Where culture met classroom—how Alabama’s past shaped its public schools.

Schools in the Landscape offers a richly detailed and deeply contextualized history of public education in Alabama during the transformative half-century following the Civil War. In this groundbreaking study, Edith M. Ziegler examines how localism, cultural tradition, and social conservatism shaped the development of Alabama’s public school system between 1865 and 1915—a period marked by Reconstruction, Redemption, and the entrenchment of racial segregation.

Ziegler explores how Alabama’s rural, economically challenged, and culturally conservative communities influenced the structure and function of public education. Drawing on a wide range of archival sources, she investigates the roles of teachers, schoolhouses, funding mechanisms, and community rituals in shaping educational experiences. The book also delves into the dual system of Black and white schools, highlighting the systemic inequalities and the resilience of African American communities in the face of institutionalized racism.
Through chapters on Progressive Era reforms, local festivals, and the symbolic role of schools in civic life, Ziegler reveals how education in Alabama was not merely a top-down initiative but a deeply local and contested process. Her analysis underscores the importance of understanding regional identity and cultural values in the broader narrative of American educational history.

Schools in the Landscape is essential reading for scholars of Southern history, education policy, and cultural studies, offering a nuanced portrait of how public schooling evolved in one of the nation’s most complex and tradition-bound regions. 

A landmark study of vernacular and professional photography, from 1839 to 1941, that frames Alabama’s history through its images.  

Shot in Alabama by Frances Osborn Robb is a visual and textual narrative of Alabama’s photographic history from 1839 to 1941. It describes the phenomenon of photography as practiced in Alabama as a major cultural force, paying close attention to the particular contexts from which each image emerges and the fragments of microhistory that each image documents.

Presented chronologically—from the very first photograph ever taken in the state to the appearance of cameras as commonplace possessions in mid-twentieth-century households—Robb draws into sharp relief the eras of daguerreotypes, Civil War photography, photographic portraiture at the end of the nineteenth century, urban and rural photography in the early twentieth century, WPA photography during the Great Depression, postcards and tourist photography, and pre–World War II illustrated books and art photographs. Robb also examines a wide spectrum of vernacular photography: Alabama-made photographs of everyday people and places, the photographs that fill dresser drawers and shoeboxes, a vast array of unusual images against which Alabama’s more typical iconography can be measured.

She also chronicles the work of hundreds of photographers—black and white, amateur and professional, women and men—some little-known outside their communities, some of them the medium’s most important practitioners. “Who Shot Alabama?” is an accompanying appendix that includes 1,400 photographers by name, working dates, and location—a resource that will help countless individuals, families, and archives identify the specific Alabama photographers whose names appear on family photographs or those in institutional collections.

Shot in Alabama is an insightful document of photography as both a communicator and creator of social, cultural, economic, and visual history. It highlights the very personal worlds rendered by individual photographs as well as the larger panorama of Alabama history as seen through the photographs collectively. A landmark work of research, curation, and scholarship, it fills the void of published history on Alabama photography and is an invaluable resource for historians, archivists, librarians, collectors, hobbyists, and readers with an interest in Alabama history or historic photography. Shot in Alabama is a book that all Alabamians will want on their coffee tables.

Rediscover the spirit, stories, and landscapes of Alabama through a timeless collection of observations and historical reflections.

In Sketches of Alabama, Mary Duffee offers a richly detailed portrait of a state shaped by diverse communities, enduring traditions, and a deeply rooted cultural identity. Through a series of engaging sketches, Duffee captures the essence of Alabama’s towns, people, and everyday life, preserving moments that might otherwise be lost to time.

Blending historical insight with narrative charm, this collection explores the character of Alabama from multiple perspectives—rural and urban, past and present. Readers encounter vivid depictions of local customs, notable figures, and the evolving social fabric of the region. Duffee’s work not only chronicles the state’s development but also reflects the broader story of the American South, illuminating its complexities, resilience, and sense of place.

This collection contains typescripts of some of Mary Gordon Duffee's Iron Age columns "Sketches of Alabama," manuscripts of seven of Duffee's poems, a typed biographical sketch of Duffee, undated, and Duffee's obituary from the Birmingham Age-Herald. Ideal for students, historians, and general readers alike, Sketches of Alabama serves as both a literary work and a cultural record. Its accessible style makes it an excellent introduction to Alabama’s heritage, while its thoughtful observations reward those seeking deeper understanding of Southern history and identity.

Whether you are drawn to regional storytelling, historical narrative, or the rich traditions of the Deep South, this work offers a compelling journey into Alabama’s past—one sketch at a time.

