its nine members — five white men and four black men.

The Council’s purpose was to “make recommendations concerning human relations,” and its members were to be “without outside influence.”(1) At the time when white men and black men rarely sat down with one another, serving on the council was an act of courage. Council members and their families faced threats on their lives and discrimination within their own communities.

One original appointee, Fred Vann, a white man, resigned within days of the Council’s formation, and Harold Edward Cosper was chosen to replace him. United States President John F. Kennedy (1961-1963) praised the action of creating the Council as one that should “serve as a model” for other American cities. (2)