African Americans, through enslavement and Jim Crow, constructed campus buildings and worked at the University of North Alabama since its beginnings in 1830, yet they were denied admission as students for 133 years. In 1963, Wendell Wilkie Gunn . . . — — Map (db m156930) HM
Rev. Dr. Bennett W. Smith, as president of the Progressive National Baptist Convention, expanded the organization internationally. Active in Civil Rights in America and South Africa, he counseled President Bill Clinton on racial equality. — — Map (db m219184) HM
William Christopher Handy, acclaimed worldwide as the “Father of the Blues” was born November 16, 1873, in his grandfather’s two~room log cabin which was located at this site. All structures in this area were removed in 1954 to make way . . . — — Map (db m141964) HM
This school named Burrell Academy, formerly in Selma, Alabama, was given to Florence by the American Missionary Association. In 1903, Burrell Normal School opened and served African ~American students in grades 1-12. In 1937, the Florence City Board . . . — — Map (db m83940) HM
John A. Murrell, known as the "Great Western Land Pirate," was captured near this site in the winter of 1834. He was said to have killed over 400 people, including many kidnapped slaves. His arrest was brought about through the clever maneuvering of . . . — — Map (db m154394) HM
About 1849, African-Americans began holding religious services in a brick cow shed overlooking the town spring near the site. It was purchased in 1857 by the local Methodists for this congregation, with Robin Lightfoot, a slave as its pastor. In . . . — — Map (db m45812) HM
About 1840, African- Americans began holding religious services in a brick cow shed overlooking the town spring near this site. It was purchased in 1857 by the local Methodists for this congregation, with Robin Lightfoot, a slave, as its pastor. In . . . — — Map (db m156921) HM
This boulevard was named in honor of Dr. Leonard Jerry Hicks by the City of Florence in 1981. Dr. Hicks was a prominent Black leader of the community and was recognized for his skills as a physician across the State of Alabama. He was born September . . . — — Map (db m35257) HM
Dred Scott, whose name is associated with the landmark U.S. Supreme Court Dred Scott Decision of 1857, was born in Virginia between 1795-1809. In 1818 he was in Madison County, Alabama. He came to Florence with the Peter Blow family in 1820. About . . . — — Map (db m35183) HM
Dred Scott, a slave who served as the hostler in Peter Blow's Florence Hotel, waged a 14-year legal fight for freedom that resulted in the U.S. Supreme Court's Dred Scott Decision of 1857, a pivotal event in American history. — — Map (db m219324) HM
The "Mother Church" of the Presbytery, Florence Cumberland Colored Presbyterian Church originated in 1898 on property deeded by the city. Led, in 1918, by Rev. Holt Smith, it bought property on Alabama Street and built a frame structure. In 1948 . . . — — Map (db m83967) HM
The Forks of Cypress plantation was established in 1818 by James and Sarah Jackson. This home, believed the design of William Nichols, was one of Alabama's great houses, featuring perhaps the earliest peristyle colonnades in America. Built by . . . — — Map (db m156982) HM
Side 1:
To the south of this marker is the Hickory Hill Plantation Slave Cemetery which contains the remains of approximately 140 African-Americans. These individuals labored in the bonds of slavery during the period 1818 to 1865 and many . . . — — Map (db m138778) HM
Lawyer and statesman James T. Rapier, a son of free African-American parents in Florence, holds the distinction of being just the second African-American from Alabama to be elected, in 1873, to the U.S. Congress. — — Map (db m219173) HM
For 21 years following the end of World War II, John Bulls served as Agricultural Extension Advisor for the U.S. State Dept. in India, Nigeria, Tunisia and Uganda, assisting farmers and organizing community development programs. — — Map (db m219298) HM
In 1928, Oscar S. DePriest, son of former slaves, became the first 20th Century African-American Congressman from the north. He is credited with the Anti-discrimination Amendment to the 1933 Civilian Conservation Corps Bill. — — Map (db m219190) HM
First school in Florence Public school system built 1890 on land given by Governor Robert M. Patton. It was occupied in 1891. Designed originally to serve all white elementary school children of Florence. Usually served six grades divided into nine . . . — — Map (db m84042) HM
