The city of Birmingham will honor civil rights leader, veteran radio broadcaster and advertising executive Dr. Shelley Stewart during its annual “AWAKEN Birmingham” event this Friday.

Held during the week of the Magic City Classic, AWAKEN celebrates the legacy of community leaders and activists who have shaped the city of Birmingham.

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In 2019, the inaugural AWAKEN paid tribute to Dr. Richard Arrington Jr., the first Black mayor of the city of Birmingham. In 2021, the city honored Odessa Woolfolk, a veteran educator, community leader, and founding president of the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute.

During Friday’s program, Mayor Randall Woodfin will present Stewart with the “The Putting People First Award, an honor Woodfin created in 2019. Past recipients of the “Putting People First Award’’ include former Birmingham Mayor Richard Arrington Jr., former Sen. Doug Jones and author and criminal justice activist Anthony Ray Hinton.

Stewart is famous for organizing training meetings for Birmingham’s Black residents to learn non-violent forms of protest during the civil rights movement. Known as the radio voice for the civil rights movement, Stewart also used his radio show to distribute information about planned demonstrations and had a key role in training the youth protesters who marched in the 1963 Children’s Crusade. He often used the broadcast to misdirect police while telling others in code where they could meet safely to plan for demonstrations.

A lot of those planning meetings happened in the basement of St. Paul United Methodist Church. Earlier this week, Rep. Terri Sewell formally presented the historic St. Paul UMC with a $500,000 check for preservation from the National Park Service.

The city’s tribute to Stewart will be part of a morning of community conversations. The theme of this year’s AWAKEN is “Family Reunion: Stories Never Told.” The event will feature a multi-generational panel including author and speaker Lisa McNair, city councilor Clinton Woods, businessman Charles Morgan III, attorney Daron Drew Jelks, and recent Howard University graduate Herschell Oneal Hamilton. Historian Barry McNealy will moderate the conversation.

Friday’s AWAKEN event is at the Boutwell Auditorium. Doors to the Boutwell will open at 9:00 a.m. The event will start at 9:30 a.m. Tickets are available at awakenbirmingham.com. The event is free and open to the public.