Alabama Yesterdays: Random wanderings through Alabama history
Posts have become so numerous on this blog over the years that I've created some items that are lists of related articles. These include "Medical History In Birmingham", "Film Actresses from Alabama Before 1960", "Alabama Library History" and "Holidays Past in Alabama." Here's a list that pulls together my posts about Alabama cemeteries or posts that have significant cemetery content.
Visit to Confederate Memorial Park & Horseshoe Bend
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!
| OTD in Weather History: The Enigma Tornado Outbreak of 1884 The Alabama Weather Blog From North Alabama to North Carolina, temperatures were in the 40s and 50s. Official weather forecasts for the Gulf States called for “local rains” ... |
| 'White Lies': Season 2 of podcast revisits historic 1991 Alabama prison riot - al.com AL.com Titled “The Men on the Roof,” hosts Chip Brantley and Andrew Beck Grace spend the season revisiting the story of an Alabama prison riot in 1991 ... |
| Poet Laureate of Alabama tells TROY students she hopes to inspire others to write Troy Today - Troy University Jones, who is 32-years old, has made Alabama history by being both the ... Alabama Poet Laureate Ashley Jones visited with students at TROY in ... |
| Loxcil Tuck, longest serving woman mayor in Alabama history, dies at 89 - CBS 42 CBS 42 Loxcil Tuck, who served as mayor of the city of Tarrant for 16 years and was the longest serving female mayor in Alabama history, has died. |
| Making the Hank Williams Pilgrimage to Montgomery | Saving Country Music Saving Country Music However, in 2001 the Alabama Historical Association erected a plaque at the front for the cemetery commemorating Rufus Payne, ... |
| Art Exhibit Opening: History of Birmingham Rock & Roll - WBRC WBRC Craig Legg's History of Birmingham Rock & Roll Exhibit(Craig Legg) ... |
| Historic Alabama civil rights city faces long recovery from tornado - CBS 42 CBS 42 In a Selma neighborhood — a few blocks from the starting point of the 1965 voting rights marches — the path of a January tornado remains clear. |
| New Museum Honors Those On America's Final Slave Ship - Forbes Forbes A new museum in Alabama commemorates the slaves who were brought on the ... Alabama Historical Commission, the History Museum of Mobile and other ... |
| Fred Gray to discuss landmark legal case, hold book signing - WSFA WSFA The medal is on display at the Alabama Department of Archives & History, where Gray has served as a trustee for 20 years. |
| Remember the signs of the times - The Troy Messenger The Troy Messenger The Troy Masonic Temple, built in 1892, was named to Alabama's 2013 “Places in Peril” list by the Alabama Historical Commission and the Alabama ... |
Guthrie's "Blues for an Alabama Sky" sheds perspective on Harlem Renaissance CBS News They are cast in a new play at the Guthrie Theatre that is fiction, yet historic, offering an often untold perspective on Black history during the ... |
Old Town in Decatur serves as forgotten African American history - WHNT.com WHNT.com “We just have such a rich history here and it's my passion to share our stories.” Old Town Decatur was the first of two cities in Alabama to organize ... |
Stage and screen actress Katherine Emery was born in Birmingham on October 11, 1906. By the time of the 1910 U.S. Census, she and her parents and two sisters were living on West 139th Street in Manhattan. How did that happen? Let's investigate.
The parents, James A. Emery and Annie Eliza Comer, married in Midway, a small town in Bullock County, in late November 1903 at the home of her parents, Mr. and Mrs. J. Fletcher Comer. The engagement had been announced in the Montgomery Advertiser issue of October 25.
Emery graduated from MIT in 1893 and began a long career in engineering, utility and railroad businesses. In the early period he ran street railways in New Orleans and Atlanta and served as Vice-President and general manager of the Birmingham Railway Light and Power Company. The couple remained in the state until at least 1909; Katherine and her two sisters were all born in Alabama. However, they were all in Manhattan by the time the 1910 census enumerator came around to their address.
How James and Annie met is unknown. She was his second wife. When he died on February 23, 1943, he was Vice-President of Ford, Bacon, and Davis, Inc., a prominent firm in utility and railroad work. Annie did not outlive him that long; she died on February 9, 1951. As noted below, they are both buried in Eufaula. While in Alabama James had started the Emery Steel Company in Gadsden. I also read that Annie was a cousin of Alabama Governor B.B. Comer, but I've yet to confirm that item.
Thus the subject of this post did not live in the state for too many years. In 1928 Emery graduated from Sweet Briar College in Virginia, where she began her stage acting career. She continued with the University Players of Cape Cod alongside Jimmy Stewart and Henry Fonda. By 1932 Emery had made it to Broadway.
She appeared in several productions there over the next twelve years, but one appearance stood out. From November 1934 until July 1936, Emery starred in one of the lead roles in the first Broadway production of Lillian Hellman's play The Children's Hour. Another state native, Tallulah Bankhead, starred in the original 1939 stage production of Hellman's The Little Foxes, set in a small town in the state in 1900 and based on her mother's family in Demopolis.