In early 1840s about 14 African-American members from First Methodist formed own congregation “Church Springs” near South Court Street. In 1857, a nearby brick cow shed was converted for its use under Rev. Robin Lightfoot who became a . . . — — Map (db m84050) HM
The congregation first met in home of Mrs. Betsy Key. Organized as "Fairgrounds Church" in 1896 at nearby site of early Florence Racetrack and Fairgrounds, with Andy Sloss as pastor. Later, the church was moved to Irvine Avenue (formerly Fish-Trap . . . — — Map (db m156929) HM
(side 1)
William Christopher Handy, widely honored as the “Father of the Blues,” was born in this house on November 16, 1873. In his autobiography, Handy traced the key events in his discovery of the blues back to his time in the . . . — — Map (db m90306) HM
This Twentieth century business and residential area was developed by John D. Weeden Jr. during the building of Wilson Dam and the World War I Defense Plants. Weeden Heights was carved from 3,800-acre Sweetwater Plantation, the former home of his . . . — — Map (db m35632) HM
(side 1)
William Christopher Handy was born on November 16, 1873, in this two-room log cabin, which was located approximately one-half mile north of this site. In 1954, the cabin was dismantled, placed in storage, and restored to its . . . — — Map (db m90292) HM
Born in Florence in 1873, W.C. Handy wrote some of the country's most recognizable blues music such as the "St. Louis Blues." He became internationally known as the "Father of the Blues." — — Map (db m219308) HM
Side A
In 1818 three Wilson brothers John, Matthew and Samuel, came from Virginia to purchase large farms in this area. The plantations of John and Matthew joined near this cemetery. All three brothers and their families are buried here. . . . — — Map (db m28160) HM
As Director of the United Nations University Institute for Natural Resources in Africa, 1996-2004, Dr. Mokwunye capped a career of service to farmers and others in his native Nigeria and in many other African nations.
Inducted 2021
City of . . . — — Map (db m219317) HM
West End High School
1957-1969
West End High School was located here in the Oakland Community, less than a half-mile east of this location.
It was the first high school for African-Americans in western Lauderdale County, and the second in . . . — — Map (db m232313) HM
East End High School was the first school for African-American students in eastern Lauderdale County. Several elementary schools for Africian-American children were established in the area, including the Rogersville School located on the north . . . — — Map (db m215931) HM
Marker Front:
African~Americans played a very significant role in the early history of Courtland. Most came as slaves from the older southern states to help clear the land, to plant crops of cotton and corn, and to serve as household . . . — — Map (db m29009) HM
Side A Federal lands in this area were first sold in 1818 and quickly purchased by settlers and speculators. A group of investors calling themselves the “Courtland Land Company” and consisting of William H. Whitaker, James M. . . . — — Map (db m28989) HM
On January 3, 1874, former slaves and
Deacons King Crayton, George Pruitt,
Tandy Crayton, and Ben Warren paid fifty
dollars for land to construct the Colored
Baptist Church, which was one of the earliest
in the Muscle Shoals Colored . . . — — Map (db m201349) HM
Near this site in the 1920's a school was constructed with funds and labor from the African~American Community along with funds from the Public, Whites and the Rosenwald Foundation. In the 1950's new buildings replaced the wooden structures. Most of . . . — — Map (db m195203) HM
On this site in 1871 former slaves constructed one of the first churches and schools for African Americans in Moulton. The Colored Methodist purchased most of the materials used for the building. Mr. and Mrs Isaac Nabors Owen gave land for the . . . — — Map (db m195205) HM
The Hot Spot
c. 1945
has been listed in the
Alabama Register of
Landmarks and Heritage
by the Alabama
Historical Commission
June 27, 2019 — — Map (db m195208) HM
Born near this site 12 September 1913 to Henry Cleveland and Emma (Fitzgerald) Owens, who were sharecroppers and the offspring of freed slaves, Jesse was destined to attain immortality in the 1936 Olympic Games at Berlin, Germany. Although he moved . . . — — Map (db m80969) HM
Jesse Owens track career started in high school when one day in gym class, the students were timed in the 60-yard dash. Coach Charlie Riley saw the raw, yet natural talent that young Jesse had and immediately invited him to run for the track team. . . . — — Map (db m80943) HM
He inspired a world enslaved in tyranny
and brought hope to his fellow man...
