Alabama Books

This book does for the subject of southern reform what J. Mills Thornton's Politics and Power in a Slave Society did for southern politics. We simply have to reevaluate out traditional approach to antebellum southern culture after this book. Absolutely not for general readers, who do not like such detail and a 57.50 (!) price tag, but essential for South historians.

Historians of antebellum reform have tended to divide their subject along sectional lines, with northern reform being considered normative. Antebellum reform in the North has been difficult enough to understand, so it should be no surprise that few scholars have dared to reconcile the reform impulse in the North and South. Even admitting that the reform impulse existed in the South has been a somewhat recent development in the historiography (for examples, see Anne Loveland's Southern Evangelicals and the Social Order, Stanley Harrold's Abolitionists and the South, and Janet Cornelius Duitsman's Slave Missions and the Black Church in the Antebellum South). Quist, however, tackles the problem head-on by comparing reform in two counties, one in Alabama and one in Michigan. That he finds significant differences should surprise no one. That he also finds striking similarities, however, may require us to do some rethinking about reform in the antebellum South. Just as in the North, he sees reform in the South as "compatible with the demands of market behavior." His study is truly pathbreaking in that it opens up new territory and problems to explore. Because of Quist, any comprehensive account of antebellum reform will need to incorporate the Southern reform experience. I highly recommend this work to students of antebellum reform.

From the Back of the Bus to the Front of a Movement explains why Rosa Parks is considered the mother of the civil rights movement. The book gives an excellent review for a young audience of the history of race relations in the South. It details the events of the day Parks refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Ala., bus to a white man and the cascade of changes that resulted. Parks's many other contributions to the civil rights movement are also brought to light. The portrait of life in rural Pine Level, Ala., where Parks spent her early years will be an eye-opener for young people who are more familiar with urban and suburban settings. This is an informative, revealing account of an important era that makes valuable reading for young and not-so-young audiences alike.

From the Back of the Bus to the Front of a Movement explains why Rosa Parks is considered the mother of the civil rights movement. The book gives an excellent review for a young audience of the history of race relations in the South. It details the events of the day Parks refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Ala., bus to a white man and the cascade of changes that resulted. Parks's many other contributions to the civil rights movement are also brought to light. The portrait of life in rural Pine Level, Ala., where Parks spent her early years will be an eye-opener for young people who are more familiar with urban and suburban settings. This is an informative, revealing account of an important era that makes valuable reading for young and not-so-young audiences alike.

This was required reading for a graduate course in American history.

E. Culpepper Clark's The Schoolhouse Door is a narrative account of how The University of Alabama was integrated. In this detailed book Clark tells the story of the University's integration in two distinct parts. Part one tells the story of Autherine Lucy's acceptance to the University and of her swift expulsion. Clark examines how the board of trustees was successful in keeping Lucy out of the university. Part two focuses on George Wallace's stand at Foster Auditorium in June 1963. Clark documents the forces behind-the-scenes that orchestrated this infamous event. One of the author's purposes in writing this book is to debunk the idea that the University of Alabama was helpful in its own integration. Clark argues that the university desegregated its students only after immense outside pressure forced the institution to stop segregation. In the book the reader will find information on the major and minor figures who contributed to the end of segregation at the University of Alabama. The Schoolhouse Door offers the reader sound descriptions of the events and of the people who were a part of, " ... how Tuscaloosa became the Appomattox of segregation" (xix).

E. Culpepper Clark is highly qualified to write on this particular topic. Clark is currently the Dean of Communication and Information Sciences at the University of Alabama. He has worked for the university in a number of different positions since 1971 and was the Executive Assistant to the President from 1990-1996.1 Wallace's stand at the schoolhouse door is an incredibly important piece of The University of Alabama's history. Furthermore, the integration of the university stands as a lasting symbol of federal vs. state authority. Clark sets the tone of this book in the introduction, " ... Alabama was a microcosm of the larger South, as ardently committed to white supremacy as Mississippi, but more vulnerable to change by virtue of its social and economic composition" (xii). Clark argues that the struggle for integration in Tuscaloosa was a relatively peaceful and a symbolic victory over Southern segregation.