Since she retired from acting in the early 1950s, Emery's film career was about the same length as her stage one. Her dozen movies ranged from crime dramas such as Eyes in the Night [1942] and Strange Bargain [1949] to a Boris Karloff thriller, Isle of the Dead [1945].
Emery married Paul Conant Eaton, a literature professor, on September 23, 1944, and they had two children. Daughter Rebecca Eaton has been Executive Producer of PBS' "Masterpiece" since 1985.
Emery died on February 7, 1980, and is buried in Maine.
I've done several posts on this blog about Old Bryce Hospital, the state's former giant mental hospital in Tuscaloosa that opened in 1861. One described a quick visit made to the site with several family members in 2014 just before it closed. Others take a look at older photos related to the facility, an aerial view in 1943, and 1916 photos of sewing and other activities by residents. This post shares some photos I took on another quick visit with son Amos in January 2023.
Several years ago the University of Alabama purchased the closed hospital, and it is now undergoing extensive renovation for a welcome center, the theater and dance school and a mental health museum. You can read a recent newspaper article about the present status here. More history of Bryce can be found in this article. The renovated building is expected to open in late 2023.
A few more comments are below.
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!
| “A discussion of slavery in Alabama,” An APR news special for Black History Month-- Part one Alabama Public Radio The Alabama Public Radio news team was recently invited to take part in a ... “So I was taking a class in African and African American history, ... |
Alabama Radio Moments: The Birmingham Black Radio Museum - YouTube YouTube Each month through the run of the exhibit, speakers will explore the history and influence of radio in Alabama. The Alabama Radio Moments lecture ... |
| Preserving Alabama's History | Black Belt News | selmasun.com Selma Sun Alabama recently watched as devastating tornadoes pummeled our state yet again, claiming lives and destroying homes, churches, and businesses. |
| Historic building destroyed by fire in Mentone | News | waaytv.com WAAY-TV The Hitching Post, a historic century-old building in Downtown Mentone was destroyed by a fire Thursday night. DeKalb County Fire & Rescue along ... |
| Historical TAB issues now available to view online | The Alabama Baptist The Alabama Baptist Working together. Taylor worked with Lonette Berg of the Alabama Baptist Historical Commission and TAB's Jennifer Davis Rash to determine the scope of ... |
| Why Historic Bethel Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, Needs Saving Now - Veranda Veranda Why Historic Bethel Baptist Church Needs Saving Now. This Birmingham, Alabama, church is the birthplace of the modern civil rights movement—and ... |
| Alabama's Hidden History: February 2023 honorees - WVUA 23 WVUA 23 Alabama's Hidden History: February 2023 honorees ... WVUA 23 and the Murphy African American Museum are honoring Alabamians who have made a difference ... |
| Bellevue bandit Rube Burrow's story almost lost to history - Times Record News Times Record News The train crew dumped Rube at his father's feet. His small gravestone at a tiny and remote Alabama cemetery has been chipped away by souvenir seekers ... |
| JSU to dedicate historical marker honoring first Black student, Barbara Curry-Story Alabama News Center (Nik Layman / Alabama Power's Powergrams). Jacksonville State University (JSU) kicks off Black History Month on Feb. 1 by unveiling a historical ... |
Jackson, Mitchell recall making history at Alabama - Southeastern Conference Southeastern Conference Jackson, Mitchell recall making history at Alabama. Wilbur Jackson and teammate John Mitchell join The Paul Finebaum Show and reflect on being the ... |
| Bad Day on the Bayou by Mark Johnson | Alabama Public Radio Alabama Public Radio It's time for another book review by Don Noble. This week, Don Reviews "Bad Day on the Bayou" by Mark Johnson. |
| 'Nightmare on the Scottie' makes bestsellers list - WSU Insider WSU Insider - Washington State University The book tells the true story of Orsini and his friend Jack's venture from Mobile, Alabama, to the Pacific Northwest aboard a new king crabber in ... |
| Daughter of legendary Birmingham attorney recalls her upbringing on 'Dynamite Hill' Alabama News Center Marjorie White of the Birmingham Historical Society and Barbara Shores worked together on a new book about Birmingham's "Dynamite Hill. |
Recently I happened to visit the Hilton Hotel just off the UAB campus below Five Points. In the lobby are the two paintings below which depict fanciful views of iconic UAB buildings and scenes.
I found it appropriate that in one painting a crane towers over the landscape. When I began working at UAB in 1983, I remarked to someone that a lot of construction was taking place on campus. He said to get used to it, it never stops. And the building continued until I retired in 2015 and based on my regular visits to campus since construction goes on unabated.
Unfortunately, I was unable to find information on the artist. If you can provide any, leave it in the comments!
Source: Hilton Hotel website