from the cottonfields of Oakville to the
acclaim of the entire world. He made us
all proud to be called Lawrence Countians.
Dedicated October, 1983 . . . — — Map (db m180484) HM
Built on this site in 1921, the store was a vital enterprise and local gathering place for African American residents of Town Creek and the surrounding rural communities. The Rev. O. C. Stanley owned and operated the business for more than six . . . — — Map (db m192089) HM
(side 1)
This small dwelling is the last reminder of "Boxwood" plantation, the home of the Elliot family, and later of the Nevilles. Built-in 1854 of slave-made brick and occupied by the household servants it is one of the few brick . . . — — Map (db m114719) HM
(Side 1)
Auburn's first separate black community cemetery offers a rich source of the city’s black heritage. Much of the history is oral but it is known that a white man gave most of the land in the early 1870’s. The four acre cemetery . . . — — Map (db m74453) HM
The first African American student entered the library to register at Auburn University at this site. Acting on a court order, Auburn president Ralph Brown Draughon accepted the application of Harold Franklin as the first African American student in . . . — — Map (db m90861) HM
(Side 1)
This simple frame structure was built by newly freed black men and women before 1870. The property on which the building stands was given to a member of the Ebenezer congregation in 1865, the year the War Between the States . . . — — Map (db m74450) HM
J. F. Drake High School
J.F. Drake High School, formerly Lee County Training School, educated Black children of the community from 1958 to 1970. It bears the name of Dr. Joseph Fanning Drake. Drake consisted of 12 classrooms, gymnasium, . . . — — Map (db m74457) HM
Marker Front:
The Greek Revival rock and mortar house was built by Addison Frazer (1809-1873) between 1852 and 1854 and served as the center for a 2,000 acre cotton plantation. Frazer owned 100 slaves and was on the Board of Trustees of . . . — — Map (db m25988) HM
(Side 1)
Near this site once stood "Four-Story Cottage," the home of Robert Wilton Burton. A one-story house with wide porch and bay window, Burton built it in 1885 with proceeds from the sale of four stories to children's magazines. Born . . . — — Map (db m74440) HM
Side 1
On this site once stood the first of over 5,300 Rosenwald schools for black children built between 1913 and 1932. The schools were started in a collaboration between Julius Rosenwald, CEO of Sears, Roebuck, and Company and Booker . . . — — Map (db m73539) HM
Side 1
On February 9, 1876, the City of Opelika paid D.B. Preston $80 for two acres of land to establish an African-American section of Rosemere Cemetery. This rectangular area of the cemetery contains 176 blocks, with 16 being partial . . . — — Map (db m75139) HM
Dr. John Wesley Darden, was the first African American physician to treat patients within a 30-mile radius of Opelika. He built the Darden House in 1904, and later married Maude Jean Logan of Montgomery. Dr. and Mrs. Darden shaped many lives through . . . — — Map (db m75131) HM
Lynching in America
After the Civil War, the ideology of white supremacy led to violent
resistance to equal rights for Black people. Lynching emerged to enforce
racial hierarchy through arbitrary and deadly violence that terrorized
all . . . — — Map (db m176380) HM
Organized c. 1872 by Rev. John Ford, Tom Isaiah, Julius Crockrum, Daniel Billingslea, Fannie Bryant, Charity Harris, Sarah Chambers and others, and named for presiding Bishop J. P. Thompson. This congregation first met in a house near the oil mill . . . — — Map (db m75157) HM
Members of the Barbee family donated this plot of land for the purpose of a community school around 1915. Three years later, a storm damaged the building and the school was relocated to nearby Sampson's Chapel. The Barbee family then deeded the . . . — — Map (db m154188) HM
“My people were in slavery on the Coleman
Plantation. When the war came, they had an
opportunity to fight for their freedom on that
very same spot. Then Trinity was built at the
fort, and they could get an education there.