The first part of The Schoolhouse Door examines how Oliver Cromwell Carmichael, the university's president, was caught in the middle of the battle for integration. Carmichael was essentially a non-factor in the university's road to integrate because he did what the board of trustees told him to do. The members of the board of trustees legally delayed integration as long as possible to avoid integration. In 1952 Pollie Myers and Autherine Lucy applied to the University of Alabama, but did not indicate that they were black. They were accepted and they even paid the five dollar deposit on their dormitories. Once the Office of Admissions found their mistake it was immediately taken to the president (at the time, President Gallalee) with hope that the situation could be averted. However, the girls were backed by the NAACP and would wait until the courts told them they could attend. This was the first step that led to integration at the University of Alabama.

The complex nature of the university's integration is illuminated by Clark's telling of the story. On February 1SI 1956 Autherine Lucy was allowed to register, but Myers was denied because she became pregnant while unmarried. Lucy's acceptance to the university was, " ... three and a half years of costly and life-absorbing legal wrangling" (57). The board of trustees did not allow Lucy to have a room on campus, a decision which was contested by the NAACP. Lucy attended two days of classes in relative peace; however on the third day of classes a mob of students tormented Lucy and threatened her life. Lucy was expelled by the board of trustees because of the pressure placed on them by the mob. One student demonstrator said, "Well, we won. It took her four years and the Supreme Court to get her in, and it took us only four days to get rid of her" (80). Lucy was charged with conspiracy and was eventually expelled permanently. The NAACP lawyers could not win the battle in the courtroom for various reasons. It was not until 1989 that Lucy's expulsion was reversed and she was allowed to attend classes. The mob at The University of Alabama had won the first battle.

Clark's book is valuable because he places important emphasis on the behind-the scenes aspects of the situation. Most notably, Clark skillfully presents the tension between the board of trustees, the president, faculty, students, and politicians. The Schoolhouse Door successfully characterizes many people who were involved with the
university's integration. One particularly outstanding portrayal is that of James Jefferson Bennett, who was President Carmichael's top assistant. Bennett was involved in many situations in the book and actually drove the car that delivered Lucy from the mob. Clark portrays Bennett as skillful mediator who was instrumental at keeping the peace at Tuscaloosa. Bennett made the university run smoothly from the transition of the presidency from Oliver Charmichael to Frank Rose. Clark portrays Bennett as the voice of reason during many years prior to the desegregation at Tuscaloosa. The Schoolhouse Door is a work of considerable importance because Clark outlines the roles that "minor" people had in the integration of The University of Alabama.

The Schoolhouse Door is rather brief in the discussion of George Wallace's infamous stand at Foster Auditorium. Rather, the author looks at the forces that were behind the university's peaceful integration. During the course of this book Clark does an excellent job at building suspense in his description of the events leading up to the stand at the schoolhouse door. The amount of tension and uncertainty were paramount at _Tuscaloosa prior to Wallace's stand. General Graham, under the order of Robert Kennedy, was assigned the duty of removing Wallace from the steps. Thankfully, Wallace's camp informed the general that Wallace would go peacefully if given time to make a speech. Wallace briefly spoke about how the action by the federal government was, "a bitter pill for the members of the Alabama National Guard to swallow" (230). Wallace stepped aside and Jimmy Hood and Vivian Malone walked through the schoolhouse door and were met with, "a spattering of applause" (231). Although the battle against segregation lasted from 1956 to 1963 the University of Alabama was finally an institution that accepted students of any color.

One of the key themes of The Schoolhouse Door is the lack of violence that accompanied the university's integration. "For all its drama no one dies in this story" (ix). Violence had been avoided at The University of Alabama and there was no clear-cut winner of the battle. George Wallace was not successful in his stand, but gained popularity from the incident. Despite the fact that The University of Alabama was an integrated institution the feeling of white supremacy in the South was not lost. Clark says, "As a reenactment of Appomattox, the schoolhouse door fulfilled expectations federal, force-induced surrender followed by a settled conviction that the real cause, white supremacy, was not, indeed, could not, be lost" (239).

