FOREWORD Wayne Flynt Alabama's African American History from Statehood to the Present
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FOREWORD Wayne Flynt Alabama's African American History from Statehood to the Present IN MY NOT-SO-HUMBLE University English professor Newman nected authors could claim dominance can American equivalent to Gone With OPINION, THE STATE OF I. White nearly half the songs he in- of 20th century African American writ- The Wind. ALABAMA HAS PRODUCED AN cluded in his classic book, American ing. Although some Americans refer to In education, Perry County’s UNPARALLELED NUMBER OF Negro Folk Songs. Florence native W. C. the “Harlem Renaissance” as if the great Lincoln Memorial School graduated the DISTINGUISHED AFRICAN Handy bequeathed America the Blues. writers of the era all came from New wives of three major leaders of the Civil AMERICANS. Someone will have to Mobile’s James Reese Europe contri- York City, the majority came from the Rights Movement—Coretta Scott King prove to me that any other state matches buted syncopated jazz in the form of South, including the remarkable Zora (Mrs. Martin Luther King); Juanita Ab- the accomplishments below, much less the Fox Trot, which he introduced to Neal Hurston, who was born in Notasul- ernathy (Mrs. Ralph David Abernathy) exceeds them. Measure culture anyway America, then carried to France and ga, Alabama, and is often referred to as and Jean Childs Young (Mrs. Andrew you please—popular or elite; folkish England as conductor of the 15th Col- the movement’s co-founder (along with Young). The Childs family became one or institutional; art; music; literature; ored Army Band during the First World her friend, Langston Hughes). Hurston’s of the nation’s most elite and successful education; leaders of the modern Civ- War. The dance dominated Jazz Age cul- novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, is African American families in the 20th il Rights Movement; sport—and Ala- ture on two continents during the Roar- also considered by many scholars and century, sending their children to Ivy bama’s heritage sustains my argument. ing Twenties. The Erskine Hawkins band readers to be the nation’s finest early League universities and thence on to Let’s begin with art. Appropri- of Birmingham and Alabama State Uni- feminist fiction. Ralph Ellison travelled distinguished careers in law, medicine, ately enough in the year of Alabama’s bi- versity provided swing dancers the icon- to New York after completing his college and higher education. centennial, the Smithsonian Museum in ic “Tuxedo Junction” a generation later. work at Tuskegee University where he Tuskegee Institute not only repre- the Nation’s capital launched a one-man And the band’s piano player, Avery Par- used characters and experiences there as sented the zenith of applied, practical exhibition of the folk art of Bill Traylor, a ish, wrote “After Hours,” often referred the basis for Invisible Man, which many Negro education for decades, but also man born in slavery in 1853, who, by his to in the 1940s and 1950s as the “Negro scholars consider the greatest novel ever furnished two of its most influential and death 96 years later, was one of America’s National Anthem.” Montgomery’s Nat written about the Negro experience in respected leaders, President Booker T. most renowned and prolific self-taught “King” Cole and Tuskegee’s Lionel Richie America. Ellison’s classmate at Tuske- Washington, and agronomist George artists (though he had to share honors were among the most popular “cross- gee, Albert Murray of Mobile, followed Washington Carver. with a host of others, including Thorn- over” (their popularity among black au- his friend to New York City where he be- ton Dial, Mose T., Jimmie Lee Sudduth, diences was matched by their celebrity came the unparalleled literary interpret- Charlie Lucas, and Lonnie West). among whites) vocalists for two succes- er of Jazz. Birmingham-born Margaret African American musicians from sive generations of Americans. Alexander Walker wrote the novel Jubi- the “Heart of Dixie” provided Auburn In literature, Alabama-con- lee, which is often referred to as the Afri- Celebrating 200 Years of Alabama African American History & Culture viii11 FOREWORD By producing seven of the most est Alabama athletes of the 20th centu- all Negroes, among its list of millen- mused that her home state had pro- important leaders of the mod- ry, baseball players Willie Mays ranked nium record breakers; Joe Louis, Jesse duced a “great people.” She did not ern Civil Rights