Thomas Hency Brewer, Sr. (1894–1956) was an African-American physician, born on November 19, 1894, in Saco, Alabama, who was instrumental in the civil rights movement in Columbus, Georgia during the early- to mid-twentieth century, before he was assassinated in 1956.
He became a respected physician and one of Columbus' most prominent civil rights activists, succeeding in the desegregation of the Columbus, Georgia Police Department, being one of the founders of the city's NAACP chapter, and as a supporter of Primus King, among other advocacies.
[2] He was active in the Republican Party, serving as a delegate to the GOP National Convention in Philadelphia.
On July 4, 1944, Primus E. King, an African-American registered voter, went to the Muscogee County Courthouse in Columbus to cast his vote in the Democratic Party's primary election.
In a landmark ruling, the court found in Mr. King's favor, deciding that the exclusion of black voters was unconstitutional.
The U.S. Court of Appeals agreed, which ended the State of Georgia's "whites only" primaries.
Brewer shared an office building on First Street in Columbus with the F&B Department store, owned by Lucio Flowers.
[6][7] A historical marker placed at the site of his assassination reads "Dr. Thomas H. Brewer - A Pike County, Alabama native of African-American descent, Dr.
His goal to guarantee the Negro the right to vote throughout the State of Georgia and the South was achieved in the Primus King case in 1945.