Recommended reading for anyone interested in American history, civil rights history.

This was required reading for a graduate course in American history.

E. Culpepper Clark's The Schoolhouse Door is a narrative account of how The University of Alabama was integrated. In this detailed book Clark tells the story of the University's integration in two distinct parts. Part one tells the story of Autherine Lucy's acceptance to the University and of her swift expulsion. Clark examines how the board of trustees was successful in keeping Lucy out of the university. Part two focuses on George Wallace's stand at Foster Auditorium in June 1963. Clark documents the forces behind-the-scenes that orchestrated this infamous event. One of the author's purposes in writing this book is to debunk the idea that the University of Alabama was helpful in its own integration. Clark argues that the university desegregated its students only after immense outside pressure forced the institution to stop segregation. In the book the reader will find information on the major and minor figures who contributed to the end of segregation at the University of Alabama. The Schoolhouse Door offers the reader sound descriptions of the events and of the people who were a part of, " ... how Tuscaloosa became the Appomattox of segregation" (xix).

E. Culpepper Clark is highly qualified to write on this particular topic. Clark is currently the Dean of Communication and Information Sciences at the University of Alabama. He has worked for the university in a number of different positions since 1971 and was the Executive Assistant to the President from 1990-1996.1 Wallace's stand at the schoolhouse door is an incredibly important piece of The University of Alabama's history. Furthermore, the integration of the university stands as a lasting symbol of federal vs. state authority. Clark sets the tone of this book in the introduction, " ... Alabama was a microcosm of the larger South, as ardently committed to white supremacy as Mississippi, but more vulnerable to change by virtue of its social and economic composition" (xii). Clark argues that the struggle for integration in Tuscaloosa was a relatively peaceful and a symbolic victory over Southern segregation.

The first part of The Schoolhouse Door examines how Oliver Cromwell Carmichael, the university's president, was caught in the middle of the battle for integration. Carmichael was essentially a non-factor in the university's road to integrate because he did what the board of trustees told him to do. The members of the board of trustees legally delayed integration as long as possible to avoid integration. In 1952 Pollie Myers and Autherine Lucy applied to the University of Alabama, but did not indicate that they were black. They were accepted and they even paid the five dollar deposit on their dormitories. Once the Office of Admissions found their mistake it was immediately taken to the president (at the time, President Gallalee) with hope that the situation could be averted. However, the girls were backed by the NAACP and would wait until the courts told them they could attend. This was the first step that led to integration at the University of Alabama.

The complex nature of the university's integration is illuminated by Clark's telling of the story. On February 1SI 1956 Autherine Lucy was allowed to register, but Myers was denied because she became pregnant while unmarried. Lucy's acceptance to the university was, " ... three and a half years of costly and life-absorbing legal wrangling" (57). The board of trustees did not allow Lucy to have a room on campus, a decision which was contested by the NAACP. Lucy attended two days of classes in relative peace; however on the third day of classes a mob of students tormented Lucy and threatened her life. Lucy was expelled by the board of trustees because of the pressure placed on them by the mob. One student demonstrator said, "Well, we won. It took her four years and the Supreme Court to get her in, and it took us only four days to get rid of her" (80). Lucy was charged with conspiracy and was eventually expelled permanently. The NAACP lawyers could not win the battle in the courtroom for various reasons. It was not until 1989 that Lucy's expulsion was reversed and she was allowed to attend classes. The mob at The University of Alabama had won the first battle.

Clark's book is valuable because he places important emphasis on the behind-the scenes aspects of the situation. Most notably, Clark skillfully presents the tension between the board of trustees, the president, faculty, students, and politicians. The Schoolhouse Door successfully characterizes many people who were involved with the
university's integration. One particularly outstanding portrayal is that of James Jefferson Bennett, who was President Carmichael's top assistant. Bennett was involved in many situations in the book and actually drove the car that delivered Lucy from the mob. Clark portrays Bennett as skillful mediator who was instrumental at keeping the peace at Tuscaloosa. Bennett made the university run smoothly from the transition of the presidency from Oliver Charmichael to Frank Rose. Clark portrays Bennett as the voice of reason during many years prior to the desegregation at Tuscaloosa. The Schoolhouse Door is a work of considerable importance because Clark outlines the roles that "minor" people had in the integration of The University of Alabama.

