Alabama History Podcasts

Transcript: https://tinyurl.com/4bdffnpr

Air Date: September 28, 2026

Mimi Hudson, executive director for Museums and Arts with the Walker Area Community Foundation, and Mike Putman, executive director of Jasper Main Street, discuss the AHA’s October 23rd and 24th, 2026 Fall Pilgrimage to Jasper, Alabama. The talk a bit about Jasper’s history, Rep. Carl Elliot, and the Bankhead family, then the sites of the tours Jasper will host during the meeting.

Links to things discussed in the episode:

Alabama Historical Association: https://www.alabamahistory.net/ ;

Jasper, AL: https://encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/jasper/ ;

Jasper Main Street: https://jaspermainstreet.com/ ;

Visit Jasper: https://www.visitjasperal.com/ ;

Walker Area Community Foundation: https://www.wacf.org/ ;

Carl Elliot: https://encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/carl-elliott/ ;

Tallulah Bankhead: https://encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/tallulah-bankhead/ ;

William B. Bankhead: https://encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/william-b-bankhead/ ;

Marie Bankhead Owen: https://encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/marie-bankhead-owen/ ;

Bankhead House and Heritage Center: https://encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/bankhead-house-and-heritage-center/ ;

White House on 5th Museum and Gallery: https://www.whitehouseonfifth.org/ ;

Minkin Paleozoic Footprint Site: https://encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/stephen-c-minkin-paleozoic-footprint-site/ ;

50 Mule Team – Walker County Arts Alliance: https://www.wcart.org/50-mule-team ;

Sculpture Trail – Downtown Jasper: https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/d97fd3d6a08b4f0d80ad9271ce63fc4e ;

Bankhead Heritage Council: https://www.bankheadhouse.org/heritage-council/ ;

Walker County Arts Alliance: https://www.wcart.org/ ;

George Lindsey: https://encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/george-lindsey/ ;

George Lindsey Film Festival at UNA: https://www.una.edu/theatre/lindsey-film-fest/index.html ;

The Alabama History Podcast’s producer is Marty Olliff.

Founded in 1947, the Alabama Historical Association is the oldest statewide historical society in Alabama. The AHA provides opportunities for meaningful engagement with the past through publications, meetings, historical markers, and other programs. See the website www.alabamahistory.net.

Air date: September 7, 2026

Transcript: https://tinyurl.com/572d8c7y

Sara Elizabeth Phillips, Director of the Guntersville Museum, discusses receiving the Alabama Historical Association’s Historical Museum Award (Large Museum Category) for 2026. She talks about the history of the museum and its building, its organizational structure, its displays, and its future programming.

Links to things discussed in the episode:

Alabama Historical Association: https://www.alabamahistory.net/ ;

Alabama Historical Association Historical Museum Award: https://www.alabamahistory.net/historical-museum-award ;

Guntersville Museum: https://www.guntersvillemuseum.org/ ;

Guntersville Armory NRHP Listing: https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/AssetDetail/a198fd08-d288-40de-babe-7490cdec7a96 ;

“Mississippi Bill” Harris: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mississippi_Bill_Harris ;

Lesa Carnes Shaul (Instagram): https://www.instagram.com/lshaul/ ;

Midnight Cry: A Shooting on Sand Mountain: https://www.ugapress.org/9781588385819/midnight-cry/ ;

TVA Making of Lake Guntersville: https://encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/guntersville-dam-and-lake/ ;

GWOT (Global War on Terrorism): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_on_terror ;

Guntersville Historical Society (Facebook): https://www.facebook.com/guntersvillehistoricalsociety/ ;

Harvard Extension School, Museum Studies Program: https://extension.harvard.edu/academics/programs/museum-studies-graduate-program/

The Alabama History Podcast’s producer is Marty Olliff.

Founded in 1947, the Alabama Historical Association is the oldest statewide historical society in Alabama. The AHA provides opportunities for meaningful engagement with the past through publications, meetings, historical markers, and other programs. See the website www.alabamahistory.net.

