Alabama History & Culture News: January 26 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. Enjoy!

A Century Ago: Tuscaloosa Militiamen Accused Of Lynching Miner Patch.com ... telephone, the most interesting case in Alabama's history is being tried" ... TUSCALOOSA, AL — The lynching of accused murderer and Walker ...

Bear Bryant died on this day in 1983: Vintage photos of  legend's final game, funeralAlabama

al.com

Casket of  coach Paul Bear Bryant at the Elwood  in Birmingham, . Friday Jan. 28, 1983. (Fie Photo/ The Huntsville Times) The ...

Longtime lawman Mike Gillis passes away

WTVY, Dothan

The shooting is one of the deadliest in . For his efforts, Gillis was presented an Award of Valor by United States Attorney Leura Canary.

Alabama history

Seventh-generation Chambers County resident writes book

Opelika Observer

“Fieldstone Pillars” is a collection of stories and articles about the older communities in the southeast corner of Chambers County,  and the ...

Alabama

Remembering Hank Aaron, his legacy and last visit to Columbia's Capital City Stadium

The State

As I read his  “I Had A Hammer, The Hank Aaron Story,” Hank talked about ... Home is worth the visit if you're traveling through Mobile, .

bookAlabama

All of  NCAA football records, including a few obscure onesAlabama's

al.com

Checking in at 201 pages, the NCAA's college football record  (FBS edition) is beefy. It has a little bit of everything, and as you'll see, some pretty ...

book

Hank Aaron, baseball great who became force for civil rights, dies at 86

Washington Post

When Robinson played in an exhibition game in Mr. Aaron's hometown of Mobile, ., it was an unforgettable moment for the 14-year- future star.

Alaold

Auburn University dean named chair of  Humanities AllianceAlabama

Opelika Observer

“I am very pleased with the ongoing development of  Days, the bicentennial celebration exhibit that toured every county in Alabama, ...

Alabama History

Brad Morton's former Rotary Trail studio to become a 3-story office building

Bham Now

His sculptures span across the nation: from Arlington National  in Washington to the  Sports Hall of Fame right here at home.

CemeteryAlabama

What Hollywood Gets Wrong About The South

WBHM

In the , Beard touches on numerous films while also reflecting on ... Tom Hanks gives the  to the University of  student who walks ...

bookbookAlabama

Tuskegee Airmen  Site Is Being Honored With Quarter By US MintHistoric

Because of Them We Can

The National  Site at Moton Field in Tuskegee, , honors the men and women who trained there during World War II. It also highlights ...

HistoricAlabama

CVHS to hold discussion on Hank Williams

Valley Times-News

He received a B.A. in  from Auburn University at Montgomery (AUM) in ... Steve contributed an article on Hank Williams to The  Review, ...

historyAlabama

Lurleen Wallace,  first woman governor, inaugurated on this day in 1967: Vintage photosAlabama's

al.com

It was the largest parade in , newspapers proclaimed, as some 150,000 people filled the streets of Montgomery to greet its newest ...

Alabama history

Spenser takes on Epstein-like villain in  author's latest thrillerAlabama

al.com

Ace Atkins, the former Auburn defensive end turned prolific crime thriller author, has a new Spenser  out, and fans have at least a couple of ...

book

Old Bonneau-Jeter Hardware recognized by  CommissionAlabama Historical

WTVY, Dothan

ELBA, Ala. (WTVY) --. A building in Elba is one of a handful to be recognized by the  Commission in 2020. It is no secret, the old ...

Alabama Historical

'Heritage House' approved: Africatown museum to tell story of slave ship and community

al.com

Researchers with the University of South  are currently examining land across from the Old Plateau  to assess whether any  ..

AlabamaCemeterygraves

Oak Mountain Farm & Wildlife Center

A couple of weeks before Halloween 2020 Dianne and I made another visit to the Oak Mountain State Park Demonstration Farm and the Alabama Wildlife Center. Back in January 2020 I wrote about a visit to the farm with our daughter, son-in-law and grandson. I've also written briefly about the history of the park. 

