Alabama 
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SOURCE: New York Times
2/26/2021
The Deep South Has a Rich History of Resistance, as Amazon Is Learning
Columnist Jamelle Bouie draws on the work of historians Michael W. Fitzgerald, Paul Horton, Robin D.G. Kelley, and Robert Widell, Jr. which shows that Alabamians, and Black Alabamians in particular, have organized to fight both racial oppression and labor exploitation.
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SOURCE: The Atlantic
2/26/2021
America’s Political Roots Are in Eutaw, Alabama
"The terror campaign of 1870 ended the promise of Alabama’s brief Reconstruction era, allowing the so-called Redeemers to pry Alabama from the hands of reform. This was the critical juncture that led to the way things are."
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SOURCE: New York Times
2/26/2021
Shelia Washington Dies at 61; Helped Exonerate Scottsboro Boys
Shelia Washington read the story of the Scottsboro Boys as a teen, dedicated her life to preserving knowledge of their case, and finally spearheaded an effort that led the state of Alabama to exonerate the wrongly convicted men.
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SOURCE: The Guardian
2/23/2021
'We Deserve More': An Amazon Warehouse’s High-Stakes Union Drive
Historians Joseph McCartin, Michael Innis Jiménez, and Kerri Leigh Merritt discuss the historic union drive at Amazon's Bessemer, Alabama center and where it fits in the history of labor and civil rights in the south.
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SOURCE: AL.com
2/7/2021
UA Trustees vote to remove George Wallace’s name from UAB building
“This is simply the right thing to do,” Trustee Judge John England Jr.
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SOURCE: The New Republic
2/8/2021
The Alabama Town That Could Defeat Jeff Bezos
The industrial suburb of Bessemer has a long history as a rare center of union activity in the South and now is the focal point of an effort to organize Amazon's warehouse workers. Historian Robin D.G. Kelley, who has written about interracial labor militancy in Alabama, gives context.
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SOURCE: New York Times
1/17/2021
Tom Lankford, 85, Dies; Southern Journalist With Divided Loyalties
Tom Lankford took many iconic photographs in Birmingham that publicized the cause of Civil Rights protestors. But he worked behind the scenes to cultivate relationships with the city's notorious Bull Connor to buttress the reputation of the police force while working with his publisher to squelch local demands for change that threatened the business community.
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SOURCE: New York Times
12/19/2020
Jean Graetz, White Supporter of Civil Rights in Alabama, Dies at 90
Jean Graetz, one of the few white supporters of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, passed away at age 90.
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SOURCE: Montgomery Advertiser
12/3/2020
When the Textbooks Lied, Black Alabamians Turned to Each Other for History
Edward Ayers and Kevin M. Levin are cited in a discussion of the gradual turn of Alabama's history curriculum away from the Lost Cause mythology and apologetics for slavery.
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SOURCE: WKRG
11/4/2020
New Senator Tuberville Seems to Lack Basic Knowledge of World War II
Newly elected Alabama Senator Tommy Tuberville claimed contrary to fact that his father helped liberate Paris from communism in World War II.
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SOURCE: New York Times
10/3/2020
‘Fifth Girl’ in 1963 Church Bombing Gets an Apology From Alabama’s Governor
Sarah Collins Rudolph has long argued that officials of the state of Alabama incited racial hatred that encouraged the bombing of Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, and that they must compensate her as a culpable party.
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SOURCE: Christian Science Monitor
9/22/2020
Alabama's State Archives Confronts Its Racist Past
In June, leaders formally acknowledged the department’s past role in perpetuating racism and so-called “lost cause” ideals.
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SOURCE: New York Times
9/20/2020
Robert S. Graetz, Rare White Minister to Back Bus Boycott, Dies at 92
Robert Graetz was a rare white voice in favor of desegregation and an ally to the organizers of the Montgomery bus boycott.
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SOURCE: The Grio
9/20/2020
‘Fifth Girl’ In 1963 KKK Church Bombing Seeks Apology, Restitution
Sarah Collins Rudolph argues that the State of Alabama, in the person of Governor George Wallace, directly incited the racial hatred that led to the bombing of 16th Street Baptist Church.
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SOURCE: Montgomery Advertiser
8/30/2020
While Auburn Hides Behind Law, Troy University Takes Racist Name Off Building
by Jennifer Brooks
A history professor urges her university to defy an Alabama law that prohibits renaming a historic public building; the legacy of civil disobedience from the Civil Rights movement demands nothing less.
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SOURCE: Smithsonian
8/20/2020
Two Women, Their Lives Connected by American Slavery, Tackle Their Shared History
No reckoning would be adequate, I knew—but looking away was no longer an option. I wrote to Karen that I was thinking of going to Montgomery to look at the Pickett family papers. She suggested we tackle them together.
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SOURCE: AL.com
8/5/2020
Confederate Monument Defaced in Downtown Huntsville
Both the Madison County Commission, which has jurisdiction over the statue, and the Huntsville City Council have passed resolutions calling for the statue to be moved to the city-owned Maple Hill Cemetery.
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SOURCE: Washington Post
7/28/2020
As John Lewis was Honored in Alabama, a State GOP Legislator Celebrated a KKK Leader’s Birthday
The lawmaker — who is a chaplain for the Prattville Dragoons, a chapter of the Sons of Confederate Veterans — attributed the intense blowback he’s facing to “anti-Southern sentiment” amid the country’s ongoing racial reckoning.
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SOURCE: Washington Post
7/26/2020
John Lewis Makes Final Journey Across Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma (Video)
Hundreds had gathered along the route from the church to the bridge, some traveling hours to see Lewis’s final journey, others lining up in the early morning.
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SOURCE: AL.com
6/23/2020
Archives Department Acknowledges Role In Distorting Alabama’s Racial History
The Alabama Department of Archives & History said in a statement on Tuesday that it is committed to developing programs and exhibits to promote a deeper understanding of the roots and consequences of racism.
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