That story . . . — — Map (db m158197) HM
From the 1850s to the 1970s, the Louisville & Nashville Depot was located between Market and Washington streets. The building has been used as a dress ship, a photographer's studio, and in 2004 was remodeled for the Limestone County Archives. . . . — — Map (db m93878) HM
Fort Henderson Built on this site in 1863 by federal forces occupying Athens. It was a five-sided earthen fort with some frame buildings and underground bomb-proofs. Abatis lined the fifteen-foot deep perimeter ditch, a small portion of which . . . — — Map (db m41787) HM
On June 22, 1933, Judge James Horton of Athens set aside the verdict and death sentence of an all-white jury that found Haywood Patterson, an African American, guilty of raping two white women. Patterson was one of nine black youths falsely accused . . . — — Map (db m154195) HM
Lucy's Branch This site is named for Lucy Bedingfield, daughter of a slave and a Cherokee Indian. She was born 1832, and her Indian name was Finch. She married Meredith Bedingfield, a slave and had 9 children. Lucy was an astute and avid . . . — — Map (db m85421) HM
“When told that the fort had been surrendered...
[the soldiers] could scarcely believe themselves,
but with tears demanded that the fight should
go on, preferring to die in the fort.” — Lt.
Robert McMillan, 110th U.S. . . . — — Map (db m158258) HM
“Trinity School founder Mary Fletcher Wells
and the American Missionary Association
forged the path for reconstruction in Limestone
County's African American population in an
approach based on the belief that education
and religion . . . — — Map (db m158194) HM
"The fort...was one of the best works of the kind I
ever saw.” — Lt. Henry March, 115th Ohio, USA
Here you can see all that remains of Fort Henderson,
the southeast bastion. Envision standing here during
construction. The . . . — — Map (db m158265) HM
"It is impossible to adequately describe what
Trinity means to me. It means everything.
Without Trinity I don't exist." — Dr. Charles
Eric Lincoln: scholar, theologian, author,
former Duke professor, and Trinity graduate
Trinity . . . — — Map (db m158185) HM
This cistern is the last remnant of Trinity School located here 1865-1907. The cistern was used to store rainwater collected from the roof. No physical evidence remains of the Ross Hotel, the Chapman Quarters, and other buildings on this block, . . . — — Map (db m72219) HM
Generations of African~American families have worshiped here, beginning with services held under a brush arbor prior to the Civil War. In August of 1879, the land for the Oakland Methodist church was deeded to parishioners. In a wooden one-room . . . — — Map (db m29094) HM
On land donated by Ed Crosby, a group of African American community leaders had a well dug in January 1955 to provide the people of Gordonville with running water. The Well, the first black-owned water system in Alabama. Initially had just four . . . — — Map (db m207412) HM
Lynching in America
Between the end of the Civil War and the close of World War II,
white mobs killed thousands of Black Americans in racial terror
lynchings, and committed widespread violence that traumatized
millions more. The Lowndes . . . — — Map (db m235867) HM
Lowndesboro, AL—Enraged whites, jealous over the business success of a Negro are believed to be the lynchers of Elmore Bolling. Bolling, 39, was found riddled with shot gun and pistol shots 150 yards from his general merchandise store. It is . . . — — Map (db m184279) HM
The Lowndesboro School is among the oldest surviving Reconstruction-era
African American schoolhouses in the United States. It was founded in 1867
by Dr. Mansfield Tyler, an educator, minister, and member of the Alabama
House of . . . — — Map (db m245992) HM
In memory of our sister Viola Liuzzo who gave her life in the struggle for the right to vote... March 25, 1965 Presented by SCLC/WOMEN Evelyn G. Lowery, National Convener - 1991 - The Southern Christian Leadership Conference Joseph E. . . . — — Map (db m85461) HM
Lynching in America
Thousands of black people were the victims of lynching and racial violence in the United States between 1877 and 1950. The lynching of African Americans during this era was a form of racial terrorism intended to . . . — — Map (db m97983) HM
Enslavement & Racial Terror
The enslavement of black people in the United States was a brutal,
dehumanizing system that lasted more than 200 years. Between 1819
and 1860, Alabama's enslaved population grew from 40,000 to 435,000.
