The Michael A. Figures Legacy Education Fund

Michael A. Figures was the first African-American elected to the Alabama State Senate from Mobile County. His Senate colleagues elected Senator Figures President Pro Tempore of the Senate by an overwhelming majority in 1995, making him the highest-ranking African-American in state government.

Following Michael's untimely death in 1996, Vivian Davis Figures, then a member of the Mobile City Council, succeeded her late husband to complete his unexpired term in the Senate, garnering 87% of the votes during the general election. She was re-elected to the Senate in 1998 with no opposition.

Senator Vivian Davis Figures established the Michael A. Figures Legacy Education Fund to assist deserving students throughout the state of Alabama. The Figures Education Fund co-sponsors the Michael A. Figures Leadership Experience, a program for rising ninth grade students who show promise as leaders. The program includes an intensive three-day residential summer session in Tuscaloosa, followed by a longer term leadership development experience in the students' home communities. The Figures Leadership Experience is co-sponsored by the late Senator Figures' alma maters, Stillman College and the University of Alabama.

The Michael A. Figures Legacy Education Fund provides scholarships, as well. Senator Figures utilized the fund in October 2001 to establish the Education Trust Fund for the Ratchford Children, to provide for the education of the children of Petty Officer First Class Marsha D. Ratchord, a sailor who was killed in the terrorist attack on the Pentagon on September 11, 2001.

The Figures Education Fund is sponsoring the Helping Schools Tags campaign, a most fitting recipient, as it was the late Senator Michael A. Figures who authored the legislation that created the Helping Schools Tags.

More about the Helping Schools Tags Program