The Schoolhouse Door is rather brief in the discussion of George Wallace's infamous stand at Foster Auditorium. Rather, the author looks at the forces that were behind the university's peaceful integration. During the course of this book Clark does an excellent job at building suspense in his description of the events leading up to the stand at the schoolhouse door. The amount of tension and uncertainty were paramount at _Tuscaloosa prior to Wallace's stand. General Graham, under the order of Robert Kennedy, was assigned the duty of removing Wallace from the steps. Thankfully, Wallace's camp informed the general that Wallace would go peacefully if given time to make a speech. Wallace briefly spoke about how the action by the federal government was, "a bitter pill for the members of the Alabama National Guard to swallow" (230). Wallace stepped aside and Jimmy Hood and Vivian Malone walked through the schoolhouse door and were met with, "a spattering of applause" (231). Although the battle against segregation lasted from 1956 to 1963 the University of Alabama was finally an institution that accepted students of any color.

One of the key themes of The Schoolhouse Door is the lack of violence that accompanied the university's integration. "For all its drama no one dies in this story" (ix). Violence had been avoided at The University of Alabama and there was no clear-cut winner of the battle. George Wallace was not successful in his stand, but gained popularity from the incident. Despite the fact that The University of Alabama was an integrated institution the feeling of white supremacy in the South was not lost. Clark says, "As a reenactment of Appomattox, the schoolhouse door fulfilled expectations federal, force-induced surrender followed by a settled conviction that the real cause, white supremacy, was not, indeed, could not, be lost" (239).

Recommended reading for anyone interested in American history, civil rights history.

The author, United States Air Force Colonel Wally G. Vaughn, is an outstanding researcher, scholar, historian and writer. Colonel Vaughn has pieced together the missing links in important Civil Rights quests of the early 1950's and 1960's. His first hand accounts of the Selma campaign, has produced critical testimony to the struggle for equal rights worldwide. Colonel Vaughn and his co-author have put together a genius work!

An excellent and necessary documentation of a neglected segment of history.

If Langston Huges is the poet laureate of Jazz, then Albert Murray is its scribe. Murray's indelible style continues in this wonderful trip down South. Murray grew up in Mobile, Alabama, after high school he went to Tuskegee Institute then on to the military where he was the first black to become an officer in US Air Force history. After retiring from the Air Force Murray settled in New York City where he lives today. A number of years ago Murray's publisher suggested that he go home and write about the differences in Mobile before WWII and Mobile now. Murray takes the reader along with him on his trip through his own personal history with remarkable rhythm. There are any number of notable sequences including the first paragraph which destined to join the ranks of "Call me Ishmael" and "It was the best of times it was the worst of times..." Another striking point in the novel is when Murray checks into a celebrated hotel in his hometown and his bags are carried by a young white boy who calls him sir and mister. It is contrast against Murray's memories of this same hotel that he was not allowed to enter when he was a boy because he was black. The book also includes plenty of the rhythmic writing that has made Murray one of America's most cherished authors.

If Langston Huges is the poet laureate of Jazz, then Albert Murray is its scribe. Murray's indelible style continues in this wonderful trip down South. Murray grew up in Mobile, Alabama, after high school he went to Tuskegee Institute then on to the military where he was the first black to become an officer in US Air Force history. After retiring from the Air Force Murray settled in New York City where he lives today. A number of years ago Murray's publisher suggested that he go home and write about the differences in Mobile before WWII and Mobile now. Murray takes the reader along with him on his trip through his own personal history with remarkable rhythm. There are any number of notable sequences including the first paragraph which is destined to join the ranks of "Call me Ishmael" and "It was the best of times it was the worst of times..." Another striking point in the novel is when Murray checks into a celebrated hotel in his hometown and his bags are carried by a young white boy who calls him sir and mister. It is contrast against Murray's memories of this same hotel that he was not allowed to enter when he was a boy because he was black. The book also includes plenty of the rhythmic writing that has made Murray one of America's most cherished authors.

