Air Date: August 4, 2025 Donna Castellano, Executive Director of the Historic Huntsville Foundation, discusses the programs that the HHF has pursued. She discusses the Harrison Brothers Hardware store (HHF headquarters), the eleven National Historic Register nominations the HHF has made and the research projects into women’s and Black history that ensued from them, HHF walking tours, pop-up museum installations, funding, and the future of the HHF. Transcript: https://tinyurl.com/4ap4c36y Links m...
Aug 04, 2025•22 min
Air date: July 7, 2025 Alabama Historical Association president for 2025-2026, Dr. Matthew Downs, discusses the AHA’s program for the upcoming year. He describes the October 24-25, 2025 Fall Pilgrimage in Guntersville and the April 9-11, 2026 annual meeting in Fairhope. Downs also talks about the importance of the Alabama Review that he edits and two AHA projects – the Speakers Bureau and the AHA Digitally Enhanced Marker map. Transcript here: https://tinyurl.com/mw79d3ms Links mentioned in the ...
Jul 07, 2025•14 min
Air Date: June 2, 2025 Transcript: https://tinyurl.com/fk7hby52 Dr. David Chase Stephens (AU ’24), winner of the Alabama Historical Association’s 2025 Sarah Woolfolk Wiggins Award for the best dissertation in Alabama History, discusses his dissertation entitled “To Obstruct and Resist: Paradise v. Allen, Integration Efforts, and the Alabama State Troopers” (Dec. 2024). Stephens examines the strum und drang of integrating the Alabama State Troopers by hiring and promoting Black and women officers...
Jun 02, 2025•21 min
Theo Moore, founder and executive director of Hiztorical Vision Productions, discusses receiving the 2025 Jakeman Award for Digital History (large project category) from the Alabama Historical Association. He talks about his past, current, and future films; his motivations for founding Hiztorical Vision Productions; and his plans for the future – including creating a studio, museum, and event space. Transcript at this link: https://tinyurl.com/vpfz6ece Links to things mentioned in the episode: A...
May 05, 2025•17 min
Bert Harris, former president of the East Alabama Museum and the Genealogical Society of East Alabama, plus Jayson and Laura Hill, discuss Opelika’s history, tour sites, and other amenities the AHA will enjoy for its April 2025 annual meeting. Transcript of episode: https://tinyurl.com/5a26sz5r Links to items mentioned in the episode: Alabama Historical Association: https://www.alabamahistory.net/ ; Opelika, AL: https://www.opelika-al.gov/ ; Museum of East Alabama: https://eastalabama.org/ ; Tre...
Mar 10, 2025•17 min
Episode 81 – Dan Puckett discusses the Alabama Holocaust Commission Air Date: January 7, 2025 Dan Puckett, chair of the Alabama Holocaust Commission, discusses the Commission’s history, mission, program of work, and future. He also talks about adding Holocaust studies to Alabama’s 2024 Social Studies Standards for K-12 education, the purposes of Holocaust education, and his 2014 book, In the Shadow of Hitler: Alabama’s Jews, the Second World War, and the Holocaust (University of Alabama Press). ...
Jan 07, 2025•23 min
Dr. Hayden McDaniel, Education Curator at the Alabama Department of Archives and History, discusses the Alabama History Institutes, annual professional development workshops for K-12 teachers. Links discussed in the episode: Alabama History Institute: https://archives.alabama.gov/teach-learn/professional-development/alabama-history-institutes.aspx / Alabama Department of Archives and History: https://archives.alabama.gov/ / Alabama Holocaust Education Center: https://ahecinfo.org/ / Temple Beth-...
Dec 03, 2024•23 min
Dr. Isabela Morales, author of the multi-award winning book Happy Dreams of Liberty: An American Family in Slavery and Freedom (Oxford, 2022), discusses the Townsend family of Madison County, Alabama, particularly the 45 manumitted children and nieces of Samuel Townsend who will them their freedom and his fortune. Morales speaks about the Townsends’ diaspora and how “race, place, and money” affected their experience of freedom between the Civil War and the Jim Crow Era. Links mentioned in the ep...
