Alabama History & Culture News: October 12 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!

October marks the 5th annual 'Huntsville History Month' | WHNT.com WHNT From the U.S. space program to being the beginning of Alabama's statehood, Huntsville has plenty of history. This year's format focuses on 4 ...

Vonetta Flowers headlines second Dr. Wilson Fallin Jr. Lecture Series at University of Montevallo Alabama NewsCenter Vonetta Flowers was the first Black woman in history to win a gold medal ... In 2011, Flowers was inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame.

West Alabama haunts: These locations have some creepy histories - WVUA 23 WVUA 23 But even if you don't, ghost stories contain a whole lot of history. So here's a look at some places around Tuscaloosa that just may be holding a ...

Montgomery sites receive historic preservation funding - WSFA WSFA $469,500 to the Alabama Historical Commission for stabilization and preservation of the Schooner Clotilda in Mobile, the Last-known Slave Ship to ...

Inside Sean of the South's sweet, historic Alabama home - al.com AL.com Inside Sean of the South's sweet, historic Alabama home. Published: Oct. 06, 2022, 8:41 a.m.. 30. At home with Sean and Jamie Dietrich. facebook.

Sewell to announce major historic preservation funding for Selma Alabama Political Reporter Selma University, the Historic Brown Chapel AME Church and the ... the NPS Historic Preservation Fund to preserve Civil Rights sites in Alabama ...

Funding needed for Perote Colored Cemetery | News | unionspringsherald.com Union Springs Herald ... Colored Cemetery, Inc. is a non-profit organization in Perote, Alabama. The cemetery dates back to 1853, and numerous Civil War Veterans are ...

Tuskegee's Student Uprising: The Overlooked History | Time Time "The Tuskegee Student Uprising: A History" zeroes in on the 1968 uprising at Alabama's Tuskegee Institute, now Tuskegee University, that won ...

A Eugenics Program Masquerades as a Health Clinic in This Eye-Opening Historical Novel BookTrib In the small southwest Alabama town called Hyssop, during the hot, dry summer of 1968, a free women's health clinic opened.

Alabama author Ramona Reeves comes home with award-winning debut - al.com AL.com Knowing that Mobile native Ramona Reeves won a noteworthy literary prize for her new book, and that the prize had a sizeable monetary component, ...

State poet laureate announces creation of Alabama Poetry Delegation - al.com AL.com during the Magic City Poetry Festival (Shauna Stuart| Al.com). [Related: In her debut book of poetry, Alabama writer Tania Russell unpacks the ...

Deadline to nominate historic Alabama "Places in Peril" extended to Oct. 31 The Bama Buzz HISTORIC PRESERVATION ALERT: Do you know of a historic place in Alabama that needs saving?

Fine Fun in Alabama

Francis Harper was born of free parents in Maryland, then a slave state, on September 24, 1825. Before her death on February 22, 1911, she had developed careers as a teacher, abolitionist, suffragist, public speaker and author. Harper began to publish articles in anti-slavery journals in 1839 under her maiden name Francis Watkins. She did not marry Fenton Harper until 1860.

She was one of the earliest African-American women to develop an extensive writing career. In addition to her works on abolition and suffrage, she published poetry and several novels. Her first book of poems appeared in 1845. She joined the American Anti-Slavery Society in 1853 and lectured widely on their behalf. Harper was also active in various suffrage and prohibitionist organizations. In 1872 she published Sketches of Southern Life, a chronicle of  her travels in the region to meet newly freed slaves. 

In 1895 her collection Poems appeared and included the one below, "The Martyr of Alabama". Harper was inspired by a newspaper account of a real event at Bay Minnette in  Baldwin County, Alabama, on December 29, 1894. The beating and shooting of the young Tim Thompson had been covered in several newspapers around the country; you can see some examples here. 

Whether any Alabama newspapers wrote about the event or whether the murderer was ever caught will require further research. 

in

Source: Indianapolis Journal 30 December 1894

In the same newspaper column as the Thompson piece, a few items below, is this article--another sign of the times. 

Frances E.W. Harper [1825-1911]

Source: Wikipedia

Below is Harper's poem as it appeared in the 1895 edition of her Poems. The numbers are the page numbers from that publication. 

THE MARTYR OF ALABAMA.

"Tim Thompson, a little negro boy, was asked to dance for the amusement of some white toughs. He refused, saying he was a church member. One of the men knocked him down with a club and then danced upon his prostrate form. He then shot the boy in the hip. The boy is dead; his murderer is still at large."—News Item.

  He lifted up his pleading eyes,

     And scanned each cruel face,

  Where cold and brutal cowardice

     Had left its evil trace.

  It was when tender memories

     Round Beth'lem's manger lay,

(49)

50 THE MARTYR OF ALABAMA.

  And mothers told their little ones

     Of Jesu's natal day.