Movement—edu- third, Henry “Hank” Aaron fourth, and Owens, and Hank Aaron. Vincent “Bo” mean her own family or even the entire cator Jo Ann Robinson, seamstress Rosa Leroy “Satchel” Paige 10th. Nation- Jackson of Birmingham—who won the population of the state, many of whom Parks, Baptist ministers Martin Luther ally, Sporting News selected Mays the Heisman Trophy, emblematic of the had lynched her people and done every- King, Jr., Ralph David Abernathy and second best baseball player of the cen- nation’s best football player, the Walter thing within their power to establish and Fred Shuttlesworth, attorneys Fred Gray tury and Aaron the home run cham- Camp Award, and Sporting News Player preserve the American apartheid. She and Arthur Shores and labor unionist E. pion. Of the top 11 home run hitters, of the Year, all in 1985—is considered by meant her race, its distinctive way of life, D. Nixon—Alabama could lay claim to Aaron and Mays ranked first and third, many sports historians to be the greatest historical tragedies, and long persecu- being the incubator of the nation’s most Willie McCovey of Mobile, 11th. Aaron college player ever. He also became one tion. She meant the way in which hard important social and political revolution and Mays tied for most appearances in of a handful of athletes to star in two times had produced endurance, pa- since its rebellion against Great Britain. All Star games. Paige, a casualty of early professional sports. As a running back tience, courage, faith in God, and hope Among other accomplishments they 20th century apartheid, played mainly for the Oakland Raiders, he played in the for the future. “A great people” was her founded the Southern Christian Leader- in the Negro League where he pitched 1990 Pro Bowl. As a baseball star for the shorthand for proud African Americans ship Conference, Montgomery’s Wom- an astounding 2,500 games, won 2,000, Kansas City Royals, he played in the 1989 from Alabama. en’s Political Council, the Montgomery threw 250 shutouts, and 100 no-hitters All Star game. He also starred as a sprint- Improvement Association/Bus Boycott, during perhaps the longest career in er, hurdler, jumper, thrower, and decath- DR. WAYNE FLYNT, Professor Emeritus in the and Birmingham’s Alabama Christian professional baseball history. Renowned lete for Auburn University’s track and Department of History at Auburn University, Movement for Human Rights. Arguably major leaguer Joe DiMaggio called Paige field teams. Many considered him not is the author of 11 books, and one of the most recognized and honored scholars of Southern the state was ground zero for the three the best pitcher he ever faced. only the greatest college football player history, politics and religion. His memoir major encounters during the nation’s When the sports network ESPN se- ever but also the most gifted multi-sport Keeping the Faith: Ordinary People, Extraordinary longest struggle for equal rights in Sel- lected the top 10 American athletes of athlete of all time. Of the five Heisman Lives is about his experiences in the Civil Rights ma, Montgomery, and Birmingham. the century, track star Jesse Owens from winners from Auburn and the University movement. The September 15, 1963 bombing Finally, for a state long ob- Lawrence County and Willie Mays con- of Alabama, four (Bo Jackson and Cam of Birmingham’s 16th Street Baptist Church was sessed with sport, African Amer- stituted one-fifth of the list. Birming- Newton at Auburn, Mark Ingram and key in shaping Flynt’s views on the movement, confirming for him that those against civil icans bequeathed Alabama its greatest ham-born sprinter Carl Lewis made Derrick Henry at the University of Ala- rights were wrong and those who supported athletes, did more to bring about racial other lists, while world boxing heavy- bama) were African Americans. the movement were right. Flynt notes that integration and justice than any other co- weight champion Joe Louis of Lafay- When Juanita Abernathy being 70 allowed him some freedom in writing. hort of the population, and left the largest ette, along with Jesse Owens, made the spoke at the 45th anniversary of the “I’m retired, I don’t give a hoot what anybody imprint on sport in America. When the Associated Press top 10 list. One British Montgomery Bus Boycott at Alabama thinks about me … nobody can get me fired Birmingham News selected the 10 great- publication listed three Alabamians, State University in February, 2001, she because you can’t fire someone from retirement.” 12ix The Future Emerges from the Past.