ALABAMA HERITAGE
  • Magazine
    • Current and Back Issues >
      • Back Issues 141-150 >
        • Issue 147, Winter 2023
        • Issue 146, Fall 2022
        • Issue 145, Summer 2022
        • Issue 144, Spring 2022
        • Issue 143, Winter 2022
        • Issue 142, Fall 2021
        • Issue 141, Summer 2021
      • Back Issues 131-140 >
        • Issue 140, Spring 2021
        • Issue 139, Winter 2021
        • Issue 138, Fall 2020
        • Issue 137, Summer 2020
        • Issue 136, Spring 2020
        • Issue 135, Winter 2020
        • Issue 134, Fall 2019
        • Issue 133, Summer 2019
        • Issue 132 Spring 2019
        • Issue 131, Winter 2019
      • Back Issues 121-130 >
        • Issue 130, Fall 2018
        • Issue 129, Summer 2018
        • Issue 128, Spring 2018
        • Issue 127, Winter 2018
        • Issue 126, Fall 2017
        • Issue 125 Summer 2017
        • Issue 124, Spring 2017
        • Issue 123, Winter 2017
        • Issue 122, Fall 2016
        • Issue 121, Summer 2016
      • Back Issues 111-120 >
        • Issue 120, Spring 2016
        • Issue 119, Winter 2016
        • Issue 118, Fall 2015
        • Issue 117, Summer 2015
        • Issue 116, Spring 2015
        • Issue 115, Winter 2015
        • Issue 114, Fall 2014
        • Issue 113, Summer 2014
        • Issue 112, Spring 2014
        • Issue 111, Winter 2014
      • Back Issues 101-110 >
        • Issue 110, Fall 2013
        • Issue 109, Summer 2013
        • Issue 108, Spring 2013
        • Issue 107, Winter 2013
        • Issue 106, Fall 2012
        • Issue 105, Summer 2012
        • Issue 104, Spring 2012
        • Issue 103, Winter 2012
        • Issue 102, Fall 2011
        • Issue 101, Summer 2011
      • Back Issues 91-100 >
        • Issue 100, Spring 2011
        • Issue 99, Winter 2011
        • Issue 98, Fall 2010
        • Issue 97, Summer 2010
        • Issue 96, Spring 2010
        • Issue 95, Winter 2010
        • Issue 94, Fall 2009
        • Issue 93, Summer 2009
        • Issue 92, Spring 2009
        • Issue 91, Winter 2009
      • Back Issues 81-90 >
        • Issue 90, Fall 2008
        • Issue 89, Summer 2008
        • Issue 88, Spring 2008
        • Issue 87, Winter 2008
        • Issue 86, Fall 2007
        • Issue 85, Summer 2007
        • Issue 84, Spring 2007
        • Issue 83, Winter 2007
        • Issue 82, Fall 2006
        • Issue 81, Summer 2006
      • Back Issues 71-80 >
        • Issue 80, Spring 2006
        • Issue 79, Winter 2006
        • Issue 78, Fall 2005
        • Issue 77, Summer 2005
        • Issue 76, Spring 2005
        • Issue 75, Winter 2005
        • Issue 74, Fall 2004
        • Issue 73, Summer 2004
        • Issue 72, Spring 2004
        • Issue 71, Winter 2004
      • Back Issues 61-70 >
        • Issue 70, Fall 2003
        • Issue 69, Summer 2003
        • Issue 68, Spring 2003
