1948 Democratic National Convention

Congressman Lister Hill (center) takes the microphone from the Alabama lieutenant governor Leven "Handy" Ellis as Ellis prepares to lead a faction of Alabama's delegates to the 1948 Democratic National Convention off the floor in protest of candidate Harry S. Truman's civil rights policies. Protesting delegates from Alabama, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Louisiana, among others, then formed the rival States' Rights Democratic Party, popularly known as the "Dixiecrats." Future governors Chauncey Sparks and George C. Wallace also remained on the convention floor.

Courtesy of the Alabama Department of Archives and History