Slave Fighting in the Old South

By Sergio Lussana

For many years, anecdotal evidence suggested that slaves on southern plantations engaged in wrestling or fighting matches. The publication of the slave interviews collected by the Federal Writers Project of the Works Progress Administration finally confirmed what had long been only suspected: the matches actually occurred. These first-hand accounts prove that in Alabama and throughout the South, slave fighting transpired often and for many reasons, offering the enslaved men a chance to prove their masculinity, settle disagreements, and sometimes even add to their owners’ profits. The events became a central part of a plantation’s social life, and they were both celebratory and recreational—even as they expressed another facet of the violence of slavery.

Joe Rumore: More than Radio’s “Good Neighbor”

By Wendy Reed

In a career that began in 1941 and spanned four decades, Birmingham’s Joe Rumore became one of the most prominent radio personalities of his era, and he redefined radio in the process. Rumore’s savvy business sense helped, but the real impetus behind his success was his genuine concern for others and his willingness to open his life and home to help the people in his community. Rumore’s fame and approachability were so strong that he received letters from POWs during World War II, visits from celebrities such as Hank Williams and Andy Griffith, and, one year, over forty thousand Christmas cards. Author Wendy Reed takes us through the story of Rumore’s life and its significant effect on both his industry and his community. 

Both Sides of the Lens: Photographs by the Shackelford Family, Fayette County, 1900–1935

By Andrew Nelson

In the early twentieth century, when the lives of most African Americans were still ignored in many mainstream media, one Fayette County family worked to preserve details of everyday life in Alabama. Along with their children, Mitch and Geneva Shackelford took nearly one thousand photographs of African Americans, using this relatively new technology to capture and celebrate the quotidian—and leaving behind valuable records of rural life in Alabama. Thanks to the Birmingham Public Library, where many of the Shackelfords’ negatives are now housed, the readers of Alabama Heritage may see these revealing and moving portraits taken nearly a century ago. 

Revealing Hidden Collections

An Eden in Hoover: A Visit to the Doss Library

By Scotty E. Kirkland

This quarter, our tour of special collections throughout Alabama takes us to the home of Chriss and Harriet Amos Doss, a Birmingham couple whose profound love of books has led to the creation of a home library unlike any other. Complete with rare and valuable books, historical objects, family memorabilia, and even a stained glass window commemorating Alabama history, the Doss’s library offers a powerful tribute to the couple’s love of learning, literature, and their home state.

Southern Folkways

The Queen of Glitter: Karen Thornton

By Jessica Johnson

Each year at Mobile’s Mardi Gras festivities, ladies display their finest gowns, complete with elaborate trains. For years, one woman has been responsible for many of these lavish ensembles. A transplant to the South, Karen Thornton has earned her way into the hearts—and closets—of many Alabama elite, who display her legacy through each sequin and stitch. 

Southern Religion

Race, Science, and Biblical Creation in Antebellum Alabama

By Christopher Willoughby

In the mid–nineteenth century, a handful of medical professionals sought to synthesize their scientific beliefs with their spiritual and social beliefs. One target of their focus was slavery, and heated debates arose around what people considered the proper place of African Americans within their scientific and religious worldview. Although these discussions often seem antiquated to contemporary readers, they reveal significant information about the attitudes and assumptions of our forbears, and they reflect individuals using every available tool—from medicine to religion—to make sense of their world and others in it.

The Nature Journal

Samuel Thomson’s Wonder Herb

By L. J. Davenport

Although known by several names, from the scientific–Lobelia inflata—to the common—Indian tobacco—the topic of this quarter’s Nature Journal has one distinctive colloquial appellation that readers are likely not to forget: puke weed. That name sounds like enough to keep wary people away from the innocuous-looking plant, but throughout history, puke weed has actually been used by a number of savvy marketers to promote health systems of varying degrees of medical soundness. Larry Davenport explores puke weed and the men who have profited from it—while reminding readers to steer clear of it themselves.