The only comprehensive statewide study of the institution of slavery in Alabama

Since its initial publication in 1950, Slavery in Alabama remains the only comprehensive statewide study of the institution of slavery in Alabama. Sellers concentrates on examining the social and economic aspects of how slavery operated in the state. After a brief discussion of slavery under imperial rulers of the colonial and territorial periods, Sellers focuses on the transplantation of the slavery system from the Atlantic seaboard states to Alabama.

Sellers used the primary sources available to him, including government documents, county and city records, personal papers, church records, and newspapers. His discussions of the church and the slave, and his treatment of the proslavery defense, deepen the comprehensiveness of his study. His two sections of photographs are special touches showing former slaves and churches with slave galleries.

"A masterpiece that deserves to be ranked with such seminal and influential works as Cash’s Mind of the South." —Edwin T. Layton Jr., author of The Revolt of the Engineers: Social Responsibility and the American Profession

This pathbreaking book tells the dramatic story of a unique manufacturing complex and the city that it helped to create. The events recounted and  interpreted by W. David Lewis are of more than local or regional significance. The rise of Sloss furnaces and Birmingham epitomized the emergence of the United States as the world's foremost economic power.  Similarly, the closing of a once-profitable ironmaking installation amid social and technological changes that convulsed Birmingham nine decades after the city's founding typified challenges that were facing America at the dawn of the postindustrial age.

Above all,  Sloss Furnaces resonates with the class of competition and the frenetic energy with which southerners joined other Americans in a rush to transform a continent after a fratricidal drive for independence had failed. The sweeping narrative that Lewis has produced amply justifies its subtitle, An Industrial Epic.

Examines a  small part of slavery’s North American domain, the lower Chattahoochee River Valley between Alabama and Georgia

In the New World, the buying and selling of slaves and of the commodities that they produced generated immense wealth, which reshaped existing societies and helped build new ones. From small beginnings, slavery in North America expanded until it furnished the foundation for two extraordinarily rich and powerful slave societies, the United States of America and then the Confederate States of America. The expansion and concentration of slavery into what became the Confederacy in 1861 was arguably the most momentous development after nationhood itself in the early history of the American republic.

This book examines a relatively small part of slavery’s North American domain, the lower Chattahoochee river Valley between Alabama and Georgia. Although geographically at the heart of Dixie, the valley was among the youngest parts of the Old South; only thirty-seven years separate the founding of Columbus, Georgia, and the collapse of the Confederacy. In those years, the area was overrun by a slave society characterized by astonishing demographic, territorial, and economic expansion. Valley counties of Georgia and Alabama became places where everything had its price, and where property rights in enslaved persons formed the basis of economic activity. Sold Down the River examines a microcosm of slavery as it was experienced in an archetypical southern locale through its effect on individual people, as much as can be determined from primary sources.

Published in cooperation with the Historic Chattahoochee Commission and the Troup County Historical Society.

Southern writer and folklorist Kelly Kazek’s collection of eerie and enigmatic Alabama ghost stories

Dark secrets lurk beneath the sleepy surface of Alabama. Ghosts and grisly creatures haunt the towns and forests. In the great Southern ghost-story tradition, famed Alabama storyteller Kelly Kazek weaves a gothic tapestry of ten stories drawn from real people and legendary creatures, cursed places, and harrowing events.

Each story or legend takes readers to a different place in Alabama. Read about the bestial Wolf Woman who terrified Mobilians in the haunted old port city. In the northern city of Huntsville, visit the Dead Children’s Playground in gloomy Maple Hill Cemetery. In Jacksonville, feel the cold grip of the Old Mill Witch, rumored to protect the workers at the rickety cotton yarn mill. Hear about the mysterious green light that drifts along the Alabama River in the Black Belt hamlet of Gee’s Bend and learn about the role the Gee’s Bend Ferry played in the Civil Rights Movement.

Unlike most ghost-story collections, Some Nightmares Are Real includes an appendix of facts, historical resources, and information about how to visit the locations. These contemporary stories embrace a beloved Southern folkloric tradition for a new generation of young readers. The tales will terrify and ensnare ghost-story lovers of all ages. So settle in, pull the covers up tight, and maybe turn on the light, because the truth is: Some Nightmares Are Real.

Unearthing the Gulf Coast’s past—one footprint at a time.

Southern Footprints celebrates more than fifty years of archaeological research along the Gulf Coast by the University of South Alabama and the Center for Archaeological Studies. Archaeologists Gregory A. Waselkov and Philip J. Carr, the former and current directors of the center, present the “greatest hits” that have transformed knowledge of human history on the Alabama and Mississippi Gulf Coast from the Ice Age until recently. Each archaeological site, from surface collections to premiere archaeological preserves, such as Old Mobile and Holy Ground, offers clues to the past.

