12-02-2025
Black History Month: The first black firefighter in Florence
FLORENCE, Ala. (WHNT) — It isn't always easy being the first. Joe Louis Duster could tell you that.
Facing incredible odds because the color of his skin didn't stop him and his determination to become a firefighter during the racial segregation era in Florence.
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'There were separate water fountains for blacks and whites,' said Duster. 'I watched as the Klu Klux Klan burn a cross that was as tall as a utility pole just outside of the door where I was standing.'
Duster documented much of his 16 years on the Florence Fire Department in photo books.
'I also have a picture of the first black policemen and he and I used to talk all of the time,' Duster said.
Born on February 1, 1957, Duster grew up very poor in West Florence. While in grade school he dreamed of becoming a firefighter after not seeing a black fireman in his hometown department.
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On September 21, 1981, at 24 years of age, Duster made history by becoming the first black fireman in the city of Florence, but it wasn't easy.
The schools were newly integrated when he graduated from Bradshaw High School in 1976. When he left the military after high school in 1979, he was told to do something else because there was no place for a black man in the fire department.
To dissuade him from his dream he endured regular threats to his life.
'Those were some trying times because a lot of the white kids didn't understand us and a lot of the white teachers didn't know how to teach us and as a result, lot of black kids did not graduate,' Duster explained.
Despite a military resume, his application was passed over several times. The fire chief denied that he ever applied.
'They said they didn't have an application on me,' Duster said. 'I was young and energetic back then and I didn't have anything to lose so I told them when I come back, me and my attorney will help you find my application.'
Eventually, Duster was sworn in.
He would make history again in 1994 by becoming the first black lieutenant fire inspector investigator in Northwest Alabama.
'I was willing to die for what I believed in, it didn't matter because I stood by what I believed in, and I believed that I could do the job just as well as anybody else,' Duster said.
Duster tells of his experience as the first African American firefighter in the city of Florence in a book titled, 'Let Not Your Life Be Hardened.'
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