Alabama History and Culture News: July 31 edition

 

Here's the latest batch of links to just-published Alabama history and culture articles. Most of these items are from newspapers, with others from magazines and TV and radio station websites. Some articles may be behind a paywall. Enjoy!

Theater Review: M Ensemble's "Blues for an Alabama Sky" at Sandrell Rivers Theater Miami New Times Miami's M Ensemble first presented "Blues for an Alabama Sky" in the ... Tommy Kwak Captures Miami Beach's Lifeguard Towers in New Photo Book.

The Haunted Book Shop moving to new digs - FOX10 News FOX10 News (WALA) - Mobile's funkiest bookstore, The Haunted Book Shop, is on the move. ... CDC: More than a dozen cases of monkeypox in Alabama ...

Neo-gothic debut novel satirizes reality television | DON NOBLE - Tuscaloosa News Tuscaloosa News Lee Rozelle is an Alabamian, raised, he says, in “backwoods Alabama,” by which I think he means northeast Alabama. He also says he was raised by ...

Historic Commission receives national honor | Alabama Mountains

Spot On Alabama

The Decatur Historic Preservation Committee has been honored with a national award for the creation of an educational booklet.

Hobson City announces Founder's Day details Yahoo News 27—HOBSON CITY — Ministry and history will be the highlighted themes for ... Alabama Historical Commission and the Alabama Black Heritage Council.

'Art is history': National Endowment for the Arts chair visits Alabama Black Belt artists Montgomery Advertiser Alabama artists gathered in Selma last week to discuss the joys and hardships of supporting the arts, especially in rural parts of the state.

A New Orleans tradition continues at this historic Alabama restaurant - al.com AL.com For the staff at the historic, 115-year-old Bright Star restaurant in Bessemer, Ala., the annual Night in New Orleans celebration is like ...

Buckeyes get 'goosebumps' visiting historic sites in Alabama - Ohio State News

Ohio State News - The Ohio State University

They also toured the Civil Rights Memorial Center, the Alabama Department of Archives and History and the Equal Justice Initiative Legacy Museum, ...

Alabama finds ways to narrate complex and painful Civil Rights history with new cultural sites - iNews iNews The state will soon unveil its latest memorial, remembering 'Clotilda', the last known slave ship to arrive in the US that was discovered in the ...

Local businessman, former Auburn trustee Michael McCartney dies at 88 - Gadsden Times Gadsden Times Burial will follow in Forrest Cemetery. ... “My dad started a little construction business here in Gadsden, Alabama, and wanted me to come home," ...

102-year-old WWII veteran from segregated mail unit honored in Alabama - CBS 42 CBS 42 Romay Davis, 102, will be recognized for her service at an event at Montgomery City Hall. It follows President Joe Biden's decision in March to ...

Alabama Girl Becomes Youngest Black Med Student in US History - The Root The Root Alabama Girl Becomes Youngest Black Med Student in US History. Alena Analeigh Wicker will begin her med school studies in 2024.

Gadsden's Miss Alabama celebrates 75 years of her title Gadsden Messenger Featured Photo: Pictured above, Miss Alabama 1947 Peggy Elder Butler (left) and her ... We've had three Miss Americas in the Miss Alabama history.

Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame chosen for "Southern Cultural Treasure" program by South Arts Bham Now The Carver Theatre in Birmingham's Fourth Avenue Historic District. (Jacob Blankenship / Bham Now). On Thursday, July 21, Councilor Carol Clarke ...

15 Alabama restaurants that have stood the test of time - al.com

AL.com

Rich in history and renowned for its sweet-and-tangy orange rolls, the All Steak Restaurant has been a Cullman institution for nearly 85 years.

Historic 135-year-old Homewood Church Makes Plans For Future Generations The Birmingham Times Since the man is in his 90s, the Union Missionary Baptist Church will have to dismantle the organ and bring it to his home in Central Alabama to .