Some comments on this trip are below. 

Chickens, ponies and goats, oh my!

Various kinds of goats are plentiful at the Demonstration Farm. They have numerous lounging pads.

Goats have the run of golf carts, too. This one is waiting at the office where visitors buy feed for the animals. The goats especially gather round whenever humans walk up to the window! All of them have names, by the way, and the staff will happily talk about the habits of each one. 

The Alabama Wildlife Center is the oldest and largest wild bird rescue program in the state, rehabilitating almost 2000 birds a year. This eagle was in rehab during our visit. Unfortunately, some of the birds have to remain on site permanently; their injuries are such they cannot be released back into the wild. 

The AWC has some pleasant walkways among the buildings. 

And there were a trio of hawks...

Some mysterious owls were around, too....a great horned owl and a barn owl 

This shot was taken inside the main building. 

Alabama Authors 2020, RIP

 At least five authors with significant Alabama connections died in 2020. Here's a brief look at each of them. 

William Cobb died on February 17. He was born in Eutaw on October 20, 1937,  and grew up in Demopolis. He wrote a number of novels, short story collections and plays during his 30-year writing career. In the Encyclopedia of Alabama entry on Cobb, Carey W. Heatherly wrote, "In addition to racial strife, many of Cobb's works are noted for their considerably strange and dark comedic value consistent with the Southern Gothic genre of literature. Cobb's writings center particularly on characters who triumph and maintain their dignity in the face of failure. He received the Alabama Writers' Forum's Harper Lee Award in 2007."

Source: Encyclopedia of Alabama

Cobb's first novel was published in 1984. 

Published in 1992, this novel looks at racial tension in a fictional small town in Alabama. 

Ann Bowling Pearson died on June 23. She was born in Montgomery on April 6, 1941. Let me quote from her obituary:

"Ann was educated in what were then Lee County schools, graduating from Auburn High School, in what is now East Samford School. She received her bachelor's degree in English from Auburn University in 1963, her master's from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, in 1964, and her Ph.D. in English Literature (emphasis in Victorian literature) in 1971, from Auburn University. She taught at Georgia Southwestern State University, in Americus, Georgia, then at Auburn University. For a time, Ann was a humanities librarian at Auburn University. For many years, she had a newspaper column in the Auburn Bulletin, "In Random Order." She also wrote movie reviews for the Opelika-Auburn News. Ann published annual children's Christmas stories in the Bulletin and The Villager, all of which involved cats. She published three crime novels, then partnered with Auburn natives Ralph Draughon, Jr. and Delos Hughes to publish "Lost Auburn, a Village Remembered in Period Photographs." That was followed by "No Place Like Home," co-authored by Draughon, Hughes, and Emily Amason Sparrow. Ann also authored the Auburn section of "Lee County and Her Forbears," by Alexander Nunn. Dr. Pearson was active in many community endeavors. She was a founding member of the Lee County Humane Society and supported its efforts until her death."

Ann Pearson [1941-2020]

Source: Opelika-Auburn News 25 June 2020

Pearson also published A Stitch in Time #45 in the series of "Zebra Mystery Puzzlers" from Kensington Publishing. Both appeared in 1979. Her PhD dissertation is entitled "Setting in the Works of Charles Dickens." You can read a detailed article about her preservation work at the "Sunny Slope" cottage in Auburn here. Her preservation efforts included an 1854 plantation home, Noble Hall, which along with its outbuildings and acreage had been purchased by her great-grandfather in the 1940's and was her home. 