  And of the Magi from the East

     Who came their gifts to bring,

  And bow in rev'rence at the feet

     Of Salem's new-born King.

  And how the herald angels sang

     The choral song of peace,

  That war should close his wrathful lips,

     And strife and carnage cease.

  At such an hour men well may hush

     Their discord and their strife,

  And o'er that manger clasp their hands

     With gifts to brighten life.

  Alas! that in our favored land,

     That cruelty and crime

  Should cast their shadows o'er a day.

     The fairest pearl of time.

  A dark-browed boy had drawn anear

     A band of savage men,

  Just as a hapless lamb might stray

     Into a tiger's den.

THE MARTYR OF ALABAMA. 51

  Cruel and dull, they saw in him

     For sport an evil chance,

  And then demanded of the child

     To give to them a dance.

  "Come dance for us," the rough men said;

     "I can't," the child replied,

  "I cannot for the dear Lord's sake,

     Who for my sins once died."

  Tho' they were strong and he was weak,

     He wouldn't his Lord deny.

  His life lay in their cruel hands,

     But he for Christ could die.

  Heard they aright? Did that brave child

     Their mandates dare resist?

  Did he against their stern commands

     Have courage to insist?

  Then recklessly a man (?) arose,

     And dealt a fearful blow.

  He crushed the portals of that life,

     And laid the brave child low.

  And trampled on his prostrate form,

     As on a broken toy;

52 THE MARTYR OF ALABAMA.

  Then danced with careless, brutal feet,

     Upon the murdered boy.

  Christians! behold that martyred child!

     His blood cries from the ground;

  Before the sleepless eye of God,

     He shows each gaping wound.

  Oh! Church of Christ arise! arise!

     Lest crimson stain thy hand,

  When God shall inquisition make

     For blood shed in the land.

  Take sackcloth of the darkest hue,

     And shroud the pulpits round;

  Servants of him who cannot lie

     Sit mourning on the ground.

  Let holy horror blanch each brow,

     Pale every cheek with fears,

  And rocks and stones, if ye could speak,

     Ye well might melt to tears.

  Through every fane send forth a cry,

     Of sorrow and regret,

  Nor in an hour of careless ease

     Thy brother's wrongs forget.

Alabama History & Culture News: October 4 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!

'I just cried': Montgomery teen passes state bar exam - WSFA WSFA While they both passed the bar at just 19 years old, Darden is a few months younger. “He's the youngest, like, in recorded history in Alabama,” Darden ...

ASU's Frazine Taylor Wins National Award | Alabama State University Alabama State University She serves on the boards of the Patrons for the Study of Civil Rights and African-American Culture at ASU, is a member of the Alabama Cemetery ...

Take a Trip Through the States with Songs for Alabama—America's Songbook - American Songwriter American Songwriter ... Prine was drawn to the Alabama city of Montgomery as a longtime fan of country legend Hank Williams, whose body rests in a cemetery there.

Vandals deface William Rufus King mausoleum at Old Live Oak Cemetery - Selma Sun Selma Sun King is Alabama's only vice president of the United States. The mausoleum dates back to 1853. Buster said vandalizing graves is disrespectful and ...

Selma grave of William Rufus King, Alabama's only U.S. vice president, vandalized with black paint AL.com Doug Buster, president of the Cemetery Preservation Group, a nonprofit that preserves historic cemeteries including King's resting place at ...

Here are 50 great books set in Alabama - al.com

AL.com

Genres: Historical Fiction, Historical, Young Adult, African American. - Read more on Goodreads. 46. Alabama Moon. - Rating: 4.06 (4,668 ratings).

Fine Dining in Alabama Exhibit opens in RBD Library Office of Communications and Marketing - Auburn University Cather is a book collector and dealer in Birmingham, Alabama. His collection contains menus, receipts, photos and other items—many collected from ...

Wilcox Historical Society meets at Rosemary Plantation on Oct. 9 | News | selmasun.com Selma Sun They will discuss the history of the builders and the Matthews family, who were the original residents. "Rosemary Plantation sits near the Alabama ...

The Haunted House Museum In Alabama Both History Buffs And Ghost Hunters Will Love Only In Your State Sturdivant Hall is located in Selma, Alabama. ... The Story Behind This Small Town Cemetery In Alabama Will Chill You To The Bone.

Local historical society to add lounge and coffee bar - WBRC WBRC Local historical society to add lounge and coffee bar. Published: Sep. 23, 2022 at 8:22 PM PDT|Updated: 3 hours ago. Close. Subtitle Settings.

Black history trips are booming: we take a look at Alabama's Civil Rights Trail Travel Weekly Montgomery is also home to Alabama's most-visited black history site, the Legacy Museum, which opened in 2018 and, combined with the neighbouring ..

