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
Alabama Heritage Issue 6, Fall 1987
Issue 6, Fall 1987
Issue Unavailable
Start Your Subscription
Give a Gift Subscription
On the cover: A sunset viewed from the cupola of Mobile's City Hall. (Chip Cooper)
Although this issue is no longer in print, scroll down to find some features from this issue that are available for purchase as downloadable PDFs.

FEATURE  ABSTRACTS


Alabama Heritage Mobile City HallSubtle exterior color differentiation, such as
the stark white of the body of the building and
the warm white or putty color of the eaves and
eave brackets, were frequently employed
during the mid-19th century.
(Photo courtesy Chip Cooper)
Mobile's City Hall


By Nicholas H. Holmes, Jr.

The history of Mobile's City Hall is a difficult one. Built at great expense in a city that was struggling financially, the building--itself a thing of beauty--became the target of disgust at civic corruption. Renovated three times over the course of its history, the  building was damaged in 1979 by Hurricane Frederic. This is the story of Mobile's City Hall--from its troubled beginnings through multiple renovations until its final restoration in 1982.

Additional Information
  • Gamble, Robert. The Alabama Catalog: Historic American Buildings Survey, A Guide to the Early Architecture of the State (University of Alabama Press, 1987).
  • Gould, Elizabeth Barrett. From Fort to Port: An Architectural History of Mobile, 1711-1918 (University of Alabama Press, forthcoming).
  • Pierson, William H., Jr. American Buildings and Their Architects, Vol. 1, The Colonial and Neoclassical Styles (New York: Doubleday, 1970).
  • Whillen, Marcus, and Frederick Koeper. American Architecture, 1607-1976 (M.I.T. Press, 1980).

Buy This Feature
About the Author
Nicholas H. Holmes, Jr., has been a practicing architect in Mobile since the 1950s. He received a bachelor of architecture degree from Auburn University in 1949, studied architectural design as a postgraduate at the Royal Danish Art Academy in Copenhagen, and in 1978 he was advanced to fellowship in the American Institute of Architects. Long interested in historic preservation and archaeology (he is an accredited member of the Society of Professional Archaeologists), Holmes, for almost twenty years, has served on the A.I.A. 's Committee on Historic Resources and as A.I.A.' s Preservation Coordinator for Alabama. He is presently at work restoring another national historic landmark, the Alabama state capitol.

The author would like to thank Mr. Roy V. Tallon, registrar of the Museum of the City of Mobile, and Mrs. Joan Hartwell and Mrs. Nancy Holmes, both of the Historic Mobile Preservation Society, for their assistance in sifting through early Mobile newspapers. The editors would like to thank Terry L. Carraway and Caldwell Delaney for their assistance in obtaining photographs.
Back to Top

Alabama Heritage Senator Lister Hill (right), a staunch New Dealer, with (backseat, left to right) President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Alabama Governor Frank Dixon at the Tuskegee Institute, 1940. (Photo courtesy W.S. Hoole Special Collections, University of Alabama)Senator Lister Hill (right), a staunch New Dealer, with (backseat,
left to right) President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Alabama
Governor Frank Dixon at the Tuskegee Institute, 1940.
(Photo courtesy W.S. Hoole Special Collections, University of Alabama)
Excerpts from Lister Hill: Statesman from the South


By Virginia Van der Veer Hamilton

Lister Hill served in the Congress of the United States for forty-five years, longer than any other Alabamian and longer than all but seven members in the entire history of Congress. In so doing, he earned the respect of his colleagues as well as the seniority that enabled him to play a leading role in creating more than eighty pieces of major legislation. Throughout his lengthy career, however, Hill met with determined opposition in his home state. Virginia Van der Veer Hamilton's biography of Hill addresses these and other dilemmas faced by a Deep South progressive during an era of far-reaching social and political change. This article is made up of excerpts from Lister Hill: Statesman from the South that illuminate aspects of Hill's youth and early political career.

Additional Information
Sources for Hamilton's biography of Hill include the Lister Hill Papers, a 1,875,000-piece collection housed at the William Stanley Hoole Special Collections Library, University of Alabama, and the immense clipping file on Senator Hill located in the Alabama Department of Archives and History in Montgomery.

About the Author
Virginia Van der Veer Hamilton, Professor Emerita in history at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, where she
taught for twenty-two years, received her A.B. and M.A. degrees from Birmingham-Southern College and her Ph.D. degree from the University of Alabama. Hamilton, a frequent contributor to American Heritage and the New York Times Travel Section, is the author of numerous scholarly articles and six books, including two Alabama history textbooks, the official bicentennial history of Alabama, a guidebook to the state's historic sites, and a study of the Alabama political career of Hugo L. Black. Her latest book, Lister Hill: Statesman from the South, will be published this November by the University of North Carolina Press, P.O. Box 2288, Chapel Hill, NC 27514. 

