Parker High School Yearbook Available Online

The 1958 edition of Parker High School's yearbook The Bison is now available online. The following years for The Bison are available for viewing in the Southern History Department: 1952 (photocopy), 1958, 1962 (poor condition), 1969(damaged)-1970, 1972, 1977-1978, 1986, and 1991.

Did you know the library is seeking yearbooks for all Birmingham schools? If you would like to donate a yearbook please contact the staff in the Southern History Department at 205-226-3665. 

Bull Connor Papers Available Online

The Theophilus Eugene "Bull" Connor Papers, 1951; 1959-1963 are now available online. The papers, which consist of letters, memoranda, clippings, photographs and reports, are the office files kept by Connor during his last five years as Commissioner of Public Safety. The digitization of his papers includes over 30,000 items and was made possible by a grant from the Library and Technology Service Act (LSTA).

Ku Klux Klan Scrapbook of Newspaper Articles, 1913-1967



The Birmingham News
June 15, 1948

A scrapbook (517 pages) of collected newspaper articles covering the Ku Klux Klan for the years 1913-1967 has been added to Birmingam Public Library's Digital Collections database. The bulk of the articles cover the 1950s and 1960s.  

Birmingham Public Librarians culled local newspapers and some national papers to locate and cutout articles about the KKK. The scrapbook was digitized from the microfilmed copy of the scrapbook thanks to a generous grant from the Library Services and Technology Act.

Let's Get Rid of Alabama's Shame

Let's Get Rid of Alabama's Shame : The Convict Lease or Contract System published by the Statewide Campaign Committee for the Abolishment of the Convict Contract System in 1923 is now available online.

"There are 3,000 men and women in the penitentiary (in Alabama); there are 2,500,000 out of it. The suggestion that these millions are dependent on a handful of convicts to earn money for the support of their government is an insult to the law-abiding, self-supporting and self-respecting citizens of the state."

Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth Interviews Available Online

Historian Andrew M. Manis recorded interviews with Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth and several of his friends and family while conducting research for his book, A Fire You Can't Put Out. Thirty-three of the sixty interviews have been transcribed and are now available online.

Collection Description:

Manis, Andrew M.

Oral History Interviews, 1987-1989

(AR 1437)

Andrew M. Manis has served as Assistant Professor of History at Macon State College in Macon, Georgia, and the Religion and Southern Studies editor for Mercer University Press. He is author of the books Southern Civil Religions in Conflict: Black and White Baptists and Civil Rights, 1947-1957 and A Fire You Can't Put Out: The Civil Rights Life of Birmingham's Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth. This collection contains tapes and transcripts for 33 oral history interviews conducted by Andrew M. Manis as part of the research for his book A Fire You Can’t Put Out. The interviews relate to the Civil Rights Movement generally and to the life and career of Birmingham civil rights activist Fred L. Shuttlesworth. 

 

Interviewees: Oscar Adams, R. L. Alford, Lewis L. Anderson, James Armstrong, Harold Bester, Ricky Shuttlesworth Bester, L. Venchael Booth, Anne Braden, Alexander Brown, Malcolm Burroughs, J. L. Chesnut, Wallace Chilcoat, Alvin Cleveland, Reuben Davis, John Drew, Frank Dukes, Vivian Durant, Thurman Echols, James Farmer, Veronica Chappell Flemmon, Edward Gardner, Carter Gaston, Phyllis Gooden, Aldrich Gunn, Lola Hendricks, Norman Jimerson, Edward Johnson, Colonel Stone Johnson, Terry Lee Lane, Bill Leonard, Harold Long, Joseph Lowery, Jonathan MacPherson, Laverne Revis McWilliams Martin, Patricia Shuttlesworth Massengill, Eula Mae Mitchell, James T. Montgomery, Charles Morgan, Diane Nash, C. Herbert Oliver, James Orange, John T. Porter, Julia Rainge, F. D. Reese, James Roberson, Pinky Shortridge, Clifton Shuttlesworth, Eugene Shuttlesworth, Fred Shuttlesworth, Fred Shuttlesworth, Jr., Daphne Sloan, Glenn Smiley, Nelson H. Smith, Jr., David Vann, C. T. Vivian, Wyatt T. Walker, Marvin Whiting, Betty Williams, Cleola Willis, Louretta Wimberly, Daisy Winston, Abraham L. Woods, Jr., Calvin Woods

Neighborhood Newspaper Articles Added

Newspaper clipping files for the neighborhoods of Five Points South (60 articles), Huffman (40 articles),  Smithfield (10 articles), and South Highland (15 articles) are now available online.

Pratt City Newspaper Articles Added

Newspaper articles about the Pratt City neighborhood have been added to the Digital Collections Database. The 64 articles cover the years 1932-1983 and discuss topics such as Pratt City pioneers, neighborhood projects and urban renewal.