Born in 1914 into a family of sharecroppers on Buckalew Mountain in Chambers County, Alabama, Joe Louis Barrow went on to become one of the world’s most celebrated boxers. Acclaimed storyteller Dot Moore looks past the gloves and reveals the storied life of a man born to a humble family, who served during World War II, and recalls the time the family faced the Ku Klux Klan. More than one hundred years after his birth, Chambers County commemorated its storied son by commissioning, installing and dedicating a statue of him on the courthouse lawn.
Author Monica Tapper brings to life the story of Bossie O’Brien Hundley. For nearly two years, Birmingham suffragist Hundley advocated for women’s right to vote, even traversing the state and holding public exchanges with congressmen. Though she successfully brought some skeptics to her cause, her efforts were ultimately unsuccessful due to entrenched ideas about the role of women and how extending the vote to white women might further enfranchise the state’s Black citizens.
Reporter and author Mark Holan’s feature on Èamon de Valera highlights de Valera’s intent to strengthen support for Irish independence by coming to the United States to lobby for his vision. While in Alabama, he found both those willing to advance his cause and those who vehemently opposed him.
Before the place called Alabama existed, events here changed the course of the American war for independence. Award-winning author Robert D. Temple elucidates how the Americans, British, Spanish, French and Native Americans all worked to pursue their own interests in this area during the war — and how their efforts helped shape its outcome.
Regular departments include Alabama Governors, From the Archives, Portraits & Landscapes, Reading the Southern Past book reviews and 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 & Noble and Books-a-Million stores throughout the state and online at www.alabamaheritage.com. Readers can also follow the magazine on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram and YouTube.