Alabama History Podcasts

Episode 70 – Dr. Katie Beasley on her 2023 SAWH Thomas Award winning article re: Alabama women and Curb Markets, 1923-1929.

Air Date: January 23, 2024

Dr. Katie Beasley, an independent scholar who recently completed her doctorate at Florida State University, discusses her article, “’I Am Planning to Buy a New Buick Coupe Next Year”: Rural Women and Alabama’s Curb Markets, 1923-1929,” Alabama Review 75, no. 2 (April 2022), for which she won the 2023 A. Elizabeth Taylor Prize from the Southern Association for Women Historians. Her work examines how rural Alabama women converted home demonstration instruction for their own purposes – making money and selling in local curb markets in the 1920s.

Links mentioned in the episode:

The Alabama Review https://www.alabamahistory.net/the-alabama-review

Southern Association for Women Historians https://thesawh.org/

A. Elizabeth Taylor Prize https://thesawh.org/prizes-and-fellowships/a-elizabeth-taylor-prize/

Auburn University Special Collections and Archives https://lib.auburn.edu/specialcollections/

Finding aid to the home demonstration agent reports (ACES Records, RG 71, series 3) https://www.lib.auburn.edu/archive/find-aid/071/3.htm#3

University of Georgia Press https://ugapress.org/

Rather read? Here's a link to the transcript: http://tinyurl.com/ybnb59ub

*Just a heads up – the provided transcript is likely to be less than 100% accurate.

The Alabama History Podcast's producer is Marty Olliff and its associate producer is Laura Murray.

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/

Stillman College Asst. Prof. of Music, Dr. Allison Upshaw, discusses her "creative nonfiction" project, "reframing: Narratives of African American Female Landowners in Alabama's Black Belt" that captures more about Black women who own land than what appears in records and produces their stories in a way that makes them fully human.

Links mentioned in the episode:

Stillman College: https://stillman.edu/

Alabama Department of Archives and History Statement of Recommitment: https://archives.alabama.gov/about/docs/ADAH_statement_recommitment.pdf

Dr. Allison Upshaw personal website: https://allisonupshawphd.com/

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

Alabama State Council on the Arts: https://arts.alabama.gov/

[On Heir Property] J. F. Dyer, "Heir Property: Legal and Cultural Dimensions of Collective Landownership," Alabama Agriculture Experiment Station Bulletin 667, May 2007: https://aurora.auburn.edu/bitstream/handle/11200/4107/BULL0667.pdf

"reFraming: Narratives of African American Female Landowners in Alabama's Black Belt" on Prezi Video: https://prezi.com/v/view/Es7m9C77MxQoQ4yoLTuD/

"OPERAtunities": https://allisonupshawphd.com/services/

"Artivism": https://allisonupshawphd.com/artivism/

Rather read? Here's a link to the transcript: https://tinyurl.com/bd2ztwbb

*Just a heads up – the provided transcript is likely to be less than 100% accurate.

The Alabama History Podcast's producer is Marty Olliff and its associate producer is Laura Murray.

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/

Episode 068 – Bertis English Recipient of the 2023 C.J. Coley Award from Alabama Historical Association

Air Date: November 8, 2023

Dr. Bertis English, professor of history at Alabama State University, discusses his book, Civil Wars, Civil Beings, and Civil Rights in Alabama's Black Belt: A History of Perry County (University of Alabama Press, 2020) that won the Alabama Historical Association's 2023 C.J. Coley Award for the best book on local history published in the previous two years. English argues that African American agency and the power of interracial citizens made the history of Perry County, AL, significantly different from the orthodox understanding of the Black Belt's history from the Civil War to the Civil Rights Movement as one of relentless racial strife and oppression.