On July 8 Brad Watson died at his home in Wyoming. Born in Mississippi on July 24, 1955, he received a Masters in Fine Arts from the University of Alabama and later returned for a period as writer in residence. In 1996 while at that latter post he published Last Days of the Dog Men, a collection of stories that took him ten years to write. He subsequently published another collection, Aliens in the Prime of Their Lives in 2010 and two novels, The Heaven of Mercury in 2002 and Miss Jane in 2016. At the time of his death he was teaching at the University of Wyoming. 

Watson at the Alabama Book Festival in Montgomery in 2017

Shirley Ann Grau died August 3 at the age of 91. She was born July 8, 1929, in  New Orleans but grew up in the Montgomery and Selma areas. Over the course of her writing career she published six novels and three collections of stories between 1955 and 1994. In 2006 Selected Stories appeared. Grau won the 1965 Pulitzer Prize for her novel The Keepers of the House, a work published the previous year and set in rural Alabama. Her other fiction was often set in Louisiana, where she lived most of her life. She was inducted into the Alabama Writers Hall of Fame in 2018.

 

Grau's first book and first collection of stories was published in 1955.

This novel appeared in 1971. 

Winston Groom, known to many as the author of Forrest Gump, died on September 17 at age 71. Born in Washington, D.C., on March 23, 1943, he grew up in Mobile and spent much of his adult life in the city. After graduating from the University of Alabama and a tour of duty in Vietnam, Groom worked as a reporter in Washington. 

By 1976 he had begun writing full time, producing three novels from 1978 until 1984. He also wrote his first non-fiction book during this time, Conversations with the Enemy: The Story of PFC Robert Garwood done with Duncan Spencer. In 1985 he returned to Mobile; Forrest Gump was published the following year. He wrote three more novels, Gone the Sun [1988] which is set in Alabama; Such A Pretty, Pretty Girl [1999], a crime thriller set in Los Angeles; and El Paso [2016]. 

Between 1995 and 2018 Groom published 13 works of non-fiction. These titles ranged in subject matter from University of Alabama football to the Civil War and World War II. He was also inducted into the Alabama Writers Hall of Fame in 2018. 

Source: McCall Rare Book & Manuscript Library, University of South Alabama via the Encyclopedia of Alabama. 

I take a look at book covers and other things Gump in a blog post here. The novel was published in 1986 but did not receive much attention until the Tom Hanks film was released in 1994. 

Groom's second novel was published in 1980. 

Alabama History & Culture News: January 10 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. Enjoy!

DON NOBLE: Classic British novel re-envisioned in Mountain Brook is full of surprises Tuscaloosa News ... three Alabama novelists have struck out in new directions with really astonishing results. Patti Callahan Henry, famous for women's novels often set ... [Jane Eyre]

14-year-old Mobile student writes and publishes book WIAT - CBS42.com Guyton says “'Black Queen' of course is a fictional book about an African American slave named Betty Anthony from Tuskegee, Alabama. She was ...

City of Mobile, USA begin research at site of Africatown Welcome Center

FOX10 News

MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) - As ... This location is across from the Old Plateau Cemetery, which is the final resting place for many of Africatown's founders.

"Stars Fell on Alabama" movie al.com Taylor Hicks, an Alabama native and former “American Idol” winner, ... "I think of the movie as a flip book, or postcards with images of the South," says ...

"Exploding Hushpuppies - More Stories from Home" with Leslie Anne Tarabella FOX10 News Available in hard cover, soft cover, audio and E-Book ... Living on the Gulf Coast of Alabama where she raised two sons with her husband Robert, ...

Local 14-year-old writes and publishes book WKRG News 5 Guyton says, “Black Queen, of course, is a fictional book about an African-American slave named Betty Anthony from Tuskegee, Alabama. She was ...

US Mint quarter honors Alabama's Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site Alabama NewsCenter U.S. Mint quarter honors Alabama's Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site. By Alabama NewsCenter Staff. January 5, 2021. U.S. Mint quarter honors ...

Lynching marker to expose Alabama county's brutal, racist history al.com Community organizers hope to install a historic marker outside the Lee County Courthouse to raise awareness about the lynchings of Black people by ...

