Birmingham, Ala. - Longtime Birmingham civil rights leader Abraham Woods, who stood behind Martin Luther King Jr. during his "I Have a Dream" speech, died Friday. He was 80.

He was pronounced dead at Princeton Baptist Medical Center in Birmingham, hospital spokeswoman Jennifer Dodd said. He had battled cancer for several years.

Woods helped coordinate the March on Washington and stood behind King in 1963, looking out over a crowd of 250,000 as King gave his famous speech.

Woods served as longtime president of the Birmingham chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. He often led community marches in Birmingham to protest police shootings, slumlords and neighborhood violence.

Woods was pastor of St. Joseph Baptist Church since 1967 and led the First Metropolitan Baptist Church in the early 1960s.