Links to things mentioned in the episode:

Alabama Historical Association www.alabamahistory.net/

AHA's Clinton Jackson Coley Award https://www.alabamahistory.net/clinton-jackson-coley-book-award

Civil Wars, Civil Beings, and Civil Rights in Alabama's Black Belt https://www.uapress.ua.edu/9780817320690/civil-wars-civil-beings-and-civil-rights-in-alabamas-black-belt/

Perry County https://encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/perry-county/

Marion, AL https://encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/marion/

Uniontown, AL https://encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/uniontown/

The Dunning School https://slaveryexhibits.ctl.columbia.edu/exhibits/show/williamdunning

Alabama's Tragic Decade [John Witherspoon Dubose at BhamWiki] https://www.bhamwiki.com/w/John_DuBose

Sarah W. Wiggins, The Scalawag in Alabama Politics https://www.uapress.ua.edu/9780817305574/the-scalawag-in-alabama-politics-18651881/

W.E.B. Du Bois, Black Reconstruction https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Reconstruction_in_America

Eric Foner, Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reconstruction:_America%27s_Unfinished_Revolution,_1863%E2%80%931877

Lincoln School https://encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/lincoln-school/

Judson College https://encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/judson-college/

Howard College (Samford University) https://encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/samford-university/

Journal of African American History https://asalh.org/document/journal-of-african-american-history/

Rather read? Here's a link to the transcript: https://tinyurl.com/3968ebuc

*Just a heads up – the provided transcript is likely to be less than 100% accurate.

The Alabama History Podcast's producer is Marty Olliff and its associate producer is Laura Murray.

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: October 2, 2023

Dr. Tara Douglas, Ms. Tracey Thomas, and Dr. Ted Spears – members of the local arrangements committee – talk about the 2023 Alabama Historical Association Fall Pilgrimage in Sylacauga, AL. Dr. Douglas speaks on the history of Sylacauga, Ms. Thomas talks about the B. B. Comer Memorial Library as a cultural arts center and host / headquarters for the Pilgrimage, and Dr. Ted Spears tells about the marble arts and sites planned for the Pilgrimage tour.

Links mentioned in the episode --

Alabama Historical Association Newsletter, Fall 2023: https://www.alabamahistory.net/_files/ugd/3aaf16_b27cfb15c77d4250a76fa87f39f21e5d.pdf

Sylacauga (EOA): https://encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/sylacauga/

Sylacauga Historical Commission: http://www.cityofsylacauga.net/historical-commission.html

B. B. Comer Memorial Library: https://www.bbcomerlibrary.net/

Comer Library Foundation: https://www.bbcomerlibrary.net/foundation/

Sylacauga Arts Council: https://www.sylartsal.org/

Sylacauga Magic of Marble Festival: https://magicofmarblefestival.com/

Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage: https://ahc.alabama.gov/alabamaregister.aspx

B. B. Comer (EOA): https://encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/braxton-bragg-comer-1907-11/

Avondale Mills (EOA): https://encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/avondale-mills/

Isabel Anderson Comer Museum (EOA): https://encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/isabel-anderson-comer-museum-and-arts-center/

Jim Nabors (Sylacauga native, singer and actor. EOA): https://encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/jim-nabors/

Hodges Meteorite, 1954 (EOA): https://encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/hodges-meteorite-strike-sylacauga-aerolite/

Dr. Wayne Flynt: https://www.alabamaacademyofhonor.org/j-wayne-flynt

Douglass Crockwell (Wikipedia): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglass_Crockwell

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

Alabama State Council on the Arts: https://arts.alabama.gov/

Pietrasanta, Italy (Wikipedia): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pietrasanta

Blue Bell Creameries: https://www.bluebell.com/visit-blue-bell/sylacauga/

Pursell Farms: https://pursellfarms.com/

First Baptist Church of Sylacauga: https://joinfirst.net/

Rising Star Baptist Church (Facebook): https://www.facebook.com/risingstarmissionarybaptistchurch/

Sylaward Trail (Facebook): https://www.facebook.com/sylawardtrail/

Sculptor-in-residence Craigger Browne: https://canarygalleryllc.com/craigger-browne

Frank Murphy (artist & sculptor): https://www.frankmurphyfineart.com/

Rather read? Here's a link to the transcript: https://tinyurl.com/34rbunzv

*Just a heads up – the provided transcript is likely to be less than 100% accurate.