Unlike the first reviewer for [...], I have not had access to any of Dr. Hester's previous books. However, I have purchased and enjoyed utilizing the book she published in 1998, Sumter County Alabama Wills: 1828-1872, Mortality Schedules: 1850-1880. By utilizing this attractively published and well organized presentation of Dr. Hester's research and transcriptions, I have been able to make connections among family members that would have been impossible without going to the Livingston, Alabama courthouse myself and going through the county records there as carefully as Dr. Hester has. Prior to purchasing this book, I had transcribed one Sumter County will from 1850 myself. Working with this original manuscript, it took me several days to transcribe about 8 pages to my satisfaction and I still have questions about my readings of several words in that brief text. It is, therefore, difficult to imagine the hours, probably the years, that Dr. Hester must have invested in her transcriptions of abstracts of so many wills, as well as several Sumter County mortality schedules. Although I might be able to refine some of Dr. Hester's readings from these wills since I know my own family members and some family relationships that she could not possibly know about every name she transcribed, I fully understand the difficulty Dr. Hester must have faced in reading so many manuscipts in several different hands. The sheer quantity of her work and the fine quality of its presentation more than make up for a possible misreading here and there, or perhaps, not her misreading at all, but an original mistake by someone who prepared the will for probate in the first place. The book includes 429 pages of wills and mortality schedules, all labeled with the appropriate page numbers from the original documents and concludes with a 50-page plus comprehensive index that includes the names of testators, all the witnesses, heirs, slaves, and probate officials mentioned. The mortality schedules include not only the names, dates and illnesses of those who died , but also the names of the attending physicians when known. Any genealogist who knows of a relative who lived or died in Sumter County during the years, 1828-1880, should have this book. One may even find relatives mentioned in these documents that one didn't even know existed. I did. Those of us in the community of persons interested in genealogy owe Dr. Hester a great debt of gratitude and, fortunately, we can easily express it. Buy her book!

Gwendolyn Lynette Hester: If this Book is as Great as the first. (Sumter County Freedman and Colored Marriages, 1865-1890) Ms. Hester has a winner. Helpful to all researchers. Very informative.

I first read about Judith Paterson in the University of Maryland Magazine. An article described a new television program called "The Writer's Tale" with Judith Paterson as creator and host. I wrote to Judith about my book, "How to Find a Fella in the Want Ads," and she invited me to discuss the writing process on her show. As soon as we finished taping, she said she had to go to the metro to meet the next author she was interviewing. As she left she gave me a copy of "Sweet Mystery." I'd never heard of the book. That night at bedtime I opened her book and began to read.

Every night for the next week I read "Sweet Mystery." When I reached the next to last chapter, I went back to the beginning and began reading it again. I can't ever recall when I've been so reluctant to let a book go. It is enchanting, a brilliantly written story of love and so of-the-moment that I felt like I was there with her as she revisited her childhood.

As a writer, I am in awe of Judith's skill at weaving the culture of the south into her personal story. It is seamless! As a historian, it is exciting to experience the south's history from an insider's perspective.

The book is a series of gently told stories with space left for the reader's imagination. I suppose that's why I called all my friends. I am leery about foisting my taste in books on my friends because they are opinionated and choosy, but "Sweet Mystery" is the best book I've read in years.

Above and beyond its value as a superb read, I want to urge two other groups to read it: families coping with alcoholism and battered women and the children of both.

I heard the author speak at a conference in Washington, D.C. last week. Afterwards, I immediately ran to the closest book store to purchase a copy. The very large store was sold out! I finally located a copy when I returned home from the conference. I couldn't wait to begin reading it and once I began, I was entranced and couldn't put it down. I felt like she was writing my own story. Her successful life journey and her beautiful writing makes me yearn to write my own story.

This book by Judith H. Paterson should be in every library -- public and academic. It should also be required reading for every individual. It would be a wonderful book for class projects on family history in high school and college.

