Alabama

Former Alabama Governors: We Regret Overseeing Executions

As evidence mounts of the number of wrongful convictions in capital murder cases, one Democrat and one Republican former governor argue that it's time to stop capital punishment and reform the prosecutorial immunity that allows unfair prosecutions to proceed. 

Feds Confirm Alabama Discriminated Against Rural Black Residents, Leading to Sewage Crisis

The state failed to connect rural Black residents in Lowndes County to subsidized septic system upgrades, leading many into debt to private contractors or to neglect updates leading to a wastewater crisis. A new agreement will upgrade the infrastructure. 

The Women of the Montgomery Bus Boycott

"It felt like Harriet Tubman's hands were pushing me down on one shoulder and Sojourner Truth's hand on me pushed me down on another one. History had me glued to the seat." – Claudette Colvin

Bemoaning Alabama's King-Lee Holiday Misses a Bigger Point

by Kevin M. Levin

While white Alabama still embraces the "lost cause" mythology embodied by Robert E. Lee, outrage about the holiday he shares with Martin Luther King, Jr. shouldn't blind the public to the ongoing struggle to change the commemorative landscape—in Montgomery and nationwide. 

Two Deep South States Still Insist on Honoring MLK Jointly with Robert E. Lee

Historians weigh in on the politics of tying the MLK holiday to the ongoing veneration of the Lost Cause mythology. 

Review: When Freedom Meant the Freedom to Oppress

by Jeff Shesol

Jefferson Cowie's new book traces the current resurgence of racist and antigovernment radicalism through the history of George Wallace's Alabama home county. 

New Documentary uses Fight for Black Power in Lowndes County, Alabama as Lens on Present

Vann Newkirk, whose work inspired "Lowndes County and the Road to Black Power" examines how a conservative white minority fought to keep power even after the passage of the Voting Rights Act

Will Alabama Voters Strip Jim Crow Language from State Constitution?

The framers of the 1901 constitution were direct about their goal to maintain a government controlled by whites.

Documentary on the Last Slave Ship to Arrive in the United States Takes on Questions of Memorializing Racist Violence

Margaret Brown's "Descendant" looks at the effort to preserve and promote Africatown, the Alabama coast community founded by people brought on the last slave ship to dock in the United States. 

Will Alabama Expunge White Supremacist Language that Remains in its Constitution?

Alabama's 1901 constitution was written expressly to enshrine white supremacy. Voters will have the chance to approve changes to its language by a ballot referendum this fall. 

Alabama "Divisive Concepts" Bill Could Impact College Grant Funding

The new bill replaces three others, but only partially addresses concerns raised by professional educators about academic freedom and curriculum. 

A Guide to Touring Alabama's Civil Rights Trail

Two AJC reporters offer a guide to those interested in marking Black History Month with a tour of Alabama's major civil rights sites, memorials and museums. 

U of Alabama to Rename Building for Desegregation Pioneer Autherine Lucy (Without Name of KKK Leader)

A massive public outcry pushed the university's trustees to name the building solely after Lucy, without the name of former governor and Klansman Bibb Graves. 

Ambushed in Eufaula: Alabama's Forgotten Racist Massacre

In 1874 a group of Black Republicans who came to the town of Eufaula to vote were ambushed by white mobs, part of the Democratic overthrow of Reconstruction and a step toward reestablishing white supremacy in the state.

Alabama's Capitol is a Crime Scene, with a 120 Year Coverup

The Alabama Capitol in Montgomery was the first seat of the Confederate government and the place where white Democrats ratified a Jim Crow constitution in 1901. You'd learn little of this by touring the museum-like building. 

Dead Man Running (Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Jim Crow Blues Again)

by Ryan Zickgraf

Mobile's current municipal elections combined the bizarre with the bureaucratic and institutional politics of racism. 

Project Seeks to Name the Foot Soldiers of Selma's Bloody Sunday

Auburn University professors Richard Burt and Keith Hebert, working with a group of honors college students, have established a Facebook page where people can look through photographs of March 7, 1965, and identify themselves or others in the black-and-white images.

Alabama Spends More than a Half Million Annually on a Confederate Memorial; Black Historical Sites Struggle

"It is the only museum in the state that has a dedicated revenue stream codified in the state’s constitution. So while other museums struggle to keep their doors open, search for grants for funding and depend on volunteer staff, the Confederate Memorial Park is flush with cash."

Alabama Begins to Remove Racist Language from State Constitution

The 1901 Alabama constitution explicitly declared its intention to preserve the power of "the Anglo-Saxon race." A committee is now preparing a version stripped of racist language which will go before the voters next year for ratification. 

Tuskegee, Alabama Confederate Memorial at Center of Lawsuit in Majority-Black City

The presence of the statue in the city, home of the historic Tuskegee University and training place of the famed World War II aviation heroes, has angered locals for decades.