Alabama History & Culture News: June 5 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!

Carolyn Haines' latest mystery is a scary Halloween story | DON NOBLE - Tuscaloosa News Tuscaloosa News With her 24th "Bones" novel, Carolyn Haines of Semmes, Alabama, is surely one of the most productive and relentless mystery writers of all time.

Artist Douglas Baulos uses Verdant Fund grant for project “Things shouldn't be so hard” University of Alabama at Birmingham Baulos will create a series of seven large works, and an accompanying catalog/workbook will navigate their interests in book structures, Alabama ...

1st remote air traffic control center in US to be in Alabama - KTAR News KTAR News ... on the site of an old Air Force base in Alabama, a newspaper reports. Advanced ATC Inc., an air traffic control academy based in Valdosta, ...

Helen Keller Birthplace Foundation to hold weekly performances of “The Miracle Worker” WHNT Helen Keller is one of the most recognizable names in Alabama history. Ivy Green, the birthplace of Helen Keller, has been turned into […]

The history of the City Federal Building, one of Birmingham's original skyscrapers [Photos] Bham Now We took a closer look at this historic structure #Birmingham ... held the title of the tallest skyscraper in Alabama from 1913 until 1969, ...

Civil Rights Tour Gives Participants the Chance to Immerse Themselves in History Alabama News Network An Alabama-based tour group is hoping people continue to carry the legacy of those who have gone before them.

Civil Rights Trail Tours brings tourists to central Alabama - WSFA TV WSFA TV The Civil Rights Trail and its many locations showcase Alabama's rich history and it's also bringing tour groups from across the country to the ..

Time-honored tradition Decoration Day observed across Cullman County The Cullman Tribune – Decoration Day, an annual observance still common throughout Cullman and North Alabama, has a history steeped in tradition, honor and homecoming.

20 years later, Alabama's connection to 'The Wire' lives on - CBS 42 CBS 42 BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WIAT) — It's a small Alabama connection that almost didn't happen. Before “The Wire” became one of HBO's landmark shows–one that ..

Corinth Missionary Baptist Church in Verbena celebrates 150th anniversary The Alabama Baptist Plaques were presented to Pastor Bert Tippett (left) and Deacon Jonathan Bowen (right) by Pat Musselwhite of the Alabama Baptist Historical ...

'It's been a great time': Former broadcasters gather to share stories about bygone days working ... CBS 42 Ed Boutwell, left, talking with Steve Gray during the Legends of Broadcast Reunion at the Alabama Historical Radio Society. (Courtesy Drew Taylor).

In Africatown, tourism hopes following Clotilda discovery replaced with worries over zoning map AL.com 29, 2019, file photo, Old Plateau Cemetery, the final resting place for ... EPA denies air pollution permit renewal for south Alabama factory near ...

'Living the Gimmick' a bloody, breakneck novel | Slam Wrestling Slam Wrestling Mathews said that he and his dad didn't have much in common except for their love of professional wrestling. Mathews, a self-proclaimed “Alabama guy,” ...

Alabama Archives display honors Alabamians who served | WHNT.com WHNT.com On this Memorial Day, the Alabama Department of Archives and History looks back on the different ways in which Alabamians have served their ...

National Park Service grants to boost Auburn University research projects - Alabama NewsCenter Alabama NewsCenter This project is supported through an African American Civil Rights grant, provided by the Historic Preservation Fund, as administered by the NPS, ...

Alabama church replacing century-old pipe organ after fire - CBS 42 CBS 42 The yawning gap in the choir loft of Sacred Heart of Jesus Catholic Church is a sight that hasn't been seen in more than six decades, ...

New book provides guide to birding in Alabama - WRBL

WRBL

ATHENS, Ala. (AP) — An expert and author has published a new guide to identifying birds in Alabama. “Birds of Alabama” offers a unique experience ...

Alabama musician isn't done chasing his dream: 'This is not going to last forever' - al.com AL.com Born in Birmingham, Alabama musician Ham Bagby (above) spent formative years ... With summer and a new album on the way, Bagby will book gigs to ...

Former Messenger sports editor Bobby Mathews set to release first book The Troy Messenger During the COVID-19 pandemic, Mathews began to write more fiction and ended up selling two books to publisher Shotgun Honey Books. Sign up for our ...

Robert Bailey, author of 'The Professor,' to appear at Madison library

The Madison Record

MADISON – Mystery lovers and other mature readers soon can engage in thoughtful conversation with a local author who will visit Madison Public ...

