Alabama Activist Emerges from Prison with a New Name and Renewed Focus on Voting Rights for Felons

Alabama activist Kenneth Sharpton-Glasgow spent 30 years fighting for the voting rights of people with felony records. But that was before he spent 11 months in federal prison on charges of tax evasion and drug distribution, locked up alongside men who rioted at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

“Now we have Trump, a presidential candidate, running for office and he’s got 34 felonies,” Sharpton-Glasgow told 205focus.com in a phone interview from the car after he left prison. “So, to me, I’m like, is that God smiling on me?”

When he got out of prison this week, Sharpton-Glasgow told 205focus.com he sees a new opportunity this election year — the chance to turn felon disenfranchisement into a bipartisan issue, as former President Trump, a Republican, and Hunter Biden, son of Democratic President Joe Biden, are now among Americans with felony convictions.

Sharpton-Glasgow is 59 years old and spent most of his life just using the last name Glasgow. He is the half-brother of prominent activist Rev. Al Sharpton but has lived in Dothan for most of his life after he was brought there as a child by his mother, Tina Glasgow.

Rev. Al Sharpton was born in 1964 to parents Al Sharpton, Sr. and Ada Sharpton. Ada’s teenage daughter, Tina Glasgow, from a prior marriage came to live with the family and became pregnant with Al Sharpton, Sr.’s son, Kenneth Glasgow.

That history left Sharpton-Glasgow with a complicated relationship to his name. Although he had been named Kenneth Sharpton on his birth certificate, he went by Glasgow. After his brother was stabbed at a protest in New York City, he used his mother’s name to protect himself from retaliation, he said.

Sharpton-Glasgow spent 14 years behind bars in Florida for drug charges, where he studied religion, converted to Christianity, and came up with the idea behind TOPS – The Ordinary People Society, according to ProPublica. After his release in 2001, he returned to Dothan as a preacher and community activist, focused on helping those who have been incarcerated and people caught up in the drug trade.

Sharpton-Glasgow worked on several campaigns to restore voting rights to felons in Alabama, an effort that culminated with a bill in 2017 that gave the right to vote back to many people convicted of drug crimes. He also worked on efforts in Florida to get former offenders registered to vote.

However, his life took a turn in 2018. Glasgow was helping a man find his stolen car when the vehicle reappeared and struck the car Glasgow was driving. The passenger jumped out and shot the woman driving his stolen car.

Although Glasgow didn’t fire the shots, he was arrested and charged with capital murder. Glasgow said he had no idea his passenger intended to shoot someone. Almost three years later, the charges were dropped.

In 2023, Sharpton-Glasgow pleaded guilty to tax evasion and drug charges. Federal prosecutors said he used more than $1 million that had been donated to his nonprofit organization for personal expenses, failed to file a tax return, and sought disability benefits even though he was healthy enough to work.

He reported to federal prison in August 2023. The experience, he said, was far different from his time in state prison in Florida. There was less violence and more resources. He and other inmates worked on a plan to register inmates eligible to vote.

“In federal prison if they have a crime not involving moral turpitude, they can vote,” Sharpton-Glasgow said.

Although Sharpton-Glasgow is still working on the same issues that he focused on before prison, he also wants a fresh start after his release. The name change is part of that.

His 97-year-old father, Al Sharpton, Sr., wrote to him in prison and asked him to change his name back to Sharpton as his final wish.

“One thing that has always grieved me all these years is that no one could recognize your great accomplishments as belonging to the Sharpton family,” Al Sharpton, Sr. wrote in a letter shared with 205focus.com.

After the turbulence of the last seven years, the letter seemed like a sign, Sharpton-Glasgow said. And yet, he also wanted to keep his mother’s name, since she endured so much adversity to keep and raise him.