Birmingham was a center of the American
Civil rights movement or the 1950s and 1960s and its
precursors. Morgan's political positions frequently put him at the center of civil rights debates. In the late 1940s, racial housing policies were creating a housing crisis for the city's black population. In early August 1949, while serving as Commissioner of Public Improvements, Morgan called the racial grounds of the city's zoning ordinance unconstitutional. Morgan was supported by city mayor W. Cooper Green, but that same month, Commissioner of Public Safety
T. Eugene Connor rewrote the ordinance to ensure housing segregation could continue. Connor and Morgan continued to feud and Morgan put pressure on the Jefferson County Personnel Board to remove Connor after Connor was caught in the act of adultery in late 1952, but Connor survived the scandal. Morgan was mayor when
Fred Shuttlesworth led a 1955 campaign to get the city to hire more black officers. Morgan and Commissioner Lindbergh were supportive of the idea, but were hesitant to actually make hires because of the lack of public support, leading to confrontations between Shuttlesworth and Morgan. The idea was tabled when the lynching of
Emmett Till. ==References==