Alabama Book: Thoughts of a Man Called Boozer

As the downsizing of my book collection continues, I'm even letting go of volumes that have Alabama connections. Can you believe it? This post is about such a book and its author.

The book collects the musings that John Emmett "Boozer" Pitts wrote during three hospital stays, primarily at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., from 1958 until 1963. You can read the details below. Pitts was born in Russell County on November 25, 1893 and died on February 10, 1971. He is buried in Auburn Memorial Park Cemetery along with his wife Martha, who died in 1952, and their two sons.

Pitts attended Auburn before World War I and played football as a lineman for two years. He was the center on the 1913 undefeated team that went 8-0 under legendary coach Mike Donahue. Pitts himself coached football there during the 1923 and 1924 seasons, as well as the final seven games in 1927. His record was 7-11-6. Pitts served as an assistant coach in the 1919-1922 seasons and 1925-1927. He also taught mathematics at the university from 1930 until 1940. He served in the U.S. Army in World War II, and retired at the rank of colonel. 

Both sons also entered the military. John, Jr. [1924-1977] went to West Point, served in Korea and Vietnam and by the time he retired in 1976 had risen to the rank of brigadier general. You can read more about his life and career here and here. Younger son William [1932-1964] was a captain in the Air Force when he died in an F-101 crash in Oregon.

The forward below by Mabel Yerby Lawson gives more details about Pitts' life. The nickname is mentioned, but not really explained.  

Take a book off the shelf, and you never know where you'll end up....

Photo of Pitts from the 1925 Auburn yearbook

Source: Wikipedia

Yes, this copy is signed by the author.

Alabama Book Covers: Tom Roan

In September 2016 I posted an item on this blog about Tom Roan's 1935 short story "Loot Island" which is set in Alabama. Let me quote myself from the beginning of that post about Roan's life; more comments follow. 

Although he wrote novels and other types of stories, Tom Roan is best known as the author of hundreds of stories published in the western pulp magazines from the late 1920's until the early 1950's. He's also one of those authors whose life is more unbelievable than most of his fiction.

Roan was born in Snead on Sand Mountain in December 1892. His poor family moved frequently as the men sought jobs. At one point the family lived in Cardiff near Birmingham where his father William worked in a coal mine. Roan left Alabama on a freight train when he was fifteen and headed west.

He ended up in San Francisco, but that was only one of many stops during the next two decades. He served in the U.S. Army from 1913 until 1917, much of the time in Hawaii. Around that period Roan fought for Pancho Villa in Mexico, and worked in a circus, as a private detective and a marshal in various western towns. He was said to have killed five bad men during those days.

Roan returned to Alabama in 1930 with his first wife Marjorie. Soon they were living in Collinsville in DeKalb County. The following year Roan shot Dr. William Preston Hicks several times during a drunken brawl at Roan's home. Three trials later, in 1933, he was finally acquitted. During his time in jail he requested a typewriter so he could keep writing stories. Dr. Hicks, born in 1889, was a 1913 graduate of the Birmingham Medical College.

Marjorie and their daughter left Alabama during the trials, and she divorced Roan. The daughter was later killed in a car wreck in California. Roan would marry again, but they had no children. He died on July 1, 1958, in Sea Bright, New Jersey. He is buried in Fair View Cemetery in Middletown, New Jersey. 

Two early novels are autobiographical portraits of Roan's young days in Alabama. Stormy Road was published in 1934 and set in Attalla where Tom spent part of his youth. Black Earth came out the following year and is set in the coal mines around Birmingham. 

We probably need to take self-described events in Roan's life before his return to Alabama with a grain of salt. So far researchers such as Bill Plott have found little evidence to support much of it. He notes in a May 2022 email to me:

Roan research is so frustrating because of the difficulty in documenting any of the wild stuff. It is indeed possible that he was with Pancho Villa at one of the battles of Juarez, but where is the documentation and which of the three battles was it? Did he really know Jack London while he was in Hawaii? Possible, but nothing in any of the London biographies I checked suggests that Jack was paling around with any military personnel.  And it's a short window, maybe 18 months that London was in Hawaii. Was Roan involved in capturing a notorious killer while working at as a deputy in Bannock County, Idaho? Again, possibly, but the sheriff's department personnel records do not list a Roan or Rowan during that time period. You see the dilemma.