In her introduction to the Hill biography, Hamilton writes: "At the end of his strenuous 1944 campaign for reelection, Hill complained to his campaign manager, Roy Nolen: 'The story ought to be told .... it is a historical chapter which should be put in black and white for all time. ' To aid any future historian who might essay this task, Hill left a monumental written record, one that he never attempted to edit, purge, or partially destroy. When I began to search out his story, it was all there, the accomplishments, the flaws, the trivia. This book emerged primarily from this rich resource."

Back to Top

Big Mama Thornton


By Ben Windham


Elvis Presley's rendition of "Hound Dog" may have been a hit for the rock legend, but its origins are far more interesting than the sanitized lyrics would suggest. "Hound Dog" belonged originally to a rhythm and blues singer from Montgomery, Alabama, who, at the time of Elvis' recording, was making her living on what black entertainers called "The Chitlin' Circuit." Tipping the scales in her prime at more than 350 pounds, she was also endowed with a big voice and imperious manners, all of which led to the creation of her stage name--Big Mama Thornton. This is her story.

Additional Information
  • Albertson, Chris. Bessie (Stein and Day, 1972).
  • Harris, Sheldon. Blues Who's Who: A Biographical Directory of Blues Singers (Arlington House, 1979).
  • Lieb, Sandra R. Mother of the Blues: A Study of Ma Rainey (The University of Massachusetts Press, 1981).
  • Otis, Johnny. Listen to the Lambs (W. W. Norton, 1968).
  • Shaw, Arnold. Honkers and Shouters: The Golden Years of Rhythm and Blues (Macmillan, 1978).
  • Stewart-Baxter, Derrick. Ma Rainey and the Classic Blues Singers (Stein and Day, 1970).
Big Mama Thornton's first recording, "Bad Luck Got My Man," issued in 1949 by The Harlem Stars on the E&W label, is a hard-to-find collector's item. The same is true for almost all of her subsequent single recordings, including the original "Hound Dog," issued as a 78 rpm recording on the Peacock label, and 45 rpm recordings issued in the 1950s and '60s on the West Coast labels of Bay Tone, Sotoplay, Carolyn, Speed, Galaxy, Movin, and Kent.

Of her long-playing albums, the most easily available (and one of the best) is an import from England, "Quit Snoopin' Round My Door" (Ace 170). Also available from specialty stores is the excellent 1965 recording, "In Europe" (Arhoolie 1028). Other available long-playing recordings by Thornton include "Ball and Chain" (Arhoolie 1039), "Chicago Blues" (Arhoolie 1032), and two recordings documenting her "comeback years" before her health failed--"Jail," recorded live in a prison concert (Vanguard 79351) and "Sassy Mama" (Vanguard 79354). The only available recording of Thornton on compact disc is "Live at Newport" (Intermedia 5022).

About the Author
Ben Windham, assistant managing editor of the Tuscaloosa News, is a native of Selma and a graduate of Birmingham-Southern College. Born into a family of journalists, he has been a professional newspaperman for the past seventeen
years. Windham, an ardent record collector, became interested in the blues as a teenager, when John Lee Hooker
and Jimmy Reed recordings were in vogue at his high school and when B. B. King and Lowell Fulson still played
occasional dates in Selma.

The author and the editors wish to thank Johnny Otis for his photographs and his assistance with this article.

Back to Top

Alabama Heritage Madison County Chip CooperMadison County (Photo courtesy Chip Cooper)
Images of Alabama


By Chip Cooper

With this issue, Alabama Heritage begins a new series which will run as an occasional feature. "Images of Alabama" will present a portrait of Alabama through photographs and paintings, both old and new. This, the first in the series, features photographs of Alabama's natural heritage by Alabama Heritage's chief photographer, Chip Cooper.

About the Photographer
Chip Cooper, head of photography, University Relations, the University of Alabama, has won over thirty national and state awards for his University-related photography. His work has appeared in Horizon Magazine, Antique Monthly, Newsweek, Village Voice, USA Today, Modern Maturity, Northwest Orient Magazine, and Alabama Heritage, where he is head of photography.

Cooper, a native of Huntsville, particularly enjoys photographing landscapes. "Color, and especially light, make the picture work, II he says. "I work a long time setting up all my equipment--and I carry a lot of it--and then wait for just the right moment, when the lighting, contrasts, and textures all come together." 

In February 1987 Cooper was one of two photographers featured in a PBS documentary, "Captured: Chip Cooper, Spider Martin, Photographers," produced for Alabama Public Television and aired statewide. Cooper's work has been featured in The University of Alabama: A Pictorial History by Suzanne Rau Wolfe (University of Alabama Press, 1983), and in Mine, Mill, and Microchip: A Chronicle of Alabama Enterprise by Wayne Flynt (Windsor, 1987). Hunting: The Southern Tradition, a volume of Cooper's photographs, with text by May Lamar and Rich Donnell (Taylor Publishing Company, 1987), appeared this fall.

Back to Top
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