Alabama History and Culture News: October 25 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!

P.S. Who can identify the photograph?

Black Alabama family had 'our own hidden figure' and didn't know it - al.com AL.com Two of the four now-grown grandchildren present said they didn't know their grandmothers' role in history until research by the Historic ...

DON NOBLE: Novel explores challenges faced by female lawyer in 1980s - Tuscaloosa News Tuscaloosa News And her recent thriller, “Fierce Kingdom,” takes place in the Birmingham Zoo. “Family Law” is set in Montgomery, Alabama, at the courthouse and in Old ...

'Overwhelming' crowd turns up for Brooklyn Baptist's 200th anniversary The Alabama Baptist Dalton Campbell of the Alabama Baptist Historical Commission presented the church with a certificate, and former Conecuh Association DOM Tommy ...

From Marion to Montgomery: The Early Years of Alabama State University, 1867-1925 - YouTube YouTube The Alabama Department of Archives and History (ADAH) will continue its 2021 Food For Thought lunchtime lecture series TODAY at 12:00 PM.

FBC Wetumpka celebrates 200 years | The Alabama Baptist The Alabama Baptist “It's a rare thing for a church to have this many years of history to celebrate, and to be able to look back and give thanks for all that the Lord has ...

Ashley M. Jones Is Named Poet Laureate in Alabama - The New York Times The New York Times Alabama's Next Poet Laureate Writes Searingly About Race. Ashley M. Jones, whose latest collection is called “Reparations Now!,” is unflinching in ...

Book recounts how Alabama death sentence was overturned - Catholic Courier Catholic Courier Donald Cameron Clark Jr.'s book Summary Judgment details how he, with the help of a Benedictine nun, got an Alabama man's death sentence ...

Creek Indians subject of Sunday talk at Pioneer Museum - The Troy Messenger The Troy Messenger Smith said all those with an interest in the Alabama Creek Indians are invited to attend the Sunday meeting of the Pike County Historical Genealogical ...

Cemetery Preservation Group receives $7500 from Alabama Humanities Alliance Selma Sun (CPG) has received a $7,500 grant from Alabama Humanities Alliance (AHA) to be used for the repairs and upkeep of Selma's three cemeteries. “This ...

Stephen King wrote the intro for new book about Alabama musician AL.com “I have a playlist for every novel I write,” King wrote on the blog. “The music serves the book.” Then in January 2014 on Twitter, where King has more ...

UAB doctor, professor Chapman to hold book benefit at Hokes Bluff Public Library Gadsden Times In addition to being able to buy a copy Saturday, Chapman's book is available online on the University of Alabama Press website and on Amazon.com. [His book is "A Strong & Steady Pulse: Stories from a Cardiologist]

Kuykendall to speak at Limestone County Historical Society The News Courier Kuykendall will share his experiences and extensive knowledge in his talk of restoration of historic homes in Athens, according to a release received ...

National Endowment for the Humanities awards more than $400000 to 2 Alabama institutions al.com In Birmingham, Sloss Furnaces will use their money to help revive classroom and other tours at the national historical landmark. “These new grants will provide ...

AT LARGE: Archaeologist may have found 'Holy Grail' of Alabama battle sites - Tuscaloosa News Tuscaloosa News “I had a friend who used satellite imagery to scan most of south Alabama looking ... Moore, who had written a book about the search for Mabila before his ...

'More to the story': Expanded Legacy Museum aims to confront racial history, promote equality TribDem.com MONTGOMERY, Alabama – In an era where the nation struggles with racial justice, ... “We need to reckon with and acknowledge that history," said Bryan ...

Haunted places and urban legends of the Tennessee Valley | WHNT.com whnt.com Built around 1850 by John Lowry, one of the oldest historic homes in Alabama holds not only original woodwork – but several ghost stories and sightings, ...

Olive Branch Baptist celebrates bicentennial Alabama Baptist Campbell and longtime member Eugenia Brown gave a historical presentation of Travis' ... executive director of the Alabama Baptist Historical Commission, ...

New book shines light on Mayor George Ward and his “Birmingham Beautiful” campaign alabamawx.com The AlabamaWx Weather Blog gladly brings you an excerpt of this article through a partnership with the Alabama NewsCenter. You can see the complete post ...

Mobile and a "Mission of Fear"

I recently read this book which has resided on my shelves for many years and discovered that much of it is set in and around Mobile, Alabama. Let's investigate. 

George Harmon Coxe [1901-1984] was a prolific author of fiction in various genres--detective tales, mysteries, thrillers. He published 63 novels and dozens of stories between 1932 and 1975. Around 1922 he began work for various newspapers and published a few stories in the pulps. He won a Grand Master designation from the Mystery Writers of America in 1964. 