Sweet Mystery is about the author's personal life journey; it is about sturggle; it is about survival; it is poetically written; it is heart-rendering; and it is joyful.

Read this magnificent book immedaitely!

I really enjoyed this book. It's a great "look back" over a wonderful season. There are lots of quotes from lots of people. This book touches on all aspects of the season, not just the games.

f0 sh1zzle m1 n1zzl3 7his b00k i5 t3h p1mpn3ss i7 md m3 cr1! ri73 an07h3r 0n3 d00d!!! w00t

As the author of THEY WON'T LOVE YOU IF YOU CRY, I have been blessed by the readers. This book was published in 1989 and it is still being read and still on the shelf in libraries in the US, Canada and England. Recently a book store called me and asked if I would like to have a book that was returned to them by an elderly lady. She said that her entire housing project of 300 had read her book and the book didn't hold up. Would they please give her a new book. They did. And I have the much loved, and read to death copy. That's the best review I know. Geri Ellzey Craig

This is the true story of the life of a girl in a small Southern town and her struggles with the adversity in her life and how she overcomes that adversity. From her childhood with an alcoholic Mother and cold Step-father, her story illustrates the lengths a person will go to to survive and be liked by her friends. Hiding her depression at her situation, she puts on a brave face to be liked. Therefore, THEY WON"T LOVE YOU IF YOU CRY is a moving story as the reader readily identifies with the loneliness in Geri's early life, her overcoming depression in a mental hospital, and finally becoming a "whole person." She marries, has children, and finally, in a cathartic experience, tells her story by writing this book. Highly recommended.They Wont Love You If You Cry

"A Thousand Kisses", is a tribute to both a woman and millions like her who were the victims of the Nazis of World War II. I have read dozens of books about the inhuman events of this period in history, and they have primarily been by historians or reporters who have recorded what took place. There have also been books that have been the stories as told by a survivor, and now there is this work. Ms. Renata Polt has translated and collected the letters of her Grandmother, (Mamina), into a collection that becomes not only a diary of personal events, but also for the actions that continually stripped away virtually everything that makes a day worth rising for. Even the act of persevering day after day while everything and everyone you care for is taken from you, is eventually taken from these victims. These letters tell such a story, and they do so eloquently and with dignity.

The letters cover the years and partial years of 1939 to 1942. The correspondence begins when family are separated, and comes to a close when one side cannot correspond with itself. In addition to the letters are very helpful footnotes that not only explain the hidden meaning of some words, but the events that were taking place as they were written. This period when humanity sought its furthest depths is never easy to read about. This particular format is much more personal and involving.

The dignity that Mamina maintains from beginning, through countless disappoints, frauds, and changes they would drive many insane, is little short of remarkable. There is no question that as the persecution she suffers as the years pass, and the fate she knows awaits her closes in, her fear can be read within her words. This was clearly an educated, articulate woman, who in spite of the horror she faced, and the pain of the separation from her children and grandchildren never sought to burden them. She never wrote in a manner to frighten those who read her letters, and when she decided to emigrate, she never quit despite a system that was designed not to allow her to travel, but to methodically steal everything from her.

Her things may have been taken, and her home may have been lost. It is also true that she was separated from her family and learned of the great progress of her children and grandchildren first in Cuba then America. As their lives became progressively improved and safer, her existence was diminished. Nevertheless you are left with the feeling that when events became their darkest, this woman never succumbed, she never gave in, and she never gave the monsters the satisfaction. A remarkable woman.

The book, translated letters from a grandmother in Prague to her son in the USA, reveals the changing lives of Jews in Prague, under Hitler. From living a prosperous, upper middle-class, secure life Mamina slowly looses everything precious to her as more and more laws are enacted against Jews. I owned this book for two years before I had the courage to open it, but I feel well rewarded in reading it. I was inspired by Mamina's and her daughter's courage in dealing with every day indignities, and moved by the cheerful portrayal of their lives to Mamina's son in the USA. He figured out in 1939 that he needed to leave Czechoslovakia with his family, while Mamina was unable to make the decision to leave everything she knew and loved. Reading this book, I get a better sense of why more Jews didn't escape Hitler.