Library In Mountain Brook To Change Name

Birmingham AL

14 July, 2020

4:22 PM

Description

MOUNTAIN BROOK, AL — Amid complaints from residents regarding its namesake's racist past, the Emmet O'Neal Library will change its name. The Mountain Brook City Council Monday voted unanimously on the issue. The library in Mountain Brook's Crestline Village was donated by the Elizabeth Kirkman O'Neal Foundation and named for former governor Emmet O'Neal. The library will now be known as the O'Neal Library, to commemorate the O'Neal family's service to the community. The controversy surrounding Emmet O'Neal comes from a quote attributed to him during the convention to write the Alabama Constitution of 1901, where O'Neal is credited with saying the constitution's purpose is to "lay deep and strong and permanent in the fundamental law of the State the foundation of white supremacy forever in Alabama." A native of Florence, Alabama, O'Neal served at Alabama's governor from 1911-1915, then worked in manufacturing in Birmingham, serving as secretary and treasurer of the Southern Steel Works Company. His father Edward A. O'Neal was a Confederate Army officer and served as governor of Alabama from 1882 to 1886. The Mountain Brook City Council said the O'Neal family was consulted before the council voted on the issue, and approved of the renaming of the library.