Part of Historic Area in Downtown Opelika Destroyed by Fire - Alabama News Network Alabama News Network Fire crews from Opelika and neighboring areas spent the overnight hours battling a large fire in the city's historic area. The fire happened in a ...

How Wisconsin helped propel an Alabama governor onto the national stage Wisconsin Examiner Book explores George Wallace's appeal in the Badger State as he took aim at ... Alabama governor George Wallace shaking hands with members of the .

Legacy remains of WSY, Alabama's first radio station Alabama NewsCenter But the company's embrace of another cutting-edge technology, just 16 years after Alabama Power's incorporation, is also historic. One hundred years ...

Alabama ghost towns: Coffee Pot, Scarce Grease, and Cotton Port | | enewscourier.com The News Courier “While none of the graves were identified at the time, and in fact, most of the bodies were nothing but dust in wooden boxes by that time, ...

Children of Industrial Huntsville, 1908-1915

Yes, here's another entry in my continuing series, "Downsizing My Book Collection." This title is a bit of an oddity, so let's explore it.

The book contains affidavits filed with the probate judge's office in Huntsville between January 1, 1908, and September 1, 1915. These filings were the result of a state law making it illegal for anyone under the age of 12 to be employed in a mill, factory or manufacturing company. These affidavits were required of workers between the ages of 12 and 18 until the passage of a later law prohibiting children under 16 from working with dangerous machinery. 

The introduction shown below gives the details of this process. I have also included the book's copy of the 1908 law, the list of manufacturing facilities in Huntsville, and one of the sample affidavits included in the book. Finally, three sample pages of listings are given. The book is 315 pages long, consisting almost entirely of the affidavit listings in alphabetical order by child's name. A state law forbidding children under 14 from working had been repealed in 1894, and reformers finally managed passage of the 1908 and then 1915 laws. B.J. Baldwin's 1911 article, "History of Child Labor Reform in Alabama" can be found here.

Behind these listings with some basic information are hundreds of real children who worked in the Huntsville mills. We do learn names, dates and places of birth, and names of parents associated with the affidavits. Many of the children came from small towns surrounding Huntsville, even many in Tennessee. If the children worked in more than one facility their movements are tracked during this period.

One interesting byproduct given in many entries are the names of physicians or midwives who attended the births. They will be listed for example as Dr. Sutton or Mrs. Rose. The doctors could be traced in various physician directories; the midwives would be more problematic. I did not notice any midwives listed as "Miss". 

This book's author was the mother of one of my classmates at Lee High School in Huntsville, Curtis Maulsby. She published at least one other book, Merrimack Cemetery, Huntsville, Alabama, which I presume is an inventory of the cemetery founded in 1900 for workers and families at the Merrimack Mills. The cemetery can be searched at Find-A-Grave. 

This 1987 self-published Children's book was obviously an effort dear to the author; apparently few copies have been distributed. There's an entry on Amazon, but no copies were currently for sale. None were offered on eBay or Bookfinder.com either. According to WorldCat.org, only 10 copies are owned by reporting libraries, half in Alabama. 

I have also included two photographs of the 38 taken by Lewis Hine when he visited the Merrimack Mills in 1910 and 1913. Hine [1874-1940] was a sociologist and documentary photographer. Here's what Wikipedia has to say about his work with child labor:

In 1908, Hine became the photographer for the National Child Labor Committee (NCLC), leaving his teaching position. Over the next decade, Hine documented child labor, with focus on the use of child labor in the Carolina Piedmont,^[3] to aid the NCLC's lobbying efforts to end the practice.^[4] In 1913, he documented child laborers among cotton mill workers with a series of Francis Galton's composite portraits.

