The luncheon will feature our guest speaker, chief legal correspondent for CBS News Jan Crawford. We will honor Edgar Welden, 2010’s Alabama Humanities Award recipient, and the Robert R. Meyer Foundation as this year’s Charitable Organization in the Humanities. We will also present a special resolution in recognition of The Rev. Fred Lee Shuttlesworth.

For more information, and to R.S.V.P., visit our luncheon website.

Jan Crawford is the chief legal correspondent for CBS News and a recognized authority on the Supreme Court. Her 2007 book, Supreme Conflict: The Inside Story of the Struggle for the Control of the United States Supreme Court, gained critical acclaim and became an instant New York Times Best Seller.

Edgar Welden will be honored this year as the 2010 Alabama Humanities Award recipient. He initiated and has personally funded the Jenice Riley Memorial Scholarships benefitting current kindergarten through sixth-grade teachers in social studies projects. He is the current chair of the Alabama Sports Hall Of Fame and Museum and president of the Bryant-Jordan Student Athlete Foundation, which provides more than 100 scholarships annually to Alabama high school seniors.

AHF will also honor the Robert R. Meyer Foundation as the winner of the Charitable Organization in the Humanities Award. This award is presented at the discretion of the board of directors to a corporation or foundation that has provided vital support to further the AHF mission.

The awards luncheon will recognize six elementary school teachers who will receive the 2010 Jenice Riley Memorial Scholarship. The $1,000 awards are awarded to teachers to enhance their teaching abilities by purchasing classroom materials for a special project, offering a class field trip or attending a seminar or institute in the subject areas of history and civics. This year’s recipients include: Takisha Durm, a sixth-grade teacher at PACE Alternative Education in Huntsville Cheryl Evans Hall, a third-grade teacher at Lacey’s Spring School Diane Henderson, a fourth-grade teacher at East Lawrence Middle School in Trinity Mary Elizabeth Lee, a sixth-grade teacher at New Market Elementary School Gerri McDonald, gifted programs at Perdido Elementary/Middle School Beverly Robinson, a fourth-grade teacher at Crossville Elementary School.

Ticket Information
Tickets for this year’s luncheon are $50 each, or $150 for a patron ticket. A patron ticket includes an invitation to the reception honoring the Jenice Riley Memorial Scholarship recipients prior to the luncheon. Complimentary valet parking, preferred luncheon seating, and a commemorative gift are also included in the patron ticket price.

Tables of 10 may be purchased for $500; patron tables may be purchased for $1,500.

Please visit our luncheon website to download a ticket request form, or contact Paul Lawson at (205) 558-3992 or plawson@ahf.net to R.S.V.P. for the luncheon and purchase a ticket.

Please R.S.V.P. by September 6.

The Alabama Booksmith will hold a raffle and auction for two copies of To Kill a Mockingbird. Each book has a cloth slipcase, the original 1960 jacket design, ribbon marker, and bookplate signed by Harper Lee.

One book will be raffled off—for every $5 donation to the Alabama Humanities Foundation, your name will be entered into the drawing. The drawing will take place on August 11, 2010, at 6 p.m. when Harper Lee biographer Kerry Madden draws the winning name.

To win the other copy, enter the auction at The Alabama Booksmith’s website. Each offer must surpass the previous highest total by $10, until $1,000 is reached. Then a $50 increase will be necessary. The highest bid as of 6 p.m. on August 11, 2010, will get to take the book home.

Call The Alabama Booksmith at (205) 870-4242 to make a bid or donation, or visit their website: www.alabamabooksmith.com. Or stop by the store! 2626 19^th Place South, Birmingham, AL 35209

All proceeds from the auction and raffle will benefit The Alabama Humanities Foundation. AHF’s  mission and goal is to contribute in substantial ways toward improving elementary and secondary education; combating the state’s high illiteracy rate; expanding public appreciation for reading; fostering intellectual curiosity, inquiry and enlightenment; and providing valuable resources to educational and cultural institutions.

The last of these three, the social element, is not insignificant. The humanities—at least as we practice the public humanities—have an indisputable social aspect. People at public humanities programs are not cloistered in a basement archive, nor are they lecturing and grading tests for high school or college students. They mingle together, chat about their families and tell stories of old times together. They form and renew bonds that extend beyond the program’s immediate context. They often eat and (less often) drink the fruits of the vine or field. Thus these occasions are frequently celebrations as much as “cerebrations.”

We generally don’t make a big deal about the receptions or meals accompanying our programs, but they represent an important means of expressing our appreciation to donors and other constituents. There are never enough opportunities to thank the people who support your work, and TKAM offered them in spades. So take a look at the photos and see how we did. When you are finished with the TKAM albums, surf over to our full website, where you can find:

• Bios of our dedicated and talented volunteer board, comprising 25 individuals from throughout the state. Click here to get to know them!
• Listing of our donors

If you want to add your own gift to AHF, and maybe join us at an upcoming program or reception, take a minute to donate.

We thank you now, and we promise to thank you at every chance we have in the future!

