Air Date: October 6, 2025

Dr. Virginia Cain, 2023 graduate of the University of Alabama, discusses her article, “Red Mountain Ladies, How Prostitution Shaped Birmingham, Alabama, from 1871 to 1920,” published in the Alabama Review, April 2023 that won the Alabama Historical Association’s 2025 Milo Howard Award for best article in the Alabama Review in the previous two years. Dr. Cain also discusses a companion article she published in the Tennessee Historical Quarterly about a Nashville madam, and her dissertation, “We Built These Cities on Rocks and Hos,” that compare late 19th century prostitution in Birmingham and Nashville.

Transcript: https://tinyurl.com/yhfyt58t

Links mentioned in the episode –

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

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

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

Birmingham, AL: https://encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/birmingham/

Birmingham Public Library Archives: https://www.cobpl.org/locations/central/archives/

Louise Wooster: https://bhamwiki.com/w/Louise_Wooster

Nashville, TN: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Nashville,_Tennessee

Tennessee Historical Quarterly: https://tennesseehistory.org/publications/tennessee-historical-quarterly/

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.