The Alabama History Podcast's producer is Marty Olliff and its associate producer is Laura Murray.

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/

Episode 66 -- Spokespeople Aaron Trehub, Chelsea Denault, and Clint Bellanger discuss ADPNet's 2023 Alabama Historical Association Digital History Award (Small Project Category)

Air date: September 6, 2023 (audio file replaced May 16, 2024)

Aaron Trehub (Auburn University), Chelsea Denault (Michigan Digital Preservation Network), and Clint Bellanger (ADPNet Technical Policy Committee) discuss the Alabama Digital Preservation Network, ADPNet, winner of the Alabama Historical Association's 2023 Digital History Award for small projects.

ADPNet calls itself "a distributed digital preservation network for locally created digital content" built on LOCKSS ("Lots of Copies Keep Stuff Safe") software with an iteration (node) at each member institution. ADPNet began in 2006 with an Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) grant to the Network of Alabama Academic Libraries (NAAL).

Links mentioned in the show:

The Alabama Digital Preservation Network (ADPNet) https://adpn.org/

Alabama Historical Association Digital History Award https://www.alabamahistory.net/digital-history-award

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

Network of Alabama Academic Libraries (NAAL) https://www.naal.edu/

Institute of Library and Museum Services (IMLS) https://www.imls.gov/

Rather read? Here's a link to the transcript: https://tinyurl.com/4wpr7nkk

*Just a heads up – the provided transcript is likely to be less than 100% accurate.

The Alabama History Podcast's producer is Marty Olliff and its associate producer is Laura Murray.

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 https://www.alabamahistory.net/

Episode 65 – Bob Friedman on the Birmingham Black Radio Museum's 2023 Digital History Award (Large Project Category).

Air Date: August 3, 2023

Bob Friedman, founder and director of the Birmingham Black Radio Museum (BBRM) talks about receiving the Alabama Historical Association's 2023 Digital History Award, about the founding of the BBRM, and about his background in (and the history of) Black centered radio as a veteran talk show host and manager.

He talks about singing with and interviewing many Black R&B and Gospel performers, and he tells us about Paul "Tall Paul" White, a legendary radio announcer of 1950s and 1960s Birmingham.

Links to things mentioned in the episode:

Birmingham Black Radio Museum (BBRM) https://www.thebbrm.org/

Alabama Historical Association Digital History Award https://www.alabamahistory.net/digital-history-award

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

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

Department of Archival Studies, SLIS, University of Alabama https://cis.ua.edu/academic-departments/school-of-library-information-studies/

The Carver Theater https://www.bhamwiki.com/w/Carver_Theater

Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame https://jazzhall.com/

Paul "Tall Paul" White http://www.bhamwiki.com/w/Tall_Paul

Alabama Broadcasters Association Hall of Fame https://al-ba.com/wp2/aba-hall-of-fame-and-broadcasters-of-the-year/

"View a Radio Hero" https://www.blog.thebbrm.org/2020/04/22/a-radio-hero/

Radio Preservation Task Force of the Library of Congress [April 2023 Program] https://radiopreservation.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/23-LOC-Conference-Program-FINAL.pdf

Dr. Robert Riter https://cis.ua.edu/cis-theme-staff/bob-riter/

Rather read? Here's a link to the transcript on Google Drive: https://tinyurl.com/7377xjb

*Just a heads up – the provided transcript is likely to be less than 100% accurate.

The Alabama History Podcast's producer is Marty Olliff and its associate producer is Laura Murray.

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 https://www.alabamahistory.net/

Dr. Ruth Truss, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Montevallo, is the 2023-2024 president of the Alabama Historical Association. With long-time AHA Secretary Mark Wilson, she discusses her plans for her term in office, from maintaining the diversity initiatives of her predecessors to the programs for both the AHA Fall Pilgrimage (Sylacauga) and Annual Meeting (Huntsville).