Mission of Fear was published in 1963. The novel is a "stand-alone", i.e. not one of Coxe's series works. Marion and John Hayden are living the happy married life in suburbia when a stranger appears with bad news: Marion's first husband Ted Corbin did not die in a plane crash as reported. That makes Marion a bigamist and liable for return of the rather large life insurance payout.

After a bit of detective work John figures he has located Corbin in Mobile. Hayden's trip to the city and the area occupies pages 96-142. He has a window seat on the flight from Atlanta to Mobile and observes the landscape as the plane descends. "The land beneath the wingtip seem gently rolling now, with cultivated areas interspersed with stands of pine. For the past few minutes they had flown over one river after another, each seemingly flowing southward toward the gulf or bay, but he was hazy about his geography in that area and he could only identify those which were shown on the airline map--the Alabama first, the Tensaw, the Mobile." 

Coxe also describes Hayden's drive from the airport into the city as he passes more and more development, a large shopping center, increasing traffic. He finally reaches his new motel a few blocks beyond Government Street. Other landmarks are mentioned such as Conti Street, and Hayden makes a couple of trips through the Bankhead Tunnel. One area also noted is Bayou La Batre. 

Corbin lives across the Bay in Fairview, apparently a stand-in for Fairhope. Why this name is changed but not others is a mystery. There is a Fairview in Alabama, but it's much further north in Cullman County. A significant portion of the Alabama section of the book is set in "Fairview". It also includes a description of the drive from Mobile to New Orleans when Hayden & Corbin decide to fly out of the Big Easy instead of Mobile. Pascagoula, Ocean Springs, Biloxi, Gulfport, Long Beach and Pass Christian all are mentioned. 

I've found no connection to Alabama in Coxe's biographical information online, but he did work for a newspaper in Florida at one point during his journalism career. Coxe has two other Alabama connections by way of films adapted from his work. The 1936 film Murder with Pictures was based on Coxe's first novel published the previous year. The female lead is Birmingham native Gail Patrick; I've written several blog posts about her life and career. Here's Flash Casey is a 1938 film based on Coxe's story "Return Engagement" first published in the March 1934 issue of the legendary Black Mask magazine. That film starred Boots Mallory, who grew up in Mobile. 

This novel is a fun read; Coxe was a writer who kept the story moving and created interesting characters. This title is the first thing by him I've read; I'll have to seek out more. Author James Reasoner has written an appreciation of Coxe that's available here. 

Some of Dad's U.S. Navy Ephemera from 1947

OK, so what are ephemera? Wikipedia says, "Ephemera are any transitory written or printed matters that are not meant to be retained or preserved. The word derives from the Greek ephemeros, meaning "lasting only one day, short-lived".^[1] Some collectible ephemera are advertising, trade cards, airsickness bags, bookmarks, catalogues, coasters, greeting cards, letters, pamphlets, postcards, posters, prospectuses, defunct stock certificates or tickets, and zines." 

In other words, stuff we tend to throw away. In my family, especially on my dad's side, a lot of that sort of thing has survived. His older sister Beulah Vee died just short of her eighteenth birthday, so he was the only child after that event. My grandmother Rosa Mae Wright never really got over her death. I've written a series of blog posts about the shrine of memorabilia she kept in Beulah Vee's hope or what she called her daughter's cedar chest. Hope had gone, I guess. You can read them here and here. Mamaw kept a lot of material, much of it ephemera. Most of it has been donated to the state archives since it offers a snapshot of Beulah Vee's life in Gadsden in the 1920's and 1930's.

As we discovered when we cleaned out the house in 1999, my grandmother kept lots of other ephemera, some of it dealing with dad's time in the U.S. Navy in the late 1940's. I've written a couple of blog posts about his service; they are linked at the photos below. I recently came across REAL ephemera my grandmother had saved, some of dad's Navy change of address forms. More comments below. 

I've covered some other ephemera on this blog, including bookmarks, match books, and I don't remember what else. One of these days I'm going to get around to a couple of posts using my mammoth movie and concert ticket stubs collection! 

Dad did fireman's training at the Navy's Great Lakes center in Illinois, so this card dated February 19, 1947, tells his parents he is transferring to San Diego. Beginning in July 1946 he had done twelve weeks of boot camp at Bainbridge, Maryland. 

; 

This card was mailed to 1113 Chandler Street in Gadsden; I always knew the address as 1313, a spooky number easy to remember, so a change occurred at some point, presumably in the 1950's. 

This card informs my grandparents that dad is being stationed "overseas" and giving an address in San Francisco to be used until further notice. 