Harold Franklin became Auburn University's first Black student on this day in 1964 al.com 19, 2020, said Keith Hebert, associate professor of history at Auburn, the ... He instead wrote a thesis about Alabama State College, the historically ...

DON NOBLE: Stunning book showcases Alabama's natural wonders Tuscaloosa News DON NOBLE: Stunning book showcases Alabama's natural wonders. The Tuscaloosa News. Ben Raines is on his way to becoming a household name ...

The New York Times and the Smithsonian Institute will offer tours of Alabama's civil rights landmarks Bham Now Tracing Birmingham's history in the Civil Rights Movement. Sponsor. 16th Street Baptist Church will be featured in the New York Times civil rights tours ...

Here are Alabama's 2020 Entertainers of the Year al.com Although she's won four Grammys in the past, as the frontwoman of Athens band Alabama Shakes, the recognition for “Jaime,” named in honor of ...

Hank Williams died on New Year's Day 1953, Montgomery funeral drew 20000 mourners al.com As people across his native Alabama picked up their morning newspapers that first ... Montgomery, Alabama - Family at Hank Williams memorial unveiling. ... city blocks as the funeral procession carried Hank to Oakwood Cemetery.

Former Lowndes County District Judge Ted Bozeman dies WSFA MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WSFA) ... There will be a private family graveside service at the Alabama National Cemetery in Montevallo. Copyright 2020 ...

Montgomery graduate starts University of Alabama groundbreaking publication Montgomery Advertiser Montgomery graduate starts University of Alabama groundbreaking ... compelling visuals and inventive features with history and campus culture.

Alabama photographer creates 'Portraits of Honor' for state's World War II veterans WAAY "When people hear that (Feezel's story), they just kind of perk up and say that's an important moment in history," noted Rease. Rease donated the portrait ...

Search in Africatown: Researchers to look for graves of former slaves and descendants from the ... al.com A historic marker at Africatown's Old Plateau Cemetery recognizes the ... of South Alabama for a cultural resource study that includes excavation and ...

Courtland Library receives local author's books Moulton Advertiser Each book details the lives of historic Alabama figures—like former Gov. Guy Hunt, legendary football coach Paul “Bear” Bryant, and Alabama's Miss ...

Statue of former slave who founded Alabama A&M now stands in downtown Huntsville WLOX Joseph Lee, Director of AAMU Community Development Corporation, once said, “If you really look at the history of African Americans in the state of ...

Alabama Photo of the Day: Homewood Theatre in 1941

The first photo below shows the Homewood Theatre after its renovation in 1941. Below that is an article from the Birmingham News in January of that year describing the changes coming to the venue. The second photo shows the theater around 1928, and the final one of the building was taken in March 2019. 

The 1945 Birmingham Yellow Pages theater listings gives the address as 2834 South 18th Street. The architect for the redesign was Wilmot Douglas; you can see a list of some of his other buildings in the Birmingham area here. He also designed the College Theatre which opened in East Lake in 1949. 

The Cinema Treasures site says the theater closed around 1963. If you have other information or memories about the Homewood Theatre, feel free to leave them in the comments section. 

Taken in 1941 by a photographer named Rushing for the Birmingham News

Source: Alabama Dept. of Archives & History

Birmingham News article January 1941 

Source: Birmingham Rewound

C. 1928 Birmingham News photo of the Homewood Theatre from the Birmingham Public Library's Birmingham News Photograph Collection (Item BN545)

Films advertised include "Arizona Wildcat" (1927), "Fireman, Save My Child" (1927), "While the City Sleeps" (1928), "Tarzan the Mighty" (1928), "The Scrappin' Ranger" (1928), and "Beauty and Bullets" (1928). The door on the left is marked "Colored Entrance".

Source: BhamWiki

This photo via Google Maps shows the building in March 2019.