Transcript: https://tinyurl.com/bddjvmay

Tanner Corley, PhD candidate in History at the University of Alabama, received the AHA’s 2026 Frazine Taylor Research Grant in support of his dissertation, “License to Cut Race Regulation and the Southern Beauty Industry, 1890 to 1980.” Corley discusses his thesis that barber and beautician licensing served the ostensible purpose of protecting public health but was really state-enforced, racialized job protection. He examines, also, the differences between how barbers and beauticians organized their industries and how they adapted to licensing.

Air Date: August 3, 2026

Links to things mentioned in the episode:

Alabama Historical Association: https://www.alabamahistory.net/ ;

AHA Frazine Taylor Research Grant: https://www.alabamahistory.net/taylorresearchgrant ;

Tanner Corley: https://history.ua.edu/graduate-student/tanner-corley/ ;

Barbers, Beauticians and Allied Industries International Association: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbers,_Beauticians_and_Allied_Industries_International_Association ;

Alabama Board of Cosmetology & Barbering: https://www.aboc.alabama.gov/ ;

University of Alabama Department of History: https://history.ua.edu/ ;

University of Central Arkansas: https://uca.edu/ ;

The Southern Historian: https://southernhistorian.ua.edu/

The Alabama History Podcast’s producer is Marty Olliff.

Founded in 1947, the Alabama Historical Association is the oldest statewide historical society in Alabama. The AHA provides opportunities for meaningful engagement with the past through publications, meetings, historical markers, and other programs. See the website www.alabamahistory.net.

Transcript: https://tinyurl.com/3yemdfrj

In her fourth appearance on the AHP, Laura Hill talks about her newest job – 2026-27 president of the Alabama Historical Association. She talks about the October Fall Pilgrimage to Jasper, the April 2027 annual meeting in Montgomery, the AHA Speakers Bureau, benefits of membership in the AHA, and he 20-year career with the Encyclopedia of Alabama.

Air Date: July 6, 2026

Links to things mentioned in the episode:

Alabama Historical Association: https://www.alabamahistory.net/ ;

AHA Membership: https://www.alabamahistory.net/join ;

Jasper, AL: https://www.jaspercity.com/ ;

Montgomery, AL: https://www.montgomeryal.gov/ ;

Horace King: https://encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/horace-king/ ;

Dr. Richard Bailey: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Bailey_(historian) ;

Alabama Department of Archives and History: https://archives.alabama.gov/ ;

Alabama Supreme Court Law Library: https://judicial.alabama.gov/library ;

Alabama State Capitol: https://ahc.alabama.gov/alabama-state-capitol.aspx ;

White House of the Confederacy: https://www.thefirstwhitehouse.com/ ;

Dexter Avenue Baptist Church: https://dexterkingmemorial.org/ ;

AHA Speakers Bureau: https://www.alabamahistory.net/speakersbureau ;

Encyclopedia of Alabama: https://encyclopediaofalabama.org/ ;

APT / PBS Yellowhammer History Hunt: https://aptv.pbslearningmedia.org/collection/yellowhammer-history-hunt/ ;

Alabama Dept of Education Course of Study Standards: https://www.alabamaachieves.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/AS_20250110_2024-Alabama-Course-of-Study-Social-Studies_V1.0.pdf

The Alabama History Podcast’s producer is Marty Olliff.

Founded in 1947, the Alabama Historical Association is the oldest statewide historical society in Alabama. The AHA provides opportunities for meaningful engagement with the past through publications, meetings, historical markers, and other programs. See the website www.alabamahistory.net.