Hine's work for the NCLC was often dangerous. As a photographer, he was frequently threatened with violence or even death by factory police and foremen. At the time, the immorality of child labor was meant to be hidden from the public. Photography was not only prohibited but also posed a serious threat to the industry.^[5] To gain entry to the mills, mines and factories, Hine was forced to assume many guises. At times he was a fire inspector, postcard vendor, bible salesman, or even an industrial photographer making a record of factory machinery.^[6]

More than 200 of Hine's Alabama photographs can be seen at the Library of Congress digital collections. He also visited Birmingham, Mobile, Montgomery and Bayou La Batre documenting child labor. 

Hines' Huntsville photos name 11 children; 10 of them are included in the Maulsby book: Frank and George Baldwin (both p. 12), Madeline Causey (p. 52), Gracie Clark (p. 57), Millie and May Crews (p. 70), Pinkie Durham (p. 84), Charlie Foster (p. 95), Buford Fox (p. 97), and Sanford Franklin (p. 99). I did not find Pete Henson. I've included two photographs below, along with details from Hine's notes and the Maulsby book. 

You can see a photo of Dallas Manufacturing here and Merrimack Cotton Mills here. That Merrimack photo is on a postcard. 

 

Madeline Causey at Merrimack Mills, November 1913. About this photograph Hine wrote "Been working there for four months. Fills batteries. Mother said she was born July 7, 1903". The Maulsby book has her birthdate as July 7, 1901, which made her 12 years old when she began work at Merrimack on October 20, 1913. Her birthplace is given as Hillsboro, Alabama. Mrs. Rose was the midwife and J.T. Causey is the parent listed. Her brother Oscar, born in February 1900, also worked at Merrimack. 

Source: Library of Congress 

Charlie Foster at Merrimack Mills, December 1913. Hine wrote, "Charlie Foster has a steady job in the Merrimack Mills. School Record says he is now ten years old. His father told me that he could not read, and still he is putting him into the mill." Charlie, from New Market, Alabama, was born May 3, 1901, with Dr. Charlie Blanton attending. Jess Foster was the parent listed. He began work at Merrimack on May 9, 1913; he moved to the Huntsville Knitting Company on May 11, 1914. 

Source: Library of Congress

Note at the end of the third paragraph in this introduction, the author locates the affidavits in the basement of the Madison County Courthouse. That means she or someone spent who knows how much time there collecting the information in this book. Real old-time research, folks, no Google, no digital collections to search from the comfort of home. 

I've done a lot of both types of research over the decades, and that hands-on-the-real-documents way is a lot more exciting. Too bad I don't get to do much of that anymore. There's nothing like spending a few hours in the dark, lonely basement of a big library, going through page after page in bound newspaper volumes, making fascinating discoveries. 

I need to monetize that on Tik Tok, don't I?

Boys Swearing in Huntsville in 1881

As one is apt to do on a hot summer day, I recently wandered around the Library of Congress' collection, Chronicling America, which offers digitized newspapers from around the country. In the June 18, 1881, issue of the Huntsville Gazette, I found the following item of editorial comment. 

That is all...

Alabama History & Culture News: July 20 edition

 

Here's the latest batch of links to just-published Alabama history and culture articles. Most of these items are from newspapers, with others from magazines and TV and radio station websites. Some articles may be behind a paywall. Enjoy!

HP Hotels will manage St. James Hotel - The Selma Times‑Journal The Selma Times‑Journal The Alabama Historical Commission has allocated $1 million in tax credits for the rehabilitation of the historic St. James Hotel.

Historic 135-year-old Homewood church raising funds for renovation | Bham Now Bham Now One of the goals of the fundraiser is to repair the church's original pipe organ. According to Reverend Steele, there is only one person in Alabama ...

Alabama experts getting ever closer to locating the long-lost site of the Battle of Mabila

Alabama NewsCenter

A land rich in historic artifacts. A year ago, Dumas, Knight and the rest of the team began a careful dig just a few days before farmers planned ...