Exactly 40 years ago in the city of Montgomery and at a spot named Patterson Field a hard fought, nail-biting baseball game took place. It was on a late May night as the Ensley High School Yellow Jackets squared off against Montgomery’s mighty Robert E. Lee Generals.

About midway through the game a bony and forgettable Yellow Jacket pitcher toed the rubber and tossed his best pitch to hometown slugger and Lee star, Paul Spivey. The massive whip and crack of the bat from Spivey was deafening and the crowd was wooed as the ball sailed deep into the Montgomery night, over the fence and out of sight. Much to the dismay of the poet, Mighty Casey did not strike out and on this night there was no sadness in Mudville. It was long and gone.

Now slide with me into base 40 years later once again in Montgomery on yet another May night. This time the site is the big field named Wynfield Estates. The occasion is the 50th anniversary celebration of the publication of Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill a Mockingbird. This time the home team is the Alabama Humanities Foundation. The starting lineup of wonderful food and drink, live music, a highly competitive art auction and more than 250 guests were all at home plate, the beautiful home of the late Winton and Carolyn Blount.

The participation of many sponsors, guests, artists and constituents from around the state teamed to generate significant funds to advance the mission of AHF. Proceeds will be targeted to reach all Alabamians, through AHF’s many public programs and initiatives, including those for teachers, students and the public alike. You can read the box score and about all of the details at ahf.net/mockingbird.

Yes, Matilda, 40 years later there remains no sadness in Mudville, as another homerun was hit by AHF. (And perhaps there are more innings to play.)

Written by: Paul L.

In “Slavery,” Nall depicts an African-American man, with his hands bound and framed by images from Nall’s native Alabama, such as azalea and camellia blossoms. A board with protruding nails rests astride his shoulders, symbolizing both a crucifix and the scales of justice. Mockingbird readers will recognize that the slave is actually the fictional Tom Robinson, whose fate was nearly as doomed in 1930s Maycomb as it would have been in the 1830s. Nall drives the point home by weighing the scales down in the direction of the approaching rabid dog behind Tom, and away from the innocent mockingbird in front of him.

Yet Nall’s painting directs us to read the book, not just gaze upon an anonymous victim of slavery or Jim Crow injustice. If we do so—and not linger too long in from of his tragic painting—we will find both justice and compassion bound up in the characters of Atticus and Scout.

Caleb O’Connor, who recently moved to Tuscaloosa to paint 16 murals for the new federal courthouse under construction there, addresses the question from the other direction. “Charles” isn’t a character from Mockingbird; in fact, he’s not even from Alabama. He’s a homeless man that O’Connor met on the island of Maui in his native Hawaii. O’Connor, who has maintained a friendship with Charles ever since, shows him enjoying a cup of coffee and pausing as he shares his life story. Eyes closed, fingertips to his lips, Charles appears to savor the coffee as if it’s the first cup he’s had in weeks. We know instinctively that O’Connor is a man of compassion toward his subject, not just an artist with an agenda about justice for the homeless.

The British politician Neil Kinnock told Parliament in 1970, “Compassion is not a sloppy, sentimental feeling for people who are underprivileged or sick…it is an absolutely practical belief that, regardless of a person’s background, ability or ability to pay, he should be provided with the best that society has to offer.” I don’t know if Kinnock meant that compassion required society to provide the best in material goods. But those who take to heart Mockingbird’s message—whether we are artists, lawyers, ethicists or just ordinary readers—understand that compassion surely means society at least owes justice to all its citizens.

Written by: Bob S.

Birmingham native and nationally renowned folk artist Lonnie Holley has agreed to be a part of the celebration.

THIS IS WHERE YOU COME IN.

Lonnie has some creative ideas for a collaborative collage inspired by To Kill a Mockingbird. He wants to incorporate your responses to TKAM into his work.

Interested?

For possible inclusion in Lonnie Holley’s To Kill a Mockingbird inspired work of art, please offer your response by Friday, March 5, in one of three ways:

1. Comment on this blog post using 140 characters or less.
2. E-mail us a response using 140 characters or less.
3. Respond on Twitter using the hash tag #TKAM.

Responses may be creative or personal, poetic or abstract. In addition, you may attempt to answer one of the following questions:

How has Harper Lee’s classic tale affected you? What does the novel mean for our state, country and the nation? Why are To Kill a Mockingbird and its themes important?

The “TKAM 2010: To Kill a Mockingbird—Awakening America’s Conscience” traveling art show will be open to the public at the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute from April 9 to May 14, and will travel to Montgomery, where it will be on display at the Stonehenge Gallery May 18–21.

All of the exhibit’s works of art will be auctioned as part of a special reception and celebration hosted by AHF in Montgomery at Wynfield Estates, the home of the late Red and Carolyn Blount, on May 22 from 6 to 9 p.m. Event tickets may be purchased for $50 and will go on sale in the near future.

Please note: your name will not be associated with your TKAM response, so please do not include it within your 140 character response. The artist will determine which responses will be incorporated.

Pictured above: “Digging,” Acrylic on Paper, by Lonnie Holley, featured by Monty Stabler Galleries.