Dr. Richard Bailey, AHA president for 2024-25, discusses the AHA Fall Pilgrimage to Phenix City in October 2024, the annual meeting in Opelika during April 2025, his focus on pursuing local histories, Alabama’s African American history, and the importance of recognizing the full history of the Reconstruction Era. Links to things mentioned or implied in this episode: Alabama Historical Association: https://www.alabamahistory.net/ AHA Fall Pilgrimage, Phenix City, October 2024: https://www.alabamahistory.net/_files/ugd/3aaf16_7bf43642929b4d948f835115a0123a4f.pdf AHA Annual Meeting, Opelika, Apri ..read more

Episode 72 – Tom Reidy on AHA 2024 Museum Award for The Scottsboro Boys Museum Air Date: May 20, 2024 Dr. Tom Reidy, executive director of The Scottsboro Boys Museum which received the Alabama Historical Association’s Museum Award for 2024, discusses the history of the infamous Scottsboro Boys case and the history and programs of the museum itself. Links to things mentioned or implied in the episode: Alabama Historical Association https://www.alabamahistory.net/ Alabama Historical Association Historical Museum Award https://www.alabamahistory.net/historical-museum-award The Scottsboro Boys Mus ..read more

Episode 73 – Allie Lopez on the AHA 2024 Coley Research Award Air Date: April 22, 2024 Allie Lopez, winner of the AHA 2024 Clinton Jackson and Evelyn Coley Research Award, discusses her proposed project, “The Injustice That Permeates: Jim Crow, Fear, And Dispossession in Rural Alabama 1930 to 1985,” and her 2024 AHA Meeting presentation on the Reverse Freedom Rides. Links to things mentioned in the episode: Alabama Historical Association: https://www.alabamahistory.net/ AHA Coley Research Award: https://www.alabamahistory.net/clinton-jackson-and-evelyn-coley-re Allie Lopez webpage at Baylor Un ..read more

Air Date: March 7, 2024 Dr. Christine Sears and Ben Hoksbergen talk about the history of Huntsville, AL, site of the 2024 meeting of the Alabama Historical Association. They also discuss the sites attendees will visit on the pre-conference and conference tours, the banquet speaker Dr. Isabel Morales, and the meeting program offerings. Links to things mentioned in the episode: Alabama Historical Association: www.alabamahistory.net AHA Spring 2024 Newsletter: https://www.alabamahistory.net/_files/ugd/3aaf16_3b018dd19cb14a379df403033346127c.pdf University of Alabama at Huntsville: https://www.uah ..read more

Episode 71 – Dr. Pete Sparks on The Guntersville Historical Society, Winner of the 2023 Kuykendall Award for Local History Dr. Pete Sparks, president of the Guntersville Historical Society (GHS), discusses the history of the society, its activities in the recent past and at present, and its plans for the future, including a succession plan for the current leadership to sustain the GHS’s work. The Alabama Historical Association presented its 2023 James Ray Kuykendall Award to the Guntersville Historical Society for its long record of outstanding work in local and community history. Links refere ..read more

Episode 70 – Dr. Katie Beasley on her 2023 SAWH Thomas Award winning article re: Alabama women and Curb Markets, 1923-1929. Air Date: January 23, 2024 Dr. Katie Beasley, an independent scholar who recently completed her doctorate at Florida State University, discusses her article, “’I Am Planning to Buy a New Buick Coupe Next Year”: Rural Women and Alabama’s Curb Markets, 1923-1929,” Alabama Review 75, no. 2 (April 2022), for which she won the 2023 A. Elizabeth Taylor Prize from the Southern Association for Women Historians. Her work examines how rural Alabama women converted home demonstratio ..read more

Stillman College Asst. Prof. of Music, Dr. Allison Upshaw, discusses her "creative nonfiction" project, "reframing: Narratives of African American Female Landowners in Alabama's Black Belt" that captures more about Black women who own land than what appears in records and produces their stories in a way that makes them fully human. Links mentioned in the episode: Stillman College: https://stillman.edu/ Alabama Department of Archives and History Statement of Recommitment: https://archives.alabama.gov/about/docs/ADAH_statement_recommitment.pdf Dr. Allison Upshaw personal website: https://allison ..read more

Episode 068 – Bertis English Recipient of the 2023 C.J. Coley Award from Alabama Historical Association Air Date: November 8, 2023 Dr. Bertis English, professor of history at Alabama State University, discusses his book, Civil Wars, Civil Beings, and Civil Rights in Alabama's Black Belt: A History of Perry County (University of Alabama Press, 2020) that won the Alabama Historical Association's 2023 C.J. Coley Award for the best book on local history published in the previous two years. English argues that African American agency and the power of interracial citizens made the history of Perry C ..read more

Air Date: October 2, 2023 Dr. Tara Douglas, Ms. Tracey Thomas, and Dr. Ted Spears – members of the local arrangements committee – talk about the 2023 Alabama Historical Association Fall Pilgrimage in Sylacauga, AL. Dr. Douglas speaks on the history of Sylacauga, Ms. Thomas talks about the B. B. Comer Memorial Library as a cultural arts center and host / headquarters for the Pilgrimage, and Dr. Ted Spears tells about the marble arts and sites planned for the Pilgrimage tour. Links mentioned in the episode -- Alabama Historical Association Newsletter, Fall 2023: https://www.alabamahistory.net/_f ..read more

Episode 66 -- Spokespeople Aaron Trehub, Chelsea Denault, and Clint Bellanger discuss ADPNet's 2023 Alabama Historical Association Digital History Award (Small Project Category) Air date: September 6, 2023 Aaron Trehub (Auburn University), Chelsea Denault (Michigan Digital Preservation Network), and Clint Bellanger (ADPNet Technical Policy Committee) discuss the Alabama Digital Preservation Network, ADPNet, winner of the Alabama Historical Association's 2023 Digital History Award for small projects. ADPNet calls itself "a distributed digital preservation network for locally created digital con ..read more