        • Issue 67, Winter 2003
        • Issue 66, Fall 2002
        • Issue 65, Summer 2002
        • Issue 64, Spring 2002
        • Issue 63, Winter 2002
        • Issue 62, Fall 2001
        • Issue 61, Summer 2001
      • Back Issues 51-60 >
        • Issue 60, Spring 2001
        • Issue 59, Winter 2001
        • Issue 58, Fall 2000
        • Issue 57, Summer 2000
        • Issue 56, Spring 2000
        • Issue 55, Winter 2000
        • Issue 54, Fall 1999
        • Issue 53, Summer 1999
        • Issue 52, Spring 1999
        • Issue 51, Winter 1999
      • Back Issues 41-50 >
        • Issue 50, Fall 1998
        • Issue 49, Summer 1998
        • Issue 48, Spring 1998
        • Issue 47, Winter 1998
        • Issue 46, Fall 1997
        • Issue 45, Summer 1997
        • Issue 44, Spring 1997
        • Issue 43, Winter 1997
        • Issue 42, Fall 1996
        • Issue 41, Summer 1996
      • Back Issues 31-40 >
        • Issue 40, Spring 1996
        • Issue 39, Winter 1996
        • Issue 38, Fall 1995
        • Issue 37, Summer 1995
        • Issue 36, Spring 1995
        • Issue 35, Winter 1995
        • Issue 34, Fall 1994
        • Issue 33, Summer 1994
        • Issue 32, Spring 1994
        • Issue 31, Winter 1994
      • Back Issues 21-30 >
        • Issue 30, Fall 1993
        • Issue 29, Summer 1993
        • Issue 28, Spring 1993
        • Issue 27, Winter 1993
        • Issue 26, Fall 1992
        • Issue 25, Summer 1992
        • Issue 24, Spring 1992
        • Issue 23, Winter 1992
        • Issue 22, Fall 1991
        • Issue 21, Summer 1991
      • Back Issues 11-20 >
        • Issue 20, Spring 1991
        • Issue 19, Winter 1991
        • Issue 18, Fall 1990
        • Issue 17, Summer 1990
        • Issue 16, Spring 1990
        • Issue 15, Winter 1990
        • Issue 14, Fall 1989
        • Issue 13, Summer 1989
        • Issue 12, Spring 1989
        • Issue 11, Winter 1989
      • Back Issues 1-10 >
        • Issue 10, Fall 1988
        • Issue 9, Summer 1988
        • Issue 8, Spring 1988
        • Issue 7, Winter 1988
        • Issue 6, Fall 1987
        • Issue 5, Summer 1987
        • Issue 4, Spring 1987
        • Issue 3, Winter 1987
        • Issue 2, Fall 1986
        • Issue 1, Summer 1986
    • Digital Features
    • Links of Interest
    • Bonus Materials >
      • Adventures in Genealogy
      • Alabama Heritage Blog
      • Alabama Territory
      • Becoming Alabama >
        • Creek War Era
        • Civil War Era
        • Civil Rights Movement
      • From the Vault
      • History in Ruins
      • Places in Peril
      • Recipes
  • Online Store
    • Customer Service
  • About Us
    • Awards
    • Meet Our Team
    • News
    • Writer's Guidelines and Submissions
  • Search
  • Donate
Published by The University of Alabama,
The University of Alabama at Birmingham,
and the Alabama Department of Archives and History