Transcript: https://tinyurl.com/mwz3srve

Ryan L. Cole (author of The Last Adieu) and Dr. Ed Bridges (ret. Director of the Alabama Department of Archives and History) recount the 1824-1825 visit of the Marquis de Lafayette to the United States, how his 3-month plan turned into a year-long stint as “The Nation’s Guest,” and the social and political context surrounding his tour. Bridges focuses on Lafayette’s whirlwind tour through Alabama and how lavishly the young frontier state welcomed him. The climax of Lafayette’s trip was his laying of the cornerstone for the Bunker Hill monument on June 17, 1825.

Links to things mentioned in the episode

Alabama Historical Association: https://www.alabamahistory.net/

Ryan L. Cole: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlcole11/

The Last Adieu: Lafayette’s Triumphant Return, the Echoes of Revolution, and the Gratitude of the Republic – https://www.harpercollinsfocus.com/harper-horizon/last-adieu/

Overview of Lafayette’s 1824-1825 US Tour (Museum of the American Revolution): https://www.amrevmuseum.org/the-marquis-de-lafayette-s-1824-1825-united-states-tour

Georges Washington de Lafayette (Lafayette’s son): https://www.mountvernon.org/library/digitalhistory/digital-encyclopedia/article/georges-washington-de-lafayette

Auguste Levasseur (Lafayette’s secretary): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auguste_Levasseur

Francis Wright (Lafayette’s protégé): https://blogs.loc.gov/manuscripts/2025/03/frances-wright-the-marquis-de-lafayette-and-visions-of-american-equality/

Bunker Hill monument: https://www.nps.gov/bost/learn/historyculture/bhm.htm

Land Grant to Lafayette near Tallahassee: https://www.homesweettally.com/post/the-lafayette-land-grant-of-1825

Dr. Ed Bridges: https://www.alabamaheritage.com/authors/authors-b/edwin-c-bridges/

Lafayette’s Visit to Alabama: https://encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/lafayettes-visit-to-alabama/

Treaty of Indian Springs, 1825: https://encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/treaty-of-indian-springs-1825

William McIntosh: https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/history-archaeology/william-mcintosh-ca-1778-1825/

Chilly McIntosh: https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry?entry=MC029

The Federal Road and its taverns: https://encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/taverns-on-the-old-federal-road/

Fort Mitchell, AL: https://encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/fort-mitchell/

Old Alabama Town: https://touroldalabamatown.com/

Alabama Department of Archives and History: https://archives.alabama.gov/

USS Brandywine: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Brandywine

The Alabama History Podcast’s producer is Marty Olliff.

Founded in 1947, the Alabama Historical Association is the oldest statewide historical society in Alabama. The AHA provides opportunities for meaningful engagement with the past through publications, meetings, historical markers, and other programs. See the website www.alabamahistory.net.

Air Date: May 4, 2026

Transcript: https://tinyurl.com/bdfvsnj3

Kayla Jordan (PhD cand. University of Alabama) is a member of the Young Scholars Program of the Alabama Historical Association Speakers Bureau. She discusses her two Speakers Bureau presentations concerning ghost lore in the US South, “Control the Dead and the Dead with Control: The Social Used of Spirits in southern Ghostlore,” and “More than Ectoplasm: A Study of Civil War Memory and Southern Ghostlore.”

LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

Alabama Historical Association: https://www.alabamahistory.net/

Alabama Historical Association Speakers Bureau: https://www.alabamahistory.net/speakersbureau

University of Alabama History Department: https://history.ua.edu/

Katheryn Tucker Windham: https://encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/kathryn-tucker-windham/

13 Alabama Ghosts and Jeffrey: https://archive.org/details/13alabamaghostsj0000wind

Mississippi State Meridian: https://www.meridian.msstate.edu/

Mississippi State: https://www.msstate.edu/

Tiya Miles' Tales from the Haunted South: https://uncpress.org/9781469636146/tales-from-the-haunted-south/

Marengo County: https://encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/marengo-county/

Half Acre, AL: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Half_Acre,_Alabama

Bluff Hall (Museum): https://encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/bluff-hall/

Dr. Eugene Allen Smith: https://encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/eugene-allen-smith/

The Alabama History Podcast’s producer is Marty Olliff.