Links to things mentioned in the episode:

City of Sylacauga (EOA article) https://encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/sylacauga/

Blue Bell Parlor (Alabama Travel Website) https://alabama.travel/places-to-go/blue-bell-creameries

B.B. Comer Library https://www.bbcomerlibrary.net/

Pursell Farms https://pursellfarms.com

City of Huntsville (EOA article) https://encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/huntsville/

U.S. Space and Rocket Center https://www.rocketcenter.com/

R. Isabela Morales, Happy Dreams of Liberty: An American Family in Slavery and Freedom: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/happy-dreams-of-liberty-9780197531792?cc=ca&lang=en&

The Alabama Review https://www.alabamahistory.net/the-alabama-review

Alabama Heritage https://www.alabamaheritage.com/

"The book I did with you [Marty]," The Great War in the Heart of Dixie https://www.uapress.ua.edu/9780817389277/the-great-war-in-the-heart-of-dixie/

Sarah Wiggins, The Journal of Sarah Haynsworth Gayle, 1827-1835 https://www.uapress.ua.edu/9780817361181/the-journal-of-sarah-haynsworth-gayle-18271835/

Rather read? Here's a link to the transcript: https://tinyurl.com/4duj5994

*Just a heads up – the transcript was generated by MS Word AI and lightly edited by Lukas Ducker and Marty Olliff. It is likely to be less than 100% accurate.

The Alabama History Podcast's producer is Marty Olliff and its associate producer is Laura Murray.

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 https://www.alabamahistory.net/

Show Notes: Episode 63 – Troy University McPherson-Mitchell Roundtable on the Clotilda and Africatown

Air date: June 7, 2023

The History and Philosophy Department at Troy University turned its annual McPherson-Mitchell Lecture in Southern History into a roundtable on the Clotilda, the last slave ship in the United States (1860), and Africatown, the community founded by the emancipated and their descendants.

The participants included:

Dr. Kathryn Tucker, host and Lecturer, Troy University History & Philosophy Department

Mr. Jeremy Ellis, President of the Clotilda Descendants Association, Inc.

Mr. Ben Raines, journalist, author, and discoverer of the Clotilda wreck

Ms. Stacye Hathorn, Alabama State Archeologist

Gen. Walter Givhan, former chair of the Alabama Historical Commission

Mr. Theo Moore, principal of Hiztorical Visions Productions, a film company

Special thanks to Troy University and Troy TrojanVision for providing the audio recording of the roundtable for use as an Alabama History Podcast.

Links mentioned in the episode:

McPherson-Mitchell Lecture in Southern History https://www.troy.edu/academics/colleges-schools/college-arts-sciences/departments/history-philosophy-department/activities-clubs/mcphmitch.html

Troy University https://www.troy.edu/

Troy TrojanVision https://www.troy.edu/student-life-resources/campus-media/troy-trojanvision/index.html

Clotilda Descendants Association, Inc. https://theclotildastory.com/

Saving America's Amazon by Ben Raines https://ugapress.org/book/9781588383389/saving-americas-amazon/

The Last Slave Ship by Ben Raines https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Last-Slave-Ship/Ben-Raines/9781982136154

Alabama Historical Commission https://ahc.alabama.gov/

Hiztorical Vision Productions https://hiztoricalvp.org/

Descendant (film) by Margaret Brown https://www.imdb.com/title/tt16376494/?ref_=ext_shr_lnk

Afrikan by Way of American (film) https://hiztoricalvp.org/documentary/afrikan-by-way-of-american-history-of-africatown-full-documentary-hvp/

Diving with a Purpose https://divingwithapurpose.org/

Slave Wrecks Project https://global.si.edu/projects/slave-wrecks-project

Alabama State Council on the Arts https://arts.alabama.gov/

Africatown Heritage House and "Clotilda: The Exhibition at the Africatown Heritage House" https://clotilda.com/

If you'd rather read, here is the link to a transcript of the roundtable: https://tinyurl.com/3uk982cn

Disclaimer: *Be aware that the transcript may not be 100 percent correct*

The Alabama History Podcast's producer is Marty Olliff and its associate producer is Laura Murray.