Finding the Grit

8/31/2015

 
PictureMalone-Hood Plaza
University of Alabama
(Courtesy Cokie Thompson)
Memphis, my hometown, is a special brand of Southern, a brand I think best described in the Memphis Grizzlies’ unofficial motto “Grit ‘N Grind.” I can’t think of a better word to sum up the feeling of sticky barbecue sauce on your fingers, late-July humidity (which hangs in the air more of the year than not), and Delta blues playing in the background than "grit."

Coming to Alabama was a bit of an adjustment. Alabama’s brand of southern is both more rural and more polished than Memphis, or so it would seem. What I knew about Alabama before I started school was beef cattle farming in Cullman County and the affluence of law and finance in Birmingham. 

My first week on the University of Alabama campus I spent sweating as I watched women going through sorority recruitment go to the ends of the earth to look perfectly polished in August heat, a Sisyphean feat if there ever was such a thing. Two years in, I’ve discovered Alabama has grit--you just have to look for it.

The thing I’ve loved most about my time UA is finding its grit. A few weeks ago, I spent an evening sitting on Malone-Hood Plaza, a place I have walked past many times on my way to volleyball games and meals at the dining hall nearby but never knew had a name. As I marinated in the heat, I listened to three famous speeches: Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream,” George Wallace’s inauguration speech “Segregation Now,” and Wallace’s “Stand in the Schoolhouse Door,” which took place right where I was sitting.

As I let the famous words wash over me, I thought about how rich that ground is and how blessed I am to have grown up where I have. Some would argue that growing up in places with histories of hate is nothing to be proud of, but I think it has kept me grounded. Living so close to a struggle keeps you from forgetting it, from thinking that all the work has been done.

In the research I’ve done for Alabama Heritage, I’ve found the grit. I learned about Bobby Kennedy and the Emphasis symposia. I learned about the Monuments Men and their connection to Alabama. I even learned about the Iron Bowl and a 1971 kickoff return that rivaled the 2013 game.

I’ve loved the University of Alabama for a long time. Its fans welcomed me as family at a time in my life when I wasn’t sure what family really meant. Its donors have given me the opportunity to not only to learn in and out of the classroom in ways I never could have dreamed of, but also to graduate from college without a dime of debt. But now, I love Tuscaloosa and the state of Alabama just as much.

Grit is uncomfortable, irritating even, but it polishes things. I encourage you to be gritty. Find the grit in what you’re doing and revel in it. Any Grizzlies fan will tell you that’s where the magic is.

I’ve loved spending my summer discovering Alabama’s heritage. Reading and writing and thinking about what this place is, where it has come from and where it will go has been one of the most soul-filling experiences of my life. I am unendingly grateful for the opportunity to learn about the past and use my voice to share what I learn with others.

Dr. Martin Luther King’s life and death shaped my city, and his words are shaping my life in Alabama: “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”

May we not fall silent about our heritage. May we remember it every day and work to ensure that the future is bright.
Picture
Cokie Thompson is a junior at the University of Alabama from Memphis, Tennessee, majoring in journalism and minoring in political science and educational studies. She has written for The Crimson White and Druid City Living. She serves as president of Professional Women in Communication and Business, a student organization designed to bring together women in the communication and business schools and prepare them to work together in male-dominated fields. She loves asking questions and telling stories, whether for an assignment or at a dinner party. She enjoys learning about her new home through working for Alabama Heritage and looks forward to learning more.

Subscribe to Alabama Heritage

Comments are closed.
    Subscribe To AH!
    Alabama Heritage BLOG
    At Alabama Heritage, we owe many of our successes and smooth operations to our fabulous student interns. We hope that with this blog--written mostly by our interns as well as history students from UAB and a few from our own editors--our readers will have an opportunity to get to know the students who bring so much to the table with their enthusiasm, hard work, and expertise!

    If you're interested in our internship program, check out the details here.
    Read More Blogs Here

    Archives

    March 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    February 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    October 2019
    September 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    November 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    December 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    July 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    April 2016
    February 2016
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    December 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    March 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013

    Categories

    All
    AH Field Trip
    Architecture
    Civil Rights
    Civil War
    Farming
    Horticulture
    Military
    Mill Town
    Music
    Mystery
    Native Americans
    Preservation
    Scandals
    Sports
    The Depression
    WWI
    WWII

    RSS Feed

Online Store
​Customer Service
Meet Our Team
Board of Directors
Corporate Sponsors
News
Join Our Email List

Employment
UA Disclaimer
UA Privacy Policy ​
​Website comments or questions?  

Email ah.online@ua.edu
Published by The University of Alabama, The University of Alabama at Birmingham, and the Alabama Department of Archives and History
​Alabama Heritage
Box 870342
Tuscaloosa, AL 35487
Local: (205) 348-7467
Toll-Free: (877) 925-2323
Fax: (205) 348-7473

alabama.heritage@ua.edu