This address is a bit more specific and apparently a correction postmarked four days after the previous one. These two cards were sent to a post office box my grandparents were using for some reason. Presumably the "NavRecSta" is the Navy Recruiting Station in San Francisco. 

I've written about dad's time in the south Pacific aboard the USS Errol here. Another more extensive post on his Navy career is here. 

Claudia Waddell Roberts, the Octagon House & "The Rusty Key"

One of Alabama's most unusual private residences from the antebellum period is the Octagon House in Clayton in Barbour County. The house was constructed between 1859 and 1861 by businessman Benjamin Petty at a time when the octagon shape was popular in the U.S. In 1899 the house passed to Petty's daughter and her husband, who did not need such large a large space. A neighbor, Judge Bob Roberts, offered to exchange his smaller house and pay the difference in cash, so he and his wife Claudia moved into what is also known as the Petty-Roberts House in 1901. The residence was  eventually purchased by the town from their daughter Mary's estate and is now used as an event facility. 

In the late 1930's, perhaps 1938, Claudia Waddell Roberts privately published in Montgomery a 43-page chapbook containing four short stories: "The Rusty Key", "A Fair Exchange", "The Man With a Past" and "In the Bridal Chamber." The full title of the work is The Rusty Key: Prize Stories of the Deep South. The publication is extremely rare; no copies are listed for sale at Bookfinder.com, which aggregates offerings from over 100,000 bookseller worldwide. 

At some point I stumbled across an entry for The Rusty Key on Amazon, but didn't save the URL and now can't find it again. However, I did save this description, author unknown:

5" x 7½" No publishing information or dates, but my internet research suggests it dates to the 1930s. Collection of 4 Short Stories: THE RUSTY KEY First prize winner in the May Harris short story contest through the Press and Authors Club, Montgomery, Alabama Judges: English Department University of Alabama Sold to Mystery Magazine, New York City A FAIR EXCHANGE - An Unusual Incident in the Closing Days of the Civil War A prize winner in The Progressive Farmer's short story contest "The paragraph about Isabel as the type of Southern woman during the Sixties is like a cameo', writes a Kentuckian, 'and that one about the Kentucky soldier, "I fight for principle", is the epitome of all that can be said about the State that was preserved for the Union. For years and years to come this story should be read as a true picture of the Southern Woman, and the chivalry of Old Kaintuck." THE MAN WITH A PAST - Founded on a True Incident of the Civil War Shared 2nd prize in the short story contest of the old Sunny South, Atlanta, Georgia (The Sunny South was a weekly newspaper from 1875-1907) IN THE BRIDAL CHAMBER Entered in The Montgomery Journal Ghost Story Contest along with 413 other stories from Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee and Virginia This story was awarded first prize "because of the excellence of the writing," the judges state, "and the novel plot construction"

As noted in this paragraph, and below in the magazine's listing, "The Rusty Key" was published in the May 1, 1926, issue of Mystery Magazine, and is set the basement of the Octagon House. Whether the other stories were published elsewhere, and whether Roberts ever published anything else is unknown. Claudia Waddell Roberts, born February 4, 1861, died on July 20, 1950. Her husband Judge Roberts had died in 1938. Both are buried in the Clayton City Cemetery. 

Maybe one day I'll get to read those stories...

A contemporary photograph of the house. The EOA's main article has plans and extensive discussion of the upper two floors and the basement. 

Source: Encyclopedia of Alabama 

"During the 1920s, the façade of the Octagon House was changed drastically with the addition of two-story wraparound porches. In the 1980s, they were removed when the house was restored to its original appearance by the Clayton Historic Preservation Society."

Source: Encyclopedia of Alabama

Note the cover story by Augustus Thomas. He was a Midwestern author whose 1891 play "Alabama" I've written about here. 

Mystery Magazine [v9 #2, May 1, 1926] ed. Robert Simpson (Mystery Magazine Company, 20¢, pulp, cover by Fred T. Everett)
Details taken from Table of Contents.
• 131 · The Girl on the Staircase · Richard Le Gallienne · nv
• 145 · Gold Seekers, Beware! · [uncredited] · ms
• 146 · The Green Eye—and So On [Peter Lamb] · Dale Collins · ss The Sketch November 18 1925
• 154 · Nobody Ever Died in This House · Robert W. Sneddon · ss
• 166 · The Kingdom of Dogs · [uncredited] · ms
• 167 · The Most Mysterious Happening in My Life · Augustus Thomas; as told to Bide Dudley · ms
• 170 · The Red Button · Jean Allister · ss
• 183 · Egyptian Mystery · [uncredited] · ms
• 184 · No Defense Whatever [Part 1 of 2] · Victor Lauriston · sl
• 202 · Curtain · Alan Williams · ss
• 209 · Sinister House [Part 4 of 4] · Charles G. Booth · sl
• 241 · A Hempen Hobby · [uncredited] · ms
• 242 · He Sticks Up for Himself · Barsine Dent · ss
• 245 · The Rusty Key · Claudia Waddell Roberts · ss

Source: FictionMags Index

Source: Waymarking.com 

 

Alabama History and Culture News: October 7 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!