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 https://www.alabamahistory.net/

Air Date May 8, 2023

Dr. Brandon Jett of Florida SouthWestern State College discusses his 2023 Milo Howard Award-winning article, "'We Crave to Become a Vital Force in this Community': Police Brutality and African American Activism in Birmingham, Alabama, 1920-1945," published in the January 2022 issue of The Alabama Review. We learn this is a spin-off of his book Race, Crime, and Policing in the Jim Crow South (LSU Press, 2021) that won the Florida Book Award for 2022.

Links to things mentioned in the episode:

AHA Milo Howard Award -- https://www.alabamahistory.net/milo-b-howard-award

Dr. Brandon T. Jett website -- https://www.brandontjett.com/

Wickersham Report (National Archives explainer) -- https://text-message.blogs.archives.gov/2021/05/04/the-national-commission-on-law-observance-and-enforcements-report-on-lawlessness-in-law-enforcement/

PDF of Wickersham Report -- https://www.ojp.gov/pdffiles1/Digitization/44540NCJRS.pdf

NAACP Thalheimer Award -- https://naacp.org/find-resources/scholarships-awards-internships/awards

Hammer and Hoe: Alabama Communists during the Great Depression by Robin D. G. Kelley (UNC Press, 25th anniversary publication, 2015): https://uncpress.org/book/9781469625485/hammer-and-hoe/

Race, Crime, and Policing in the Jim Crow South (LSU Press, 2021)-- https://lsupress.org/books/detail/race-crime-and-policing-in-the-jim-crow-south/

Florida Book Award -- https://www.floridabookawards.org/

Rather read? Here's a link to the transcript: https://tinyurl.com/ys6p2ccz

*Just a heads up – the provided transcript is likely to be less than 100% accurate.

The Alabama History Podcast's producer is Marty Olliff and its associate producer is Laura Murray.

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 https://www.alabamahistory.net/

Episode 61 – Peggy Allen Towns, winner of the Alabama Historical Association's 2022 Virginia van der Veer Hamilton Award.

Air Date: April 3, 2023

Peggy Allen Towns, a historian of African American life in North Alabama and resident of Decatur, discusses the projects that led her to win the AHA's 2022 Virginia van Der Veer Hamilton Award for contributions that encourage joint endeavors and understanding among avocational and professional historians. Her projects include videos, walking tours, historical markers, books on local topics, and widespread consulting.

Links to things mentioned in the episode:

Morgan County Archives: https://morgancounty-al.gov/departments-services/archives/

Limestone County Archives: https://limestonecounty-al.gov/departments/archives/

Video, "Lift Every Voice and Sing: Decatur, Alabama's African-American Pioneers": https://vimeo.com/32294344

Old Town Decatur OnCell Tour: https://msnha.oncell.com/en/old-town-decatur-281499.html

Muscle Shoals National Heritage Area: https://msnha.una.edu/

ANHA Heart & Soul magazine: https://www.nationalheritageareas.us/heart-soul/

Alabama Historical Commission Cemetery Program: https://ahc.alabama.gov/cemeteryprogram.aspx

Fort Henderson and Trinity High School: https://alabama.travel/places-to-go/fort-henderson-historic-site-and-trinity-high-school

Wallace Rayfield, Architect: https://www.bhamwiki.com/w/Wallace_Rayfield

Ellen Stephens Hildredth of New Decatur, see "Early Efforts," "Women's Suffrage in Alabama," Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women%27s_suffrage_in_Alabama

Peggy Allen Towns Author Page, Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Peggy-Allen-Towns/e/B00GM1V6N6%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share

Facebook – Our Story, Decatur, AL and Surrounding Areas (created by Peggy Allen Towns): https://www.facebook.com/groups/492907950887933/

Rather read? Here's a link to the transcript: https://tinyurl.com/yr68ah6m

*Just a heads up – the provided transcript is likely to be less than 100% accurate.

The Alabama History Podcast's producer is Marty Olliff and its associate producer is Laura Murray.

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 https://www.alabamahistory.net/