Birmingham synagogue marked as a historic site for its role in the Civil Rights Movement WBRC Now marked as a historic site, the Temple Beth El still stands after an attempted bombing more than 60 years ago.

Exhibit in Montgomery, Alabama, unpacks the history of the 'Green Book' Alabama NewsCenter It explores the history of the annual Green Book travel guide, published from 1936 to 1966, that aided Blacks in finding safe accommodations and other ...

Author returns to Alabama roots, sets latest book in Demopolis

THE WEST ALABAMA WATCHMAN

“When I decided to write, it was all Alabama.” Author Alayne Smith holds a copy of her latest book, Educating Sadie, at Gaineswood. At left is a photo ...

Alabama A&M University receives grant to renovate historic building - WHNT.com WHNT.com Alabama A&M University has received a grant to begin a restoration project for one of the campus' oldest buildings.

Trimble's New Book of Poetry Debuts in August! | Alabama State University Alabama State University ASU's Literature Chair Publishes Second Book of Poems About Black Life, History and Culture. By: Kenneth Mullinax/ASU.

Historical Marker: Confederate Memorial | News | unionspringsherald.com Union Springs Herald The location of the historical marker is where the 15th Alabama Infantry Regiment, formerly known as the Midway Guards in 1860, had their drill .

Alabama NewsCenter — Demopolis, Alabama, leaders focused on revitalizing historic downtown

The Alabama Weather Blog

Alabama NewsCenter — Demopolis, Alabama, leaders focused on revitalizing historic downtown. July 13, 2022 @ 6:00 pm • By Alabama News Center.

Library to host Meet the Author with Anna Mullican on Friday | News | moultonadvertiser.com Moulton Advertiser She holds a master of arts degree in archeology from the University of Alabama, and is passionate about historic preservation and teaching others ...

ASU, Miles College, Selma University, Alabama A&M and Stillman to receive grant from NPS Montgomery Advertiser Alabama State University is one of five HBCUs in Alabama that will share $2.5 million from the National Parks Service to preserve historic sites ...

Alabama HBCUs Receive Grants to Preserve Historic Campus Locations

Diverse: Issues In Higher Education

Five HBCUs in Alabama are getting funding from the National Parks Service to preserve historic campus locations.

'Worthy of Remembrance': Book Details History of the Redmont Community Over the Mountain Journal The district contains “Alabama's finest collection of residential architecture of that era and includes the state's best examples of the domestic ...

The story behind the state's coolest Little Free Library - AL.com AL.com [To read more good news about Alabama, sign up for our This is Alabama Newsletter ... Grant said the building, which could have books ranging from ...

Alabama-born Payne sisters make history for Nigeria at WAFCON - ESPN ESPN Nicole and Toni Payne made history for the Super Falcons this weekend when they started together for Nigeria at the Women's Africa Cup of Nations.

Clotilda descendants mark anniversary of last slave ship - Alabama Daily News Alabama Daily News “The biggest thing for us is to make sure that no one ever forgets this story… America has a long way to go in learning how to embrace its history, ...

Clotilda descendants mark anniversary of last slave ship in south Alabama - CBS 42 CBS 42 Descendants of the last African people abducted into slavery and brought to America's shores gathered over the weekend on the banks of an Alabama ...

I Heard a Rumor [World War II version]

No, it's not the Bananarama song. It's World War II. Let's investigate.

During that war the Office of War Information collected rumors, jokes, anecdotes, etc about the conflict. Collecting this information would allow officials to understand the progress of the war effort as perceived by the civilian population. 

Material was gathered in two different ways, by individuals from all walks of life reporting to field representatives of various federal agencies, and by high school and college teachers from students. The Library of Congress has a collection of reports from each state; there are about 60 from Alabama.

The pages below are from field representative Paul Duncan to the Chief of the Bureau of Public Inquiries in the Office of War Information for August 3 through August 8, 1942. I have not included all pages from that report, but these will give you the flavor of rumors collected in the state during this time.