Jewell Christopher McNair (November 22, 1925 – May 8, 2019) was an American politician and businessman.

Biography

McNair was born in

Fordyce, Arkansas Fordyce is a city in southeast Dallas County, Arkansas, United States. Its population has been decreasing since the 1980s when the town reached an all time high of 5,175. The population in 2020 was 3,396 down from 4,300 at the 2010 census, an ...

. He met his future wife Maxine Pippen when both were attending the

Tuskegee Institute Tuskegee University (Tuskegee or TU; formerly known as the Tuskegee Institute) is a Private university, private, Historically black colleges and universities, historically black land-grant university in Tuskegee, Alabama, United States. It was f ...

in 1945. That same year, he served in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. He received his degree in

agronomy Agronomy is the science and technology of producing and using plants by agriculture for food, fuel, fiber, chemicals, recreation, or land conservation. Agronomy has come to include research of plant genetics, plant physiology, meteorology, and ...

from

Tuskegee University Tuskegee University (Tuskegee or TU; formerly known as the Tuskegee Institute) is a private, historically black land-grant university in Tuskegee, Alabama, United States. It was founded as a normal school for teachers on July 4, 1881, by the ...

in 1949. A year later, McNair married Pippen and moved closer to her mother's home in

Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of Alabama, United States. It is the county seat of Jefferson County, Alabama, Jefferson County. The population was 200,733 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List ...

. Their oldest daughter Carol Denise was born in 1951. McNair served as a teacher at A. H. Parker High School and opened a photography business in Titusville in 1962. On September 15, 1963, his daughter Denise McNair and three other children were killed in the

bombing A bomb is an explosive weapon that uses the exothermic reaction of an explosive material to provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy. Detonations inflict damage principally through ground- and atmosphere-transmitted mechan ...

of the

16th Street Baptist Church The 16th Street Baptist Church is a Baptist church in Birmingham, Alabama, United States. In 1963, the church was bombed by Ku Klux Klan members. The bombing killed four young girls in the midst of the Civil Rights Movement. The church is stil ...

. A year after Denise was killed, the couple had their second daughter, Lisa, and four years later, their third daughter Kimberly was born.

Career

As a

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (Cyprus) (DCY) **Democratic Part ...

, McNair served in the

Alabama House of Representatives The Alabama House of Representatives is the lower house of the Alabama Legislature, the state legislature (United States), state legislature of state of Alabama. The House is composed of 105 members representing an equal number of districts, with ...

from 1973 to 1981. He then served on the Jefferson County Commission from 1986 until 2001. In April 2006, McNair was convicted on bribery charges linked to a $3 billion sewer project in Jefferson County. He was sentenced to five years in prison and ordered to pay more than $850,000 in restitution for his conviction. After the conviction, he remained free on appeal while waiting for the

11th Circuit Court of Appeals The United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit (in case citations, 11th Cir.) is a federal appellate court over the following U.S. district courts: * Middle District of Alabama * Northern District of Alabama * Southern District ...

ruling. After his appeals were rejected, he began serving his prison sentence in 2011. He was released in 2013 based on

compassionate grounds Compassionate release is a process by which inmates in criminal justice systems may be eligible for immediate early release on grounds of "particularly extraordinary or compelling circumstances which could not reasonably have been foreseen by t ...

Death

On May 8, 2019, McNair died at his home in Birmingham, Alabama, at the age of 93.

References

1925 births 2019 deaths 20th-century African-American people 21st-century African-American people African-American photographers African-American state legislators in Alabama Alabama politicians convicted of crimes American photographers American politicians convicted of bribery Businesspeople from Birmingham, Alabama County commissioners in Alabama Democratic Party members of the Alabama House of Representatives Military personnel from Arkansas Tuskegee University alumni Politicians from Birmingham, Alabama People from Fordyce, Arkansas 20th-century members of the Alabama Legislature {{Alabama-politician-stub