According . . . — — Map (db m154554) HM
Threatened by the potential four-to-one advantage of the black vote, whites retaliated by ousting black families from white-owned lands. The African American families who lived here paid dearly to earn their right to vote. Crowded into canvas tents . . . — — Map (db m112400) HM
Since the federal registrars came in August of 1965, thousands and thousands of Negroes have registered to vote. White plantation owners have retaliated by mass evictions. In December 1965, over forty families either left the county, moved in . . . — — Map (db m112405) HM
Monday, March 22, 1965, on the second day of the Selma to Montgomery Voting Rights March, protesters passed this site in late afternoon. At that time the four-lane highway in front of you was only two lanes, and for safety reasons the number of . . . — — Map (db m112375) HM
At times history and fate meet at a single time in a single place to shape a turning point in man's unending search for freedom. So it was at Lexington and Concord. So it was a century ago at Appomattox. So it was last week in Selma, Alabama. . . . — — Map (db m112403) HM
While helicopters buzzed overhead, National Guard soldiers—ordered by President Lyndon Johnson to protect the marchers—lined U.S. Highway 80, alert to the potential of violence by angry whites. Marchers walked mile after tired mile, while black . . . — — Map (db m112384) HM
The roots of this house of worship date to 1868 when 26 African American members of Mount Gilead Church left to form their own congregation. The present building was constructed in 1901, with several enlargements and renovations throughout the . . . — — Map (db m104068) HM
For African Americans in the 1960s, being kicked off white-owned lands for trying to register to vote no isolated incident. Just as had happened here in Lowndes County, blacks in Tennessee, Mississippi, and Greene County, Alabama, were driven from . . . — — Map (db m112389) HM
In December 1965, a city of tents appeared on this site. The temporary shelters were homes for evicted black sharecropper families. These farmers worked and lived their lives on white-owned farms in Lowndes County. But when they dared to register to . . . — — Map (db m112371) HM
Creek Stand's earliest African-American pioneers and their descendants are buried here. Oral history indicates that many slaves were buried here generations before the original church was constructed in 1895. These ancestors came to Macon County . . . — — Map (db m227725) HM
Elizabeth Missionary Baptist Church is one of the oldest Black Missionary Baptist Churches in Macon County. The church was organized in 1860 under the leadership of Rev. M. Eley and the Tuskegee Baptist Association. Between 1860 and 1876, Elizabeth . . . — — Map (db m205266) HM
Franklin School, originally constructed on this lot, was in operation as early as the 1890s teaching grades 1-11. By the mid 1930s, it was downsized to grades 1-6. There were northern and southern classrooms adjoined by a common auditorium. The . . . — — Map (db m68028) HM
Side 1
Celebrated author Zora Neale Hurston was born in Notasulga on January 7, 1891. Her parents, John Hurston and Lucy Potts met here, at the Macedonia Baptist Church. but moved to Eatonville, Florida where Zora grew up. Through . . . — — Map (db m95110) HM
It was under this tree that participants in the U.S. Public Health Study of Untreated Syphilis in Negro Males in Macon County, Alabama, met to wait for Nurse Rivers, the Shiloh School nurse, to come and either administer treatment, update health . . . — — Map (db m95113) HM
Oldest Identified Grave Site: 1881.