Founded in 1947, the Alabama Historical Association is the oldest statewide historical society in Alabama. The AHA provides opportunities for meaningful engagement with the past through publications, meetings, historical markers, and other programs. See the website www.alabamahistory.net.

Air Date: April 6, 2026

Transcript: https://tinyurl.com/mphzzxbw

Dr. Mark Johnson is a member of the Alabama Historical Association Speakers Bureau Young Scholar Program that lets new voices share their work. Mark talks about his two AHA Speakers Bureau presentations – one on Alabama’s 19th century political barbecues, the other on Alabama’s 20th century barbecue industry. He also discusses his 2017 book on Alabama barbecue, his 2021 book on Black participation in public political culture 1877-1932, and his 2026 book on bacon as a commodity and food fad.

LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

Alabama Historical Association: https://www.alabamahistory.net/

Alabama Historical Association Speakers Bureau: https://www.alabamahistory.net/speakersbureau

Dr. Mark A. Johnson: https://www.utc.edu/directory/tfr238-history-mark-johnson/tfr238

An Irresistible History of Alabama Barbecue: From Wood Pit to White Sauce: https://www.arcadiapublishing.com/products/irresistible-history-of-alabama-barbecue-an-9781467137027

Dr. Joshua Rothman: https://history.ua.edu/people/joshua-d-rothman/

Southern Foodways Alliance: https://www.southernfoodways.org/

Alabama Department of Tourism: https://tourism.alabama.gov/

John T. Edge: https://www.johntedge.com/

Rough Tactics: Black Performance in Political Spectacles, 1877-1932: https://www.upress.state.ms.us/Books/R/Rough-Tactics

American Bacon: The History of a Food Phenomenon: https://www.ugapress.org/9780820375403/american-bacon/

The Alabama History Podcast’s producer is Marty Olliff.

Founded in 1947, the Alabama Historical Association is the oldest statewide historical society in Alabama. The AHA provides opportunities for meaningful engagement with the past through publications, meetings, historical markers, and other programs. See the website www.alabamahistory.net.

Air Date: March 2, 2026

Transcript: https://tinyurl.com/ychsuj82

Catherine King of the Fairhope Single Tax Corporation and Alan Samry, a Fairhope librarian and local historian, present the unusual history of Fairhope, Alabama, and descriptions of historic sites on tours that are part of the April 11-13, 2026, meeting of the Alabama Historical Association.

LINKS MENTIONED IN THE EPISODE

Alabama Historical Association https://www.alabamahistory.net/

City of Fairhope https://www.fairhopeal.gov/

Fairhope (EOA) https://encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/fairhope/

Fairhope Single Tax Corporation https://www.fairhopesingletax.com/

Fairhope Single Tax Corporation Online Archives https://fairhopesingletax.pastperfectonline.com/

Coastal Alabama Community College (Fairhope Campus) https://www.coastalalabama.edu/about/locations/fairhope/

[Earnest B.] Gaston https://encyclopediaofalabama.org/media/ernest-berry-gaston/

Henry George https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_George

Progress and Poverty https://archive.org/details/progresspoverty0000henr_m1z4/page/n5/mode/2up

School of Organic Education (Bell Building) https://encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/marietta-johnson-school-of-organic-education/

Marietta Johnson https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marietta_Johnson

Marie Howland https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_Howland

Douglasville High School Heritage Museum https://cityofbayminetteal.gov/recreation/douglasville-school-of-arts-and-recreation

Daphne History Museum https://www.daphneal.com/452/Daphne-History-Museum

Baldwin County Training School https://historicbaldwincountytrainingschool.com/

Fairhope Castles https://fairhopecastle.com/

Dean Mosher https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dean_Mosher

Frank Stewart https://sites.rootsweb.com/~alcsilve/stewart.html

Fairhope Hotel and the Summit Street Inn https://mobilebaymag.com/the-restoration-of-a-historic-fairhope-hotel/

Fairhope Quaker Meeting House https://www.fairhopefriends.org/partners

Roundhouse / Hermit Hut / Tolstoy Park https://tolstoypark.com/

Sonny Brewer https://www.scenic98coastal.com/posts/sonny-brewer-and-tolstoy-park

The Alabama History Podcast’s producer is Marty Olliff.

