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Sojourner Truth, Mother Jones, and Emma Lazurus — pondering the nation and its Uriah or Goliath moments

On the Sunday after July 4th, a minister reflected on the nation’s “Uriah moments when out of arrogance and blindness of power, we have betrayed trust and squandered opportunity” and its “Goliath moments when out of weakness that refuses to be afraid, we have toppled giants and beheaded them.” At this dark moment in American history, these words make us feel more hopeful …

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July 23, 2012 No Comments

Bob Zellner on “Granddaddies and Same-Sex Marriage”

Bob Zellner, author of The Wrong Side of Murder Creek: A White Southerner in the Freedom Movement, sent this missive: “I grew up in LA, lower Alabama. My Great-Granddaddy Zellner thought he could not do without slavery. Granddaddy Zellner thought he could not get along without segregation. My father’s generation thought they simply could not get along without opposite sex marriage. I get along fine without slavery and I don’t have a personal need for segregation. As for marriage, I have tried it twice without success and hope I am done with it. For those who like it, I am happy for them to have at it anyway way they want it. Opposite sex, same sex, no sex, it is all the same for me …”

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June 4, 2012 No Comments

The Order Katzenbach Was Enforcing . . .

Nicholas Katzenbach, former Attorney General of the United States, died on May 8 at age 90 and was widely memorialized as an important figure in the civil rights movement of the 1960s. “The nation has lost a faithful and forceful advocate for civil and constitutional rights with the passing of Nicholas Katzenbach,” said civil rights lawyer Fred Gray, author of Bus Ride to Justice …

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May 11, 2012 No Comments

Eddie Pattillo talks Carolina Planters with South Carolina’s Walter Edgar’s Journal, more

A detailed interview and a glowing review are just the latest to spotlight Eddie Pattillo’s unique book of history, Carolina Planters on the Alabama Frontier. Here, Pattillo, an Alabama historian, reproduces his ancestors’ letters from the seventeenth through nineteenth centuries, painstakingly collected alongside Pattillo’s own copious research, to give an unprecedented glimpse of early American life. The Mobile Press-Register‘s John Sledge, in his “Southern Bound” review, calls the book “magnificent”; Walter Edgar also interviews Pattillo about the book on the Walter Edgar’s Journal show, available online …

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April 25, 2012 No Comments

On Titanic anniversary, Julie Williams examines disaster’s family legacy

On the anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, professor Julie Williams (A Rare Titanic Family) examines how the effects of the disaster have traveled through years to affect generations of her family. “One hundred years ago this weekend, the Caldwells stumbled into history as they reluctantly agreed to get off the Titanic and onto Lifeboat 13. And they have reached across time to bring so many of us with them. It’s been an interesting hundred years. Although the ship sank in 1912, it never loosened its grip on the Caldwells. Albert and Sylvia tried to rebuild their lives but found the Titanic was forever part of their identity” …

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April 15, 2012 No Comments

Henry Wall signs From Healing to Hell at Blakely Peanut Proud

Dr. Henry Wall signed his family story From Healing to Hell at the 3 Diamonds bookstore in Blakely, Georgia, during the March 24 Peanut Proud Festival. “We were happy to have Dr. Wall signing his book with us during Peanut Proud,” said Debra Anderson, owner of 3 Diamonds. “His book tells about an important event in his life and in Blakely history, and people seem to be really responding to his book” …

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April 9, 2012 No Comments