As far as I can determine, these items below, along with one not listed-- The Rio Kid [Godwin, 1935]-- are the only novels Roan published. Life events and the hundreds of stories he turned out in the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s probably kept him from writing more. 

Roan also wrote an occasional article, such as "Alabama Divorce—Cafeteria Style," published in Bluebook May 1953. At that time the state was a mecca for quickie divorces. Even famous people came to the Heart of Dixie. Too bad the state had no casinos to entertain them while they were here.

A.L. Burt, 1936
Burt was a New York publishing firm operating from 1883, until 1937, when the company was bought by Blue Ribbon Books. Doubleday purchased them two years later. 

1943 [in London]. This "abridged" paperback came later

Nicholson and Watson, 1935

Godwin, 1935

Stark realism! Swamplands! Deep South!
Published by Falcon Books [no. 31], 1952

For some reason Roan published this novel as by "Adam Rebel". Published in 1954, the cover art is by Walter Popp 

Nicholson & Watson, 1935; published in London by the same publisher also 1935

Dell, 1955; published in Denmark [in Danish] in 1957

Thanks to Bill Plott for the three images below.

Zenith Books, 1958 

An autobiographical novel published under Roan's real name

I. Washburn, 1934

End papers for Black Earth, also published as by Thomas Roan. Apparently one of the publisher's earliest titles, since the company was founded in 1935. The firm published a number of mysteries over the next four years. 

Hillman-Curl, Inc., 1935

Alabama History & Culture News: May 24 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!

Author offers insight on new book 'Alabama v. King' | FOX 2

FOX 2

Dan Abrams is the author of the book, “Alabama v. King: Martin Luther King Jr. and the Criminal Trial That Launched the Civil Rights Movement.

Biggest cities in Alabama 150 years ago - WHNT WHNT Eleven southern states seceded from the Union in 1861, instigating four bloody years of the Civil War and fundamentally altering the social history of ...

Alabama author Marlin Barton believes in the power of storytelling Alabama NewsCenter Barton: The husband and wife in the novel are based loosely on my great-great-grandparents and I've drawn from a lot of family stories, history ...

Remember When: A child's history stories of Alabama - The Andalusia Star-News The Andalusia Star-News An elementary school book, “History Stories of Alabama,” by Mrs. Pitt Lamar Matthews was passed along to me recently. It is dated 1929 and the ...

Historical society in Alabama finds a new location | State News | moultonadvertiser.com

Moulton Advertiser

GADSDEN, Ala. (AP) — The Etowah Historical Society will move to a new location in Rainbow City as plans are in place to tear down its most recent ...

Alabama historic Black church seeks a more secure future

Alabama NewsCenter

Alabama historic Black church seeks a more secure future After 135 years, Homewood's Union Missionary Baptist Church is in need or renovation and ...

Preserving the Past, Building a Future - Opelika Observer Opelika Observer May is Historic Preservation Month, and with it came a continued fight to preserve and protect the historically designated George and Addie Giddens ...

Sun Ra House in Germantown gets historic landmark designation - PhillyVoice PhillyVoice The 19th century Germantown row home that served as the home of late jazz musician Sun Ra and his Arkestra collective has been designated a ...

Unlocking the Secrets of the 'Clotilda,' the Last Known Slave Ship | Smart News Smithsonian Magazine Archaeological divers spent 10 days evaluating the sunken ship in the Mobile River, and took samples for possible traces of DNA.

Historic Huntsville to open free 'Rooted in History' exhibit honoring historical local women WHNT.com Historic Huntsville Foundation will honor the city's women leaders of the 20th century in a new, free exhibit.

Mrs. Ora Lee Park, was a notable Alabamian - The Troy Messenger The Troy Messenger The book was written and prepared by Dr. Frank L. Grove of Montgomery, who for 28 years served as executive secretary of the Alabama Education ...

Museum of East Alabama celebrates mural painted by Auburn University class Office of Communications and Marketing - Auburn University The Museum of East Alabama celebrated the creativity of Auburn ... celebrates local agricultural history and features imagery of historic ...

$3.6 million in federal funding split for Alabama civil rights preservation projects - al.com AL.com The money comes from the National Park Service's African American Civil Rights Grant Program and is funded by the Historic Preservation Fund. This ...

Exploring the History of Alabama's Gulf Coast Gulf Shores Check out these historic sites and museums found throughout Alabama's Gulf Coast while visiting Gulf Shores & Orange Beach.