Founded in 1947, the Alabama Historical Association is the oldest statewide historical society in Alabama. The AHA provides opportunities for meaningful engagement with the past through publications, meetings, historical markers, and other programs. See the website www.alabamahistory.net.

Air Date: February 2, 2026

Transcript: https://tinyurl.com/bdds6mak

Burgin Matthews, founder and director of the Southern Music Research Center Digital Archives, talks about the Center, which received the Jeff Jakeman Digital History Award, Small Project category, from the Alabama Historical Association in April 2025. He also chats about his other projects: The Lady Muleskinner Press, his website burginmathews.com, The Lost Child Radio Program, and his two books, Doc: The Story of a Birmingham Jazz Man and Magic City: How the Birmingham Jazz Tradition Shaped the Sound of America.

Links mentioned in the episode:

Alabama Historical Association: https://www.alabamahistory.net/

AHA Jeff Jakeman Digital History Award: https://www.alabamahistory.net/digital-history-award

Southern Music Research Center: https://www.southernmusicresearch.org/

Burgin Mathews website: https://burginmathews.com/

Doc: The Story of a Birmingham Jazz Man: https://www.uapress.ua.edu/9780817359591/doc/

Dr. Frank Adams (Doc Adams): https://www.bhamwiki.com/w/Frank_Adams

Magic City: How the Birmingham Jazz Tradition Shaped the Sound of America: https://uncpress.org/book/9781469676883/magic-city/

The Lost Child Radio Show: https://www.facebook.com/lostchildradio

Birmingham Mountain Radio: https://bhammountainradio.com/

WBHM: https://wbhm.org/

Alabama Hip Hop 101: https://southernmusicresearch.org/collections/show/56

Alabama Humanities Alliance: https://alabamahumanities.org/

The Alabama History Podcast’s producer is Marty Olliff.

Founded in 1947, the Alabama Historical Association is the oldest statewide historical society in Alabama. The AHA provides opportunities for meaningful engagement with the past through publications, meetings, historical markers, and other programs. See the website www.alabamahistory.net.

Air Date: January 5, 2026

Transcript: https://tinyurl.com/3mzc5fbn

Dr. Tina Naremore Jones, Executive Director of the Alabama Black Belt National Heritage Area (and Provost of the University of West Alabama), discusses the founding, history, and mission of the 19-county ABBNHA. The ABBNHA pursues four themes: Natural Resources and Early History Sites; Innovation in Education Sites; Modern Civil Rights Movement; and Artistic Expression / Folkways.

Links mentioned in the episode:

Alabama Historical Association: https://www.alabamahistory.net/

Alabama Black Belt National Heritage Area: https://www.alblackbeltheritage.com/

National Heritage Area Program: https://www.nps.gov/subjects/heritageareas/index.htm

National Park Service: https://www.nps.gov/index.htm

University of West Alabama: https://www.uwa.edu/

ABBNHA History & Heritage Overview: https://www.alblackbeltheritage.com/heritage

ABBNHA Attractions & Destinations: https://www.alblackbeltheritage.com/destinations

ABBNHA Sights & Sounds: https://www.alblackbeltheritage.com/sights-sounds

Center for the study of the Black Belt (UWA): https://www.uwa.edu/university-departments/center-for-the-study-of-the-black-belt/

The Alabama History Podcast’s producer is Marty Olliff.

Founded in 1947, the Alabama Historical Association is the oldest statewide historical society in Alabama. The AHA provides opportunities for meaningful engagement with the past through publications, meetings, historical markers, and other programs. See the website www.alabamahistory.net.