The Spring 2021 issue of Alabama Heritage magazine uncovers previously unpublished photomurals of the Chattahoochee Valley taken by one of America’s best-known photographers, Margaret Bourke-White. Authors Robin Watson and Frances Osborn Robb document the pioneering photographer’s visit to East Alabama in 1936 and how she left behind six towering photomurals of its thriving textile industry. Looking at these photos, it is easy to understand why and how she made her great photographic achievements: an innovator of photojournalism and the photo essay; a female photographer whose photos appeared in the first issues of Fortune and LIFE magazines; the first Westerner to photograph in the Soviet Union; one of the first female war correspondents; and one of the most famous women of her era.
Other features include historian Justin A. Rudders’ look at the Selma’s Old Depot Museum that tells the story of the railroad and the surrounding Black community that helped shape it. Museum director Beth Spivey has raised funding and worked with volunteers to restore the original building interior, identify people in uncovered collections of photographs, and turned the former “colored” passenger waiting room into a testament to the voting rights campaign of the early 1960s. The experiences of its founders—including Alston Fitts III, Charles Mauldin, Richie Jean Sherrod Jackson, and Fred Williams III—served as a source of inspiration for the renaissance of research that became popular in the 2010s regarding Selma’s role in US race relations.
Paula Lenor Webb recounts the life of Octavia Walton Levert, one of nineteenth-century Alabama’s most influential (and unconventional) women. Her portrait hangs in historic Oakleigh House in Mobile, Alabama, and it is not surprising a famous painter put her likeness to canvas, for Levert was a prominent figure during her lifetime and destined for great things.
“Places in Peril 2020,” compiled by the Alabama Historic Commission and the Alabama Trust for Historic Preservation, highlights the year’s list of Alabama’s most vulnerable historic structures. Also included in the Spring 2021 issue are regular departments including Alabama Treasures, Behind the Image, Reading the Southern Past, and much more.
About Alabama Heritage
Alabama Heritage, celebrating its 35th year, is co-published by the University of Alabama, the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and the Alabama Department of Archives and History. The quarterly magazine covers a variety of subjects related to Alabama history and culture, and has garnered numerous local, regional, and national awards over the years. Copies are available for purchase at the University of Alabama Supply Store, at Barnes & Nobles and Books-a-Millions throughout the state, and online at www.alabamaheritage.com. Readers can also follow the magazine on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, and YouTube.
Paula Lenor Webb recounts the life of Octavia Walton Levert, one of nineteenth-century Alabama’s most influential (and unconventional) women. Her portrait hangs in historic Oakleigh House in Mobile, Alabama, and it is not surprising a famous painter put her likeness to canvas, for Levert was a prominent figure during her lifetime and destined for great things.
“Places in Peril 2020,” compiled by the Alabama Historic Commission and the Alabama Trust for Historic Preservation, highlights the year’s list of Alabama’s most vulnerable historic structures. Also included in the Spring 2021 issue are regular departments including Alabama Treasures, Behind the Image, Reading the Southern Past, and much more.
About Alabama Heritage
Alabama Heritage, celebrating its 35th year, is co-published by the University of Alabama, the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and the Alabama Department of Archives and History. The quarterly magazine covers a variety of subjects related to Alabama history and culture, and has garnered numerous local, regional, and national awards over the years. Copies are available for purchase at the University of Alabama Supply Store, at Barnes & Nobles and Books-a-Millions throughout the state, and online at www.alabamaheritage.com. Readers can also follow the magazine on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, and YouTube.