In her debut book of poetry, Alabama writer Tania Russell unpacks the adultification of Black girls AL.com Page nine of Tania Russell's poetry book “be gentle with Black girls” has the definition of the word “fast”: a girl who is perceived to be engaged ...

Book shows personal side of 'Mockingbird' author Harper Lee | AP News AP News ... despite writing one of the best-selling books ever, “To Kill a Mockingbird.” To Wayne Flynt, the Alabama-born author was his friend, Nelle.

This 80-year-old woman makes history as university's oldest graduate: 'Age is not a barrier' Good Morning America Donzella Washington, 80, graduated from Alabama A&M University on Dec. 6 with a bachelor's degree in social work. Not only did she graduate magna cum ...

Heritage Landing promises economic opportunity for southern Walker County, Alabama Alabama NewsCenter Now, a new project involving private and public partners is transforming land historically tied to the county's legacy of mining into a site for ...

The Story Behind This Small Town Cemetery In Alabama Will Chill You To The Bone

Only In Your State

Speaking of cemeteries, one of the most haunted cemeteries in Alabama is Adams Grove Cemetery, which is attached to Adams Grove Presbyterian ...

Gus Mitchell's store added to Alabama historical sites, plans underway to open museum and ... Selma Sun He hired Jeannetta Edwards to be his Project Manager in 2020. “We made an application with the Alabama Historical Commission to be listed as an ...

Gulf Coast rich in history as Native American Day approaches Orange Beach News | Gulf Shores News Orange Beach museum honors Indian, fishing heritage. The Indian and Sea Museum in Orange Beach, Alabama, is open Tuesday, Wednesday. Orange Beach, Ala ...

Silent Filmmaking in the Birmingham Area, Part 6: Homegrown Silents (2)

Over the years [after all, this blog goes back to 2014] I've written a number of pieces here about the Alabama connections to various silent films. One group, which includes this post, covers silents made in the Birmingham area. I've also written a number of items about actors and actresses from Alabama--such as Johnny Mack Brown, Lois Wilson and Dorothy Sebastian--who starred in silent films. Finally, I've done a few posts about silent films such as One Clear Call and Right of the Strongest based on a work by a state novelist or having some other connection. 

In this post I'm returning to the theme of "homegrown silents" that I covered in the fifth part. Films included in parts one through four originated with companies outside the state who came to the Birmingham area to film. However, in part five and now part six I've written about the Birmingham Amateur Movie Association  and its filmmaking efforts. In part five I also discussed two other local productions, Things You Ought to Know About Birmingham and The Love Beat. Since that post I've learned nothing more about them.   

Below I've included again two newspaper articles about the group I also used in part five. The BAMA originated in a meeting of over fifty people who met in the auditorium of the Birmingham Public Library on Friday night, August 3, 1928. At that meeting committees were established and membership determined, and the group watched The Nolfolk Case, made by a similar organization in New Haven,  Connecticut. The local organization had already joined the Amateur Cinema League of America based in New York City. The League, founded on July 28, 1926, existed until 1954. Publication of their journal, Movie Makers, began in December 1926. 

Officers elected at the first meeting:

Jack London, President
Louise O. Charlton, Director
E.C. Krug, Vice-President
J. Mont Thomas, Secretary
John E. Roberts, Treasurer

Committees/members

Scenario

Harry Garrett, Chair
Mrs. W.H. Yenni
Howard Parish

Membership

Mrs. Erwin Caldwell, Chair
Robert Bromberg
Mrs. J. Martin-Smith, Jr.

Constitution/By-Laws

David R. Solomon, Chair
Mrs. Priestly Toulman, Jr. 
Mrs. Howard Parish

Technical

C.L. Engle, Chair
John Roberts
Erwin Caldwell

Several films were either completed or mentioned in the items below.

What Price Pearls [1929, 16mm]
Trustworthy [1929, 35mm]
The World, the Flesh and Mercedes [1929?]
Man Shy [1929?]

Trustworthy, the story of a boy and his "gang", starred Donald Clayton, Edward Wilken, and Mrs. W.I. Woodcock. Movie Maker magazine, as noted below from its March 1929 issue, described The World, the Flesh and Mercedes as the group's completed "current production" and all that remained was work on the title cards. The November 1928 issue had stated the group's first production would be Man Shy, with a script by Mrs. W.H. Yenni based on a short story "Personally Abducted" by David R. Solomon. I have yet to reconcile these conflicting bits of information. 

Solomon's story had been published in The Designer and the Woman's Magazine in February 1925. In fact, he published a number of stories in various magazines between 1917 and 1934. His story "Fear" appeared in the very first issue of the legendary Weird Tales magazine. That March 1923 publication can be read here. The cover of that issue features "Ooze" by Anthony M. Rud, "the extraordinary novelette" and "the tale of a thousand thrills" which is set in Alabama. I'll be posting about that state connection in the future. 