National Park Service names Clarke County site to federal Underground Railroad program ... South Alabamian A Clarke County Historical Society marker was among the 18 new listings by the National ... only one other site from Alabama had been named to the list.

Historic Moulton gin gets barn quilt square | News | moultonadvertiser.com

Moulton Advertiser

Regina Painter, a traveling nurse anesthetist from Killen, founded the Alabama Barn Quilt Trail in 2013-14. She is away from home much of the time, but when she ...

Historic Birmingham mine now part of Red Mountain Park attractions - Alabama NewsCenter Alabama NewsCenter The mine dates back to 1873 and is now a great glimpse into the mining history that helped build the Magic City. Jeff Newman, co-founder of Underground ...

Walter Bennett's second novel, Last First Kiss, buzzes | Charlotte Observer Charlotte Observer His first novel, “Leaving Tuscaloosa,” won wide acclaim — including the Alabama Author's Award and being named a finalist for both the PEN/Bellwether Prize ...

Springfield author book with James Patterson on NYT best seller list Springfield News-Leader "The Jailhouse Lawyer" tells the story of a public defender who "tries to do her job and ends up in jail." While set in Alabama, Allen said the genesis of the ...

'Genius grant' goes to writer, radio producer with Alabama ties Alabama NewsCenter I really am interested in people's stories. When asking them questions, I really want to hear the answers, whether it's in fiction or nonfiction, whether it's ...

'Dabo's World': New book about Pelham native, Clemson coach's life - CBS 42 WIAT - CBS42.com Anderson is a celebrated sports writer and professor at the University Of Alabama. A description of the book reads: “How Dabo Swinney used his energy, faith, ...

Convicted Alabama sheriff talks about jail time, his new book and looking for a job - al.com al.com ... was Alabama's longest-serving sheriff until he was convicted of felony charges this summer, maintained his innocence and previewed a forthcoming book in ...

Two Auburn Professors Want to Identify "Bloody Sunday" Marchers - Alabama News Network Alabama News Network “Actually putting names to these faces is a game-changer,” Selma City Council Chairman Billy Young said. “We're extremely enthusiastic about recording history ...

NASCAR at Talladega results: Bubba Wallace makes history with first Cup Series victory ... Sporting News Bubba Wallace made history at Talladega Superspeedway. ... The 27-year-old Alabama native cheered with his crew once the race was called. Bubba Wallace makes history with first Cup victory at Talladega | NASCAR - NASCAR Full Coverage

New exhibits feature Mobile's colonial history - FOX10 News FOX10 News (WALA) -- There's a new interactive and engaging exhibit in Mobile to help children learn about the city's history. On Sunday, the History Museum of Mobile held ...

Student makes history as first African-American lead in Mobile Ballet in Alabama - Wichita, KS

Our Community Now at Colorado

By Ariel Mallory Click here for updates on this story MOBILE, Alabama (WALA) — A Davidson High School student has danced her way into history.

DON NOBLE: Book showcases fascinating places you can no longer visit - Tuscaloosa News Tuscaloosa News Throughout the state of Alabama, we see reminders of the unintended but perfectly predictable effects of the interstate ... Publisher: The History Press.

From slavery to police abuse, new museum documents US history of racism - News.com.au NEWS.com.au Slavery, lynchings, segregation, mass incarceration and police abuse: a museum that opens Friday in the state of Alabama traces a direct link between the ...

Columbus Arts Council exhibits to feature Alabama artists - The Dispatch The Commercial Dispatch Tony Brock, whose art is described as “vibrant, pop with a comic-book feel,” is an artist from Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Some of his artwork will be featured in ...

Huntsville History Month kicks off October 1 - The Madison Record themadisonrecord.com From Monte Sano State Park to the Land Trust of North Alabama's historic trails and green spaces, Huntsville's outdoor spaces have many stories to tell.

First Baptist Church Atmore celebrates 135th anniversary Alabama Baptist Oct. 3 will be about “Celebrating the Past” with a historical celebration at ... will feature Rick Lance, director of the Alabama State Board of Missions, ...