Alabama Heritage magazine cover

Spring 2023 Issue of ‘Alabama Heritage’ Highlights Mobile’s Renaissance

The Spring 2023 issue of Alabama Heritage magazine highlights the Renaissance of Mobile, Alabama, from the 1920s to the 1960s. For nearly 40 years, the city of Mobile experienced an artistic and cultural flourishing that encompassed visual art, architecture, literature and, of course, carnival.

Important figures in this Renaissance included painter Roderick Dempster MacKenzie; muralists Edmond deCelle, John Augustus Walker and Conrad Albrizio; sculptors Craig Turner Sheldon and Julian Lee Rayford; architecture advocates Marian Acker Macpherson, Chichi Glennon Lasley and Ethel Creighton; writers William March, Eugene Walter and Marie Layet Sheip.

Other feature stories in this issue include a review of Gov. Emmett O’Neal’s “Good Roads Movement,” a feature on Zora Neale Hurston’s travels to Honduras and the 2023 Places In Peril list.

After Prohibition and railroad concerns were resolved or dominated by others, O’Neal settled on advancing the “Good Roads Movement,” an effort to bring systematic construction and maintenance of roads and bridges to the state. O’Neal worked on roads throughout his career, proclaiming Good Roads Days, supporting the creation of the State Highway Commission.

University of Alabama history professor Sharony Green examines the importance of Hurston’s travels outside of the United States, especially those to Honduras. Best known for her novel “Their Eyes Were Watching God,” Hurston spent a significant part of her life researching different cultural, historical and anthropological concerns, all of which coalesced in her attempts to locate a mystery city in Honduras.

Since 1994 the Alabama Historical Commission, the Alabama Trust for Historic Preservation, and Alabama Heritage have partnered to promote Places in Peril, a public awareness program highlighting significant endangered historic properties in Alabama. This year’s landmarks include multiple structures with connections to the state’s African American history.

Readers will also enjoy the regular departments including Alabama Governors, Portraits and Landscapes, From the Archives and much more.

About Alabama Heritage

Alabama Heritage 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, Instagram and Youtube.