The chapters in this collection are arranged chronologically and survey the history and archaeology of a wide range of significant sites, including the Gulf Shores canoe canal, Bottle Creek Mounds, Old Mobile, Fort Mims, Spanish Fort, Spring Hill College, and Mobile River Bridge.

Waselkov and Carr take care to acknowledge in these stories populations who have been historically underdocumented, now recognizing the contributions of Native Americans and African Americans that have been uncovered through archaeology. The authors reveal the dire impacts of climate change, environmental disasters, development, and neglect—and convey their urgency to protect these areas of shared history—as a result of the meticulous excavation, analysis, and preservation of artifacts from these sites. Color photographs showcase the archaeology as it unfolds, often with the help of dedicated volunteers. Southern Footprints will serve as an indispensable reference on the rich Gulf Coast heritage for all to appreciate.

WINNER, REED AWARD FOR ENVIRONMENTAL WRITING GIVEN BY THE SOUTHERN ENVIRONMENTAL LAW CENTER

Southern Wonder explores Alabama’s amazing biological diversity, the reasons for the large number of species in the state, and the importance of their preservation.

Alabama ranks fifth in the nation in number of species of plants and animals found in the state, surpassed only by the much larger western states of California,Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico. When all the species of birds, trees, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, fishes, wildflowers, dragonflies, tiger beetles, and ants are tallied, Alabama harbors more species than 90 percent of the other states in the United States. Alabamais particularly rich in aquatic biodiversity, leading the nation in species of freshwater fishes, turtles, mussels, crayfish, snails, damselflies, and carnivorous plants. The state also hosts an exceptional number of endemic species—those not found beyond its borders—ranking seventh in the nation with 144 species. The state’s 4,533 species, with more being inventoried and discovered each year, are supported by no less than 64 distinct ecological systems—each a unique blend of soil, water, sunlight, heat, and natural disturbance regimes. Habitats include dry forests, moist forests, swamp forests, sunny prairies, grassy barrens, scorching glades, rolling dunes, and bogs filled with pitcher plants and sundews. The state also includes a region of subterranean ecosystems that are more elaborate and species rich than any other place on the continent.

Although Alabama is teeming with life, the state’s prominence as a refuge for plants and animals is poorly appreciated. Even among Alabama’s citizens, few outside a small circle of biologists, advocates, and other naturalists understand the special quality of the state’s natural heritage. R. Scot Duncan rectifies this situation in Southern Wonder by providing a well-written, comprehensive overview that the general public, policy makers, and teachers can understand and use. Readers are taken on an exploratory journey of the state’s varied landscapes—from the Tennessee River Valley to the coastal dunes—and are introduced to remarkable species, such as the cave salamander and the beach mouse. By interweaving the disciplines of ecology, evolution, meteorology, and geology into an accessible whole, Duncan explains clearly why Alabama is so biotically rich and champions efforts for its careful preservation.

Published in Cooperation with The Nature Conservancy

"Patrick did not intend to become a civil rights pioneer, but a minor dispute over a parking spot led to his arrest, beating while in custody, and eventual legal tribulations. His daughter's account of his ordeal is well researched, beautifully narrated, and extremely informative." —Journal of Southern History

On December 11, 1954, Charles Patrick drove to downtown Birmingham to buy a Boy Scout uniform for his son. Christmas traffic around the downtown department stores was heavy, and Patrick circled unsuccessfully until at last a streetside spot opened up and he began to pull in. As he did so, he was cut off by a woman who ordered him out of the way, as she was the wife of a city police officer. Patrick pulled away, remarking, "Ma’am, he doesn’t own the streets of Birmingham."

Normal low-level urban hassle? Not in 1954 Birmingham, when the woman was white and Patrick black. The woman reported to her husband that a black man had sassed her, and Patrick was summarily arrested, charged with disorderly conduct, and placed in a cell where he was beaten by the husband and another police officer.

Usually that would have been the end of it, but Patrick was not the sort of man to meekly endure an injustice. He found an attorney, went to court to fight the charges, and brought his assailants to justice--as whites, blacks, politicians and the press offered public support.

This book tells the story of Patrick’s quest for justice in segregated Alabama on the eve of the civil rights movement and represents a telling instance of the growing determination of African Americans to be treated fairly, part of the broadening and deepening stream of resolve that led to the widespread activism of the civil rights movement.

A timeless journey into the heart and folklore of Alabama.

