Issue 19, Winter 1991

The image appears to be the cover of a magazine titled “Alabama Heritage.” Here are the details: Title and Publisher: The top of the cover features the title “Alabama Heritage” in elegant red cursive font. Below the title, there’s smaller text that reads “PUBLISHED QUARTERLY BY THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA.” Photograph: A black and white photograph occupies most of the space on the cover. It depicts an individual wearing a military uniform with a cap marked with an anchor symbol, indicating they are part of the US Navy. The person’s face is covered with a grey box, and their hair appears to be digitally altered to green. The individual is seated inside what looks like an old military vehicle marked “USN” on its side. Additional Text: At the bottom left corner of the cover, there’s text indicating this issue was from “Winter 1991,” it’s “Number 19,” and priced at “.00.”

Issue 19, Winter 1991

On the cover: In August 1944, Mrs. B. F. Slaughter, dressed in her American Women’s Volunteer Service uniform, posed in the Jeep she used to drive visiting naval personnel around the Alabama Dry Docks in Mobile. [University of South Alabama Archives]

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Features

The photograph is in black and white and depicts a group of individuals seated at a long counter. They appear to be in an indoor workspace, possibly a factory or workshop. The people are sitting on chairs along the counter, each engaged in some form of manual labor or task. Their attire suggests that they might be workers or employees. One person stands beside the seated individuals, perhaps supervising or observing their work. The environment has tiled walls and functional furniture. Overhead lights illuminate the workspace.
Women working at the ADDSCO telephone exchange, Mobile, 1944. [Courtesy Erik Overbey Collection, University of South Alabama Archives]

Alabama Women and the Home Front, World War II

By Mary Martha Thomas

World War II changed American society. With the men fighting overseas, it fell to women–formerly excluded from many areas of life–to take up the slack. And so they did. All over America, women went to work–in shipyards and in Foundries, in gin companies and at the TVA. The labors of these women carried America through the war. But the question remains: after the war, after the fighting, when the men had returned home at last, what really changed? 

This article includes sidebars featuring the personal stories of many of the women who went to work during the war.

“Dreamy Alabama” (Top Left): The cover features a serene sunset scene over a body of water, with trees silhouetted against the sky. The title “Dreamy Alabama” is elegantly written in red letters at the top. A signature, possibly of the artist, is visible but not entirely legible. “Alabama Lullaby” (Top Right): Ornate designs surround the title. The text “A Unique Breezy Southern Song” appears at the top. Credits to Cal DeVoll are included on this cover. “When The Bees Make Honey Down In Sunny Alabam’” (Bottom Left): The illustration depicts a man playing a banjo, with bees flying around him against a red and white background. Credits to Sam M. Lewis, Joe Young, and Walter Donaldson are displayed at the bottom. “On Mobile Bay” (Bottom Right): The cover shows an ocean scene with waves crashing against rocks. However, part of this cover is obscured by black rectangles covering faces for privacy or copyright reasons. The title is boldly written at the top. Here’s the text extracted from the covers: “Dreamy Alabama”: “A Unique Breezy Southern Song” “Alabama Lullaby”: Credits to Cal DeVoll “When The Bees Make Honey Down In Sunny Alabam’”: Credits to Sam M. Lewis, Joe Young, and Walter Donaldson These vintage sheet music covers evoke the spirit of Alabama through their artistry and musical themes.
[Courtesy the Wade Hall Collection, W.S. Hoole Special Collections Library, University of Alabama]

Alabama Sheet Music, 1890-1925

By Cheryl Taranto

In 1990 Wade Hall, an avid collector of books, manuscripts, music, and photographs that document the South and its people, donated his collection of sheet music to the William Stanley Hoole Special Collections Library, University of Alabama, greatly enriching the University’s extensive sheet music collection. The Hall collection contains rare items and music dating from the early twentieth century, including many items related to Alabama–either published in the state by native composers or containing lyrics about Alabama. This article offers a look inside the collection.

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The photograph is rendered in black and white, evoking a sense of nostalgia or historical context. Two individuals are prominently featured in the image, both actively engaged in agricultural work within a field. Here are the specifics: Person on the left: This individual is slightly bent over, suggesting they are actively working. They are holding a tool used for cultivating the soil. Their attire includes a wide-brimmed hat, likely to shield them from the sun. Person on the right: This person stands upright and also holds a similar cultivation tool. Like their counterpart, they are also wearing a hat. The surrounding area is rich with vegetation, indicating that this scene takes place in a field. The background extends into more vegetation and open space, reinforcing the outdoor setting. Overall, this photograph captures a moment of hard work and labor in an agricultural context, with the two individuals diligently tending to the land.
Sharecropping family near Eutaw, Alabama, 1936. Farm Security Administration photograph by Dorothea Lange. [Courtesy Library of Congress]

Excerpts from Hammer and Hoe: Alabama Communists during the Great Depression

By Robin D.J. Kelley

Between 1929 and 1941, the Communist Party organized and led a militantly antiracist movement in Alabama–the center of Party activity in the Depression South. Built from scratch by working people, the Alabama Communist Party was composed largely of poor blacks, most of whom were semiliterate and devoutly religious, but it also attracted a handful of whites, including unemployed industrial workers, iconoclastic youth and women, and renegade liberals. 

In Hammer and Hoe, published by the University of North Carolina Press, Professor Robin Kelley documents the efforts of the Communist Party to secure economic and political reforms in Alabama during the Great Depression. This excerpt deals with the beginnings of the Communist Party in Birmingham and rural Alabama, particularly Tallapoosa County.

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