I have found a bit of information about two individuals named above. Perhaps one day I can research the others. "Jack London", the President, was actually John London III, the son of John and Edith Ward London. Birmingham Public Library has a collection of her papers, and the online description notes that Edith was also active in the BAMA, "for which she wrote movie scripts." Hmmm...

David Rosenbaum Solomon was a Mississippi native, born in Meridian on July 9, 1893. His mother Fanny was also a native of the state, and father Samuel was born in Poland. Solomon finished both his bachelor's and law degrees at the University of Mississippi, the latter in 1918. He practiced for about a year and a half in Meridian, then served as a second lieutenant in a field artillery unit in World War I. Afterward he joined the firm of Leader and Ewing in Birmingham. He married Madeline Hirshfield on November 1, 1920, and died on November 15, 1951, at the age of 58. He is buried in Elmwood Cemetery.

These details about Solomon were gathered from several different databases at Ancestry.com I imagine searching there would yield information about many of the people named above. Some serious research at Birmingham Public Library should also turn up more about BAMA and its activities. Perhaps one day...

Beyond these articles, I have yet to discover any information about the films named, either BAMA's or the other two local productions. Perhaps one day...

Birmingham News 4 Aug 1928 via Birmingham Public Library Digital Collections

Birmingham News 14 July 1929 via Birmingham Public Library Digital Collections

Movie Makers March 1929 p. 192

Movie Makers November 1928, p. 717

Dr. Margaret Cleaves Dies in Mobile in 1917

During her lifetime Margaret Abigail Cleaves became a well-known physician and medical researcher in the United States. Today she is largely forgotten, a footnote in medical history. I recently stumbled on a connection to Alabama, so let's investigate.

Cleaves was born on November 25, 1848, in Columbus City, Iowa; she was the third of seven children in the family. Her father John was a physician, and as a child she traveled with him on his rounds. She graduated from a public high school at 16 and taught in public schools until 1870, when she decided to study medicine. She finished her M.D. at the Iowa State University Medical Department in 1873. 

In her career she practiced in several states: Iowa, Illinois, Pennsylvania and beginning in 1890 in New York City. In 1883 she left the U.S. to spend almost two years in Scotland, England, France, Italy, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Belgium. Cleaves visited asylums for the insane as well as attending lectures and general hospital clinics.

Cleaves was a prolific researcher, organizer and author in addition to her clinical work. Some 40 of her publications are indexed in the National Library of Medicine's IndexCat database to older medical literature, 1880-1961. They range from 1886 to 1908, with most published in the 1893-1907 period. Those articles describe her work with electrotherapy, phototherapy, radium and conditions in various asylums. Her Wikipedia entry describes her seminal 1903 publication describing the use of radium to treat uterine cervix cancer. 

Among her many organizational achievements was the development of the New York Electro-Therapeutic Clinic, Laboratory and Dispensary in New York City. There she did research and treated numerous male and female neurasthenia patients. Her final publication seems to have been the 1910 book noted below. 

Various sources agree that Cleaves died in Mobile in early November, 1917. Wikipedia says November 7; the article below based on information from two of her sisters has November 13. The 1920 American Medical Biographies entry on Cleaves has the November 7 date and a further note that she died in a Mobile hospital. "Alabama Deaths & Burials Index 1881-1974" via Ancestry.com gives the date as 13 Nov 1917, her age as 69.

None of the sources I've examined have anything on Cleaves' professional activities after the 1910 book noted below. What did she do in those years, besides remaining in New York, and why did she end up in Mobile? Questions for further research...

In the 1900 U.S. Census, Cleaves appears, renting in what is presumably a boarding house at 79 Madison Avenue with a number of other individuals. According to what I found at Ancestry.com, she appears in various city directories for NYC between 1891 and 1915. Some of the addresses were also along Madison Avenue. That north-south street in Manhattan did not become associated with the advertising industry until the 1920's.

Cleaves has a Find-A-Grave entry, but no burial location is listed. There is a long biographical note from Woman of the Century. Parents and two sisters are buried in Columbus City Cemetery, Columbus City, Iowa. Her sister Jennie, who died in 1919, was the only one of those to outlive Margaret. Apparently Cleaves never married. 

Margaret Abigail Cleaves, M.D. [1848-1917]

Source: Willard, Frances Elizabeth (1893) A Woman of the Century: Fourteen Hundred-seventy Biographical Sketches Accompanied by Portraits of Leading American Women in All Walks of Life, Moulton via Wikipedia

Source:
Rock Island Argus [Rock Island, Ill.] 16 November 1917 via Chronicling America

This book is available via the Internet Archive.

Also available at the Internet Archive is this 890-page book