Urelee Gordon
(deceased Jan. 26, 2008)

By Jannell McGrew
Montgomery Advertiser

Urelee Gordon shined the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s shoes, and King preached a sermon about him once, telling his congregation that the common man deserves respect. (Lloyd Gallman, Montgomery Advertiser)

Inside at 1435 Hall St., Urelee Gordon is surrounded in his shop by dozens of them.

Black ones.

Brown ones.

White ones, and blue.

Patent leather, matte leather, and even some synthetic.

They have one thing in common, though: They are polished to a high shine. Shoes have been Gordon's business for decades.

He's shined the shoes of many men, but there was one he'll always remember: "The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.," he said with a broad smile.

"He would visit about two times a week," he recalled while sitting inside his shoe shine shop in Montgomery.

King would visit often, pay the $1.50 it cost to have his shoes shined and leave a generous tip.

Gordon remembers the days of the movement in Montgomery. The men in his shop would talk about what was going on. He wasn't much of a church-going man, he admits, and the mass meetings were something he missed primarily, but he supported the bus boycott in his own way.

"It was a great accomplishment," Gordon said. "It was something that should have been done a long time ago."

Gordon heard once that King had preached about him in church, about the common man who deserved dignity and respect in an integrated world.

"He was preaching about the 'Shoe Shine Boy,' Gordon recalled with pride.

But the "Shoe Shine Boy," like so many other blacks during that time, was not treated with the dignity desired or deserved.

"The state law was separation of the races," Gordon said. "The law was carried out. Everybody understood." Montgomery's blacks understood, but they refused to accept it. They challenged the law and prevailed.

Gordon suspects those shoes he shined for King covered many miles. King went on to lead mass nonviolent protests, the 1963 March on Washington and the famous 1965 Selma-to-Montgomery March.

Gordon believes the boycott is the best thing that could have happened for the city at the time.

"It was nice," he said. "It was a good thing."

He recalled King as being a snappy dresser, a man with class and grace, but also a humble man. Above a sign on his wall is a picture of King.

"He was just an ordinary customer, just a regular customer," Gordon said, as he pointed to a couple of the signs on his wall.

One read: "It takes more than a shoe shine to give a man a polish."

The other: "No one gets credit for work half done. Good work speaks for itself."