Prattville Unveils Three Markers Honoring Autauga County Civil Rights Landmarks

The City of Prattville and One Community Outreach unveiled three historical markers Feb. 22, 2026, recognizing Sallie Mae Hadnott, North Highland Park and North Highland High School, officials said at a downtown ceremony in Prattville. The markers are sited on Upper Kingston Road and Martin Luther King Drive, city leaders reported at the event.

One marker honors Sallie Mae Hadnott, described by organizers as a civil rights activist who "helped found and lead several organizations focused on improving conditions for African American citizens and expanding voting rights access." Rev. Michael F. Thurman, former pastor of Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church, told the crowd, "Sallie Mae Hadnott helped found the National Alabama Democratic Party."

A second marker recognizes North Highland Park, identified at the ceremony as the first designated recreational facility for African American citizens in Autauga County. Rev. Thurman noted recent visible work at the site, saying, "I just drove past it. I see some work being done there even today."

The third marker commemorates North Highland High School, which the program described as Prattville’s only high school for African American students until school desegregation in Alabama. Malcolm Cain, an alumnus of North Highland High School who attended the unveiling, said, "I hope that the younger people who don’t know anything about it can look back and read about it and see where it has brought us today."

Organizers formally unveiled the markers at a downtown ceremony attended by local leaders; the program included the City of Prattville and One Community Outreach as project partners. Local heritage activity in Prattville has been active in recent years: the Autauga County Heritage Association launched a five-year capital project and campaign at a public reception Aug. 11, 2025, at The Mill at Prattville Clubhouse, an event that drew more than 150 community and civic leaders and outlined plans for a new museum and archival library called The PRATT. Don Edgeworth is listed as ACHA board president at 334-546-7461 and director@autaugahistory.org; campaign director David Popen can be reached at 615-788-4841 or Dpopen@dgcommunitydevelopment.com.

City officials and event organizers provided the marker locations as Upper Kingston Road and Martin Luther King Drive, but they have not released the exact plaque texts or which marker sits at which address. The historical record cited at the ceremony connects the markers to a longer pattern of preservation in Prattville, the Daniel Pratt Historic District is on the National Register and Prattaugan Museum collections document local industry and civic history dating back to Daniel Pratt’s 1833 gin factory and the county’s early 19th-century origins.

Key details remain to be published by municipal staff and the marker partners: full inscription text for all three plaques, high-resolution photographs of the markers, and precise site coordinates. The markers aim to anchor local memory of Autauga County civil-rights history and to give younger residents tangible reference points, as Malcolm Cain urged at the ceremony; the new plaques also intersect with ongoing preservation efforts tied to The PRATT and the Prattaugan Museum’s research collections.