By Barnett Wright | The Birmingham Times
In a celebration fit for a king, Bishop Calvin Wallace Woods Sr. on Saturday, August 23, was remembered as a man of God who never wavered in the fight for justice and whose ministry expanded far beyond the pulpit.
For decades, Mr. Woods was one of Birmingham’s leading voices for equality, working alongside some of the Civil Rights Movement’s most influential leaders, including the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He carried that passion up until he passed on August 15 at the age of 91. He would have turned 92 on September 13.
During the Celebration of the Life and Legacy of Bishop Woods, the sanctuary at Sardis Baptist Church in West Birmingham was filled with his immediate and extended family, current and former elected officials, and more than 100 clergy from across the Southeast.
Mr. Woods, who lost jobs, was arrested numerous times, and carried scars from police beatings all in the fight for freedom, was honored as Civil Rights royalty, as a true leader whose faith inspired not just the Magic City, but the nation.
“All that has been said about my father is true, but one thing that has been at the center of everything, … all that he has achieved was his relationship with God,” said his son Dr. Timothy Justice Woods Sr., pastor of Hopewell Missionary Baptist Church in North Birmingham, who officiated the celebration. “That’s why he was in the struggle, that’s why he fought for justice, that’s why he was an [activist], that’s why he did everything that he did — because at the center of it all it was his relationship with God.”
“My father was a man of the word of God,” he said. “I don’t care who you were or where you were, when he opened his mouth he was going to be talking about the word of God. He taught us early to respect God’s word, to memorize God’s word, to study God’s word. He was a man of the word of God.”
“A True Light”
While Pastor Woods officiated, the family was well represented throughout the celebration in a program that Bishop Woods helped plan. The Order of Service included a musical selection by Mr. Woods’ children; acknowledgements from his grandson, Birmingham City Councilor Clinton Woods; and reflections from his grandchildren, including Mike McClure Jr.—Pastor Mike Jr. of Rock City Church.
“[Who] you saw was who he was, [whether] in church, in politics, in front of people with political power, prestige, he was going to say exactly what he felt,” said Julian Woods Sr., Mr. Woods’ oldest grandson and second oldest grandchild. “I can echo the sentiments that my grandfather loved people, he loved everybody. I never really heard him talk about someone in a disparaging way. … You hear about praying in public; he instilled that in us at home. We thank God that he was a man who lived what he believed “
Extended family came out to bid farewell, too: Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin, who spoke during the service, was in attendance along with former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman, Jefferson County Sheriff Mark Pettway, Jefferson County District Attorney Danny Carr, State Rep. Juandalynn Givan, and many others.
“Bishop Calvin Woods was a true light not just in this community but in so many of our lives, as well,” said Woodfin. “He made everyone he encountered feel like family. He never met a stranger. … We find comfort in knowing that we all can hold our heads up high because we stand on his broad shoulders. Bishop Woods brought light to the darkest times in our city — and even now it shines brighter than ever, so in his honor we will make sure that light never dims.”
More than a dozen resolutions of honor poured in from all over, including from Shiloh Baptist Church, where Mr. Woods served as pastor, as well as U.S. Congresswoman Terri Sewell, the city of Birmingham, the Birmingham City Council, the Jefferson County Commission, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), the NAACP Metro Birmingham Branch, the Foot Soldiers of Birmingham, Alabama, the National Baptist Convention of America, and organizations in Louisiana and Florida.
“We Shall All Be Free”
Mr. Woods was born in the East Thomas community of Birmingham on September 13, 1933. He was the fourth of 13 children born to the Rev. Abraham Lincoln Woods Sr. and Maggie Rosa Lee Wallace Woods. He grew up in the city and graduated from A.H. Parker High School in 1950, at age 16. It was during his time at Parker that Mr. Woods discovered the power of his voice, winning oratorical contests and becoming known as someone who could inspire and persuade, according to the family’s obituary.
Under his father’s guidance, Mr. Woods served at Shiloh Baptist Church. He then served as pastor of East End Baptist Church, located in Birmingham’s Southside community, in his early 20s, from 1960 to 1974, before returning to leadership at Shiloh.
Mr. Woods was the younger brother of Abraham Woods Jr., and together the two along with the Rev. Fred L. Shuttlesworth established the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights (ACMHR) in 1956. The Woods brothers met King and his lieutenant, the Rev. Ralph David Abernathy, in 1962 and began working with them to fight segregation in Birmingham.
Through his work with the ACMHR and alongside other Black clergy like Shuttlesworth and King, Mr. Woods also participated in numerous other efforts to support the cause of Civil Rights in Birmingham.
Mr. Woods was arrested in 1956 for trumped-up charges of encouraging a boycott of the Birmingham buses, which were segregated at the time. After the arrest, he was fined and sentenced to prison for six months. Years later, after continual involvement with the Civil Rights Movement in Birmingham, he was again arrested: This time, in 1963, he was beaten for participating in a protest.
“My father, he had God’s protection,” said Pastor Woods, during the Celebration Message. “He was [soaked] with the water hoses, he was bit by dogs, he was beaten with billy clubs, he was shot at, he was in prison — and I can hear him say — ‘all night and all day’” but some way and somehow God protected him.
Also in 1963, Woods joined the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. In 1965, he protested how Birmingham handled voter registration. And in 1966, he served as the strategy chairman to protest the killing of Black protesters at a supermarket in the city.
Mr. Woods became president of the SCLC Birmingham chapter in 2006, after his brother Abraham Jr. stepped down. In December 2021, Mr. Woods stepped down as president of the same chapter.
Mr. Woods worked for Birmingham City Schools, at his beloved Parker High School, counseled with the Jefferson County Committee for Economic Opportunity (JCCEO), served on several boards, and led conventions in the city. For more than 20 years, he could be found in Kelly Ingram Park, where many of the downtown protests were held, sharing stories of the Civil Rights struggle with visitors from around the world.
Mr. Woods had 13 children, 37 grandchildren, 68 great-grandchildren, and 11 great-great-grandchildren.
The celebration would not be complete without selections from the Carlton Reese Movement Choir (named in honor of the ACMHR’s music director) and one of Mr. Woods’ final wishes — for those in attendance to sing “We Shall Overcome” with him one final time. In unison, the crowd sang the Civil Rights Movement anthem, which ends with “We shall all be free/we shall all be free/We shall all be free someday/Oh, deep in my heart, I do believe/We shall overcome someday.”
