FROM THE VAULT: The Rabbi and Dr. King
August 14, 2024
Martin Luther King Jr. was not at the Bloody Sunday march in Selma, Alabama. On March 7, 1965—the day that Alabama State Troopers and mounted sheriff’s deputies beat demonstrators in… READ MORE
Alabama Heritage Exclusive Content
Alabama Origins of a Football State
August 9, 2024
The love and tradition of college football runs deep in Alabama, but many are unaware of how this cherished sport became an integral part of the state’s culture. William Gray Little, known as the father of Alabama football,… READ MORE
The Legend of Railroad Bill
August 5, 2024
Who was Railroad Bill? Was he the “Robin Hood” figure the legends have described? Was he an outlaw with murderous tendencies? Or was the idea of Railroad Bill just a… READ MORE
FROM THE VAULT: Horace King, Bridge Builder
July 24, 2024
Free blacks in the antebellum South led precarious lives. Respected by slaves, with whom they shared skin color but not bondage, free persons of color were often feared by whites,… READ MORE
The Eliza Battle: Alabama’s Ghostship
May 31, 2024
The Eliza Battle’s final resting place lies in the Tombigbee River near the tiny town of Pennington, Alabama. According to Rufus Ward in his book The Tombigbee River Steamboats: Rollodores, Deadheads and… READ MORE
Frank Stitt: The Father of Alabama Fine Dining
May 14, 2024
If you have ever eaten out in Birmingham, Alabama, you probably have visited one of Chef Frank Stitt’s restaurants. Frank Stitt is a James Beard Award-winning chef from Cullman, Alabama,… READ MORE
Sand Island Lighthouse: A Luminous Sentinel of Mobile Bay
May 8, 2024
Sand Island’s story begins in the early 1800s. Originally a much larger landmass exceeding four hundred acres, it served as a vital navigational point for ships entering Mobile Bay, a… READ MORE
Sloss Furnaces: From the Heat of Industry to the Cool Light of History
On March 18th, 1976, the people of Birmingham read in the Birmingham News that Sloss Furnace, an old iron blast furnace closed years ago and donated to the Alabama State Fair to… READ MORE
The Battle of Mabila
Forty-eight years after Christopher Columbus arrived in the Americas, Hernando de Soto, a famed Spanish conquistador, would lead an expedition down the Alabama River and arrive at the town of… READ MORE
Shelby Springs Confederate Cemetery: “The Old Soldiers Graveyard”
On the peak of a quiet hilltop, located between the towns of Columbiana and Calera, the Shelby Springs Confederate Cemetery sits nestled in the dense woods of central Alabama. Often… READ MORE
