Alabama History Podcasts

Air Date: March 7, 2024 Dr. Christine Sears and Ben Hoksbergen talk about the history of Huntsville, AL, site of the 2024 meeting of the Alabama Historical Association. They also discuss the sites attendees will visit on the pre-conference and conference tours, the banquet speaker Dr. Isabel Morales, and the meeting program offerings. Links to things mentioned in the episode: Alabama Historical As...

Episode 71 – Dr. Pete Sparks on The Guntersville Historical Society, Winner of the 2023 Kuykendall Award for Local History Dr. Pete Sparks, president of the Guntersville Historical Society (GHS), discusses the history of the society, its activities in the recent past and at present, and its plans for the future, including a succession plan for the current leadership to sustain the GHS’s work. The...

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 Revie...

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...

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 202...

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...

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...

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 cent...

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...

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 de...

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...

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 understa...

Episode 60 -- Ann Boutwell, Laura Bonner, and Doug Edgeworth, hosts of the Alabama Historical Association's 2023 annual meeting in Prattville. Air Date: March 7, 2023 Ann Boutwell (leader in Prattville's historical and preservation community), Laura Bonner (director of the Prattauguan Museum), and Doug Edgeworth (2023 president of the Autauga County Heritage Association) discuss preparations for t...

Episode 59 - Cart Blackwell, curator, Mobile Carnival Museum, 2022 History Museum Award (AL Hist Assn) Air Date: February 7, 2023 Cart Blackwell, curator at the Mobile Carnival Museum, discusses the museum, it's programs and plan of work, as well as the history of Carnival in Mobile. The museum won the 2022 History Museum Award from the Alabama Historical Association. Links mentioned in the episod...

Episode # 58 Christa Kieffer -- 2022 Coley Research Award recipient, on Happy Chandler and George Wallace Air Date: January 9, 2023 Christa Kieffer, doctoral student in history at the University of Kentucky, discusses her dissertation project on A. B. "Happy" Chandler, who was the first pick as George Wallace's 1968 vice-presidential running mate. She also talks about her proposed article that won...

Episode # 57 Dr. Hillary Green - Hallowed Grounds Project December 7, 2022 _________________________________ “Who were these rented slaves?” Our guest today is Dr. Hillary Green, a full professor at Davidson College, who has recently been an associate professor of history in the department of Gender and Race Studies at the University of Alabama. She's the author of Educational Reconstruction, Afri...

Episode # 56 Carole Ann King – Alabama Quilts, 2022 Sulzby Award Recipient November 10, 2022 _________________________________ "Quilts are Alabama Folk Art and History" Today's guest is Carol Ann King, Curator at Old Alabama Town in Montgomery (Landmarks Foundation of Montgomery, Inc.) whose book, Alabama Quilts: Wilderness through World War II, 1682-1950 (University of Mississippi Press, 2020), w...

Episode # 55 Dr. Daryn Glassbrook - The Mobile Medical Museum October 3, 2022 _________________________________ The Mobile Medical Museum won the Alabama Historical Association's Historical Museum Award for 2022. ********** From iron lungs to medicinal gardening and special exhibits - the Mobile Medical Museum boasts over 300 years of medical history and artifacts. Our guest today is Dr. Daryn Gla...

Listen to this episode: SoundCloud | Apple | Google | Stitcher ********** WELCOME TO ASSOCIATE PRODUCER LAURA MURRAY! ********** “Musical Mountain Stream” Mentone, Alabama, is the site of the Alabama Historical Association’s Fall Pilgrimage on September 24th, 2022. Nestled on the brow of Lookout Mountain, Mentone is a lovely mountain town with something for just about everyone. In this episode, we...

Rachel Hartsell discusses Alabama History Day and National History Day, especially the 2023 renewal of in-person competition at Auburn University Montgomery. Contacts for information on Alabama History Day and National History Day: Alabama Humanities Alliance – Alabama History Day: https://alabamahumanities.org/program/alabama-history-day/ Alabama History Day, March 3, 2023, flier: https://alabama...

AHA President, 2022-23, Jim Baggett is head of the Archives Department of the Birmingham Public Library. He discusses his plans for his term in office, including the Fall Pilgrimage in Mentone, the Annual Meeting in Prattville, and increasing AHA's visibility through enhanced social media presence. Jim also introduces a new initiative, the AHA Speakers Bureau. He appeared in Episode 47 as winner o...

Independent scholar Dr. Melissa F. Young (University of Alabama, 2020)discusses her dissertation, "Magic City Jews: Integration and Public Memory, 1871-1911," for which she won the Alabama Historical Association's inaugural Sarah Woolfolk Wiggins Dissertation Award in 2022. Dr. Young also discusses her current project, the Beth-El Civil Rights Experience that you can find at this URL: https://temp...

J. Mills Thornton, III, discusses his article "The Big Interest Cases" in the Alabama Review, v. 73, no. 3, July 2020. The Alabama Legislature's involvement with these cases exposed and lengthened the political divide between Alabama's elites and anti-elites. Originally interviewed and recorded by Alabama Review editor Matthew Downs on Facebook in July 2020.

Dallas Hanbury discusses his article, "Documenting Slavery at the Local Level: Montgomery County, AL; A Case Study," Alabama Review, vol. 73, no. 3, July 2020. Originally interviewed and recorded by Alabama Review editor Matthew Downs on Facebook in July 2020.

Guy Hubbs discusses his book _Tuscaloosa: 200 Years in the Making_, winner of the 2020 Coley Award for best book in local history presented by the Alabama Historical Association.