Nov 04, 2024•29 min
Mr. Barry McNealy of Birmingham talks about receiving the Alabama Historical Association’s Virginia Van Der Veer Hamilton Award for 2024, given to a person who has significantly advanced Alabama history with the general public. Mr. McNealy is a classroom teacher, historical expert with the Birmingham Civil Rights Museum, youth leader, and tour guide. Links mentioned in the podcast: Alabama Historical Association: https://www.alabamahistory.net/ Virginia Van der Veer Hamilton Award: https://www.a...
Oct 08, 2024•20 min
Air Date: September 3, 2024 Ms. Jasponica Florence, chair of the local arrangements committee for the AHA’s 2024 Fall Pilgrimage to Phenix City, discusses the history of Phenix City (beginning with why the city name does not have an “O”); the pre-meeting tour sites in Russell County, AL; the Pilgrimage tour sites in Phenix City (with special emphasis on the Franchise Baptist Church and South Girard School); and the special program devoted to antebellum enslaved / manumitted bridge builder and na...
Sep 03, 2024•16 min
Episode 76 – Dr. Idrissa Snider discusses Alabama History Day. Air date: August 6, 2024 Dr. Idrissa Snider, Alabama Humanities Alliance Program Coordinator, talks about the Alabama History Day and National History Day competitions, their relationship to history education, and how students, teachers, and potential judges can involve themselves with the program. Links mentioned in the podcast: Alabama Historical Association: https://www.alabamahistory.net/ Alabama Humanities Alliance: https://alab...
Aug 06, 2024•20 min
Dr. Richard Bailey, AHA president for 2024-25, discusses the AHA Fall Pilgrimage to Phenix City in October 2024, the annual meeting in Opelika during April 2025, his focus on pursuing local histories, Alabama’s African American history, and the importance of recognizing the full history of the Reconstruction Era. Links to things mentioned or implied in this episode: Alabama Historical Association: https://www.alabamahistory.net/ AHA Fall Pilgrimage, Phenix City, October 2024: https://www.alabama...
Jul 23, 2024•22 min
Episode 74 – Tom Reidy on AHA 2024 Museum Award for The Scottsboro Boys Museum Air Date: May 20, 2024 Dr. Tom Reidy, executive director of The Scottsboro Boys Museum which received the Alabama Historical Association’s Museum Award for 2024, discusses the history of the infamous Scottsboro Boys case and the history and programs of the museum itself. Links to things mentioned or implied in the episode: Alabama Historical Association https://www.alabamahistory.net/ Alabama Historical Association Hi...
May 20, 2024•24 min
Episode 73 – Allie Lopez on the AHA 2024 Coley Research Award Air Date: April 22, 2024 Allie Lopez, winner of the AHA 2024 Clinton Jackson and Evelyn Coley Research Award, discusses her proposed project, “The Injustice That Permeates: Jim Crow, Fear, And Dispossession in Rural Alabama 1930 to 1985,” and her 2024 AHA Meeting presentation on the Reverse Freedom Rides. Links to things mentioned in the episode: Alabama Historical Association: https://www.alabamahistory.net/ AHA Coley Research Award:...
Apr 22, 2024•18 min
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 Association: www.alabamahistory.net AHA Spring 2024 Newsletter: https://www.alabamahistory.net/_files/...
Mar 07, 2024•21 min
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 Alabama Historical Association presented its 2023 James Ray Kuykendall Award to the Guntersville His...
Feb 07, 2024•16 min
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 Ass...
Jan 23, 2024•19 min
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...
Dec 06, 2023•22 min
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 a...
Nov 08, 2023•21 min
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 th...
Oct 02, 2023•24 min
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 Di...
Sep 06, 2023•26 min
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 man...
Aug 03, 2023•26 min
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://encyclopediaofa...
Jul 05, 2023•20 min
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...
Jun 07, 2023•1 hr 10 min
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...
May 08, 2023•21 min
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, his...
Apr 03, 2023•22 min
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 the April 2023 meeting of the Alabama Historical Association in Prattville. Ms. Boutwell examines the...
Mar 07, 2023•21 min
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 episode: Mobile Carnival Museum -- https://www.mobilecarnivalmuseum.com/ History Museum of Mobile -- http:...
Feb 07, 2023•15 min
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 the CJ and Evelyn Coley Research Award from the Alabama Historical Association in 2022, "'I'm Afrai...
Jan 09, 2023•20 min
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, African American Schools in the Urban South 1865 to 1890, published by Fordham University Press in 2016,...
Dec 06, 2022•27 min