Stars Fell on Alabama is a landmark work of Southern literature that transports readers to Alabama during the early 20th century. Written by Carl Carmer, this evocative narrative blends memoir, travel writing, and folklore to paint a rich portrait of a region steeped in tradition and complexity. Carmer captures the rhythms of rural life, the haunting beauty of the landscape, and the voices of its people—farmers, musicians, storytellers—whose tales reveal the cultural fabric of the Deep South. From ghost stories and folk songs to accounts of social customs and racial tensions, this book offers an unflinching yet affectionate look at Alabama’s heritage. Both a historical document and a literary masterpiece, Stars Fell on Alabama remains essential reading for anyone interested in Southern history, American folklore, and the enduring power of storytelling.

A revealing legal journey through Alabama’s civil rights battles, exposing systemic discrimination and the enduring fight for justice via landmark Supreme Court cases

State of Segregation: America’s Freedom Rights Struggles, as Told by Alabama by Mark J. Tenhundfeld offers a compelling exploration of Alabama’s civil rights and civil liberties history through the lens of thirty-two pivotal US Supreme Court cases. Each case, rooted in Alabama’s social and legal conflicts, reveals the persistent struggle to fulfill the Constitution’s promises of equal protection and due process. From early twentieth-century challenges to the Alabama Constitution of 1901 to contemporary battles over gerrymandering, Tenhundfeld traces how discrimination was embedded in the state’s institutions—and how it was contested.

State of Segregation uniquely blends legal analysis, historical narrative, and social commentary to expose the deep-rooted systems of racial, gender, and class-based discrimination in Alabama. Tenhundfeld argues that while discrimination is the most defining feature of Alabama’s past, it remains the most difficult to confront. By illuminating the legal strategies used to uphold and dismantle injustice, State of Segregation contributes to the broader understanding of how historical inequities continue to shape modern society.

Accessible to general readers and scholars alike, this work stands apart by combining Alabama history, civil rights struggles, and Supreme Court jurisprudence into a single, powerful narrative. It offers both cautionary tales about the fragility of freedom and enduring lessons for today’s social justice advocates.

Pulitzer Prize for the Novel in 1933

The Pulitzer prize-winning The Store is the second novel of Stribling’s monumental trilogy set in the author’s native Tennessee Valley region of north Alabama. The action begins in 1884, the year in which Grover Cleveland became the first Democratic president since the end of the Civil War; and it centers about the emergence of a figure of wealth in the city of Florence.

In The Store, Stribling succeeds in presenting the essence of an age through the everyday lives of his characters. In the New Yorker, reviewer Robert M. Coates compared Stribling with Mark Twain in his ability to convey the “very life and movement” of a small Southern town: “Groups move chatting under the trees or stand loitering in the courthouse square, townsfolk gather at political ‘speakings’ and drift homeward separately afterward; always, in their doings, one has the sense of a whole community surrounding them, binding them together.” Gerald Bullet wrote in The New Statesman and Nation that the novel “is a first-rate book…filled with diverse and vital characters; and much of it cannot be read without that primitive excitement, that eagerness to know what comes next, which is, after all, the triumph of the good story teller.”

Alabama’s history and culture revealed through fourteen iconic foods, dishes, and beverages.

The Story of Alabama in Fourteen Foods explores well-known Alabama  food traditions to reveal salient histories of the state in a new way. In this book that is part history, part travelogue, and part cookbook, Emily Blejwas pays homage to fourteen emblematic foods, dishes, and beverages, one per chapter, as a lens for exploring the diverse cultures and traditions of the state.

Throughout Alabama’s history, food traditions have been fundamental  to its customs, cultures, regions, social and political movements, and events. Each featured food is deeply rooted in Alabama identity and has a story with both local and national resonance. Blejwas focuses on lesser-known food stories from around the state, illuminating the lives of a diverse populace: Poarch Creeks, Creoles of color, wild turkey hunters, civil rights activists, Alabama club women, frontier squatters, Mardi Gras revelers, sharecroppers, and Vietnamese American shrimpers, among others. A number of Alabama figures noted for their special contributions to the state’s foodways, such  as George Washington Carver and Georgia Gilmore, are profiled as well. Alabama’s rich food history also unfolds through accounts of community events and a food-based economy. Highlights include Sumter County barbecue clubs, Mobile’s banana docks, Appalachian Decoration Days, cane syrup making, peanut boils, and eggnog parties.

Drawing on historical research and interviews with home cooks, chefs, and community members cooking at local gatherings and for holidays, Blejwas details the myths, legends, and truths underlying Alabama’s beloved foodways. With nearly fifty color illustrations and fifteen recipes, The Story of Alabama in Fourteen Foods will allow all Alabamians to more fully understand their shared cultural heritage.