Tuesday saw the advancement of legislation to transfer authority of the Alabama Department of Archives and History to a politically appointed board. This shift was prompted by lawmakers’ displeasure with the department’s sponsoring of a lecture on LGBTQ+ history last year.
On a party- and race-based vote, the Senate County and Municipal Government advanced the bill. The Senate of Alabama will now hear it.
The governor, lieutenant governor, speaker of the House of Representatives, and president pro tempore of the Alabama Senate would choose a new board to replace the current one on June 1st, according to a measure sponsored by Daphne, Alabama, senator Chris Elliott, a Republican. All those offices are presently held by Republicans.
Elliott described the bill as an effort to improve responsibility. Opponents countered that the system is effective and that the change will introduce politics into departmental decision-making.
“Why? What urgent issue or necessity justifies such a drastic change?” The board of trustees’ chair, Delores Boyd, stated.
The governor, two members at large, and two representatives from each congressional district make up the board. The Alabama Senate confirms board members after they are chosen by the trustees in a vote. Among the prominent civil rights attorney Fred Gray’s current board members is Rosa Parks, who gained notoriety in 1955 when she refused to give up her seat on a segregated Montgomery municipal bus.
Elliott stated that rather than being a self-sustaining board that chooses its own members, the board need to have “some accountability to elected officials” in remarks made following the meeting.
Last year, the Archives held a lunchtime presentation titled “Invisible No More: Alabama’s LGBTQ+ History,” which infuriated some politicians, including Elliott. The first Pride march in the state and the contributions of gay Alabamans were among the subjects covered in the talk. The Archives had been asked to postpone the presentation by a number of MPs. Elliott’s answer last year was to suggest rescinding a $5 million extra appropriation to the Archives.
Asked if the legislation is a response to the lecture, Elliott said the dispute highlighted how the board was structured.
“When suggestions were made or concerns were expressed, they weren’t necessarily taken to heart. So I think it’s important that we make sure that boards that operate outside of oversight have some sort of accountability, not just to elected officials, but to the people,” Elliott said.