Grave sites include participants of the
U.S. Public Health Study of Syphilis in
Untreated Black Males, 1930-1972.
Designated State of Alabama Historic Site: 2006 — — Map (db m151227) HM
Shiloh-Rosenwald School
The Shiloh-Rosenwald School, located in Notasulga, was a collaboration between educator Booker T. Washington and Julius Rosenwald, CEO of Sears. Rosenwald schools are landmarks in the history of African-American . . . — — Map (db m95109) HM
(obverse)
Beginning in the mid-1930s during the Great Depression, the federal New Deal promoted Land Resettlement to move farmers across the nation off worn out soil to new farmland. The Resettlement Administration, and its successor the . . . — — Map (db m68000) HM
In 1957, local government officials in Tuskegee, Alabama sought to gerrymander the city's limits in an attempt to diminish the number of black votes in upcoming elections. Alabama state senator Sam Engelhardt sponsored Act 140, which transformed . . . — — Map (db m139876) HM
Churches within the African American community played an important role during the civil rights movement. They were places beyond control of white power structure, as well as locations where people could express themselves without reprisal. They . . . — — Map (db m139884) HM
Tuskegee consists of 80 square miles and is the county seat of Macon County, Alabama. Tuskegee rests in the heart of the rural Alabama Black Belt and is 40 miles east of Montgomery. Tuskegee was founded by General Thomas S. Woodward in 1833 after he . . . — — Map (db m99679) HM
Before the mid-1960s, Tuskegee’s black population faced many challenges when attempting to register to vote. Furthermore, the State of Alabama redrew the town’s political boundaries in an effort to prevent registered blacks from voting in local . . . — — Map (db m69048) HM
Harris Barrett School
The SIC built this two-room school in 1904 and named it for Harris
Barrett, graduate and cashier of Hampton Institute and SIC book-
keeper. Local farmers took up Booker T. Washington's call for education
and committed . . . — — Map (db m245694) HM
Front
Macon County was created by the Alabama Legislature on December 18, 1832 and formed out of land formerly belonging to the Creek Indians. The County was named for Nathaniel Macon, a Revolutionary War soldier and long-serving . . . — — Map (db m99677) HM
Mount Olive Missionary Baptist Church developed out of the Tuskegee Baptist Church, originally organized in 1842. Although both whites and blacks (slaves) initially worshipped at the same location, the white congregants built a new facility in 1858, . . . — — Map (db m139880) HM
Rosa Louise McCauley Parks (1913 – 2005) was an iconic activist during the mid twentieth century civil rights movement. Born in Tuskegee, Parks later moved with her mother to Pine Level located near Montgomery, Alabama. She was encouraged by . . . — — Map (db m134670) HM
Samuel "Sammy" Leamon Younge, Jr. (1944-1966), a civil rights and voting rights activist, was the first African American university student killed during the civil rights movement. A Tuskegee native, Younge was attending Tuskegee University when . . . — — Map (db m139875) HM
The actual sight of a first-class house that a Negro has built is ten times more potent than pages of discussion about a house that he ought to build, or perhaps could build. —Booker T. Washington, Up From Slavery . . . — — Map (db m101919) HM
The Tuskegee Veterans Administration Hospital (VA), established in 1923, is significant as the first VA hospital in the nation to be administered by an all African American medical staff.
After WWI, African American veterans found it difficult . . . — — Map (db m101900) HM
In August of 1963, the United States District Court M. D. Alabama sided with the plaintiff in Lee v. Macon County Board of Education. This pivotal civil rights case involved the integration of, the all-white Tuskegee High School (located on . . . — — Map (db m139878) HM
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