This is the time to celebrate your favorite author, filmmaker, artist or historian. This is the time to pass on to a friend your favorite book, or recommend a beloved song. This is the month to pull close your children or grandchildren and tell them about your family’s history. Take this month to explore your hometown, or a new town you’ve never visited in Alabama. Learn about the structures there, the culture, the people…learn more about your history as an Alabamian.

Take the time to learn more about the humanities…and more about yourself.

It is here, in this storied town’s center, where the Smithsonian’s traveling exhibit “Journey Stories” is housed in the United Way building at 19 Main Street. Walking in the door this Wednesday, I was happy to see a group of students from William L. Radney Elementary School, a sixth-grade class, listening intently to Terry Jones, a volunteer with the Main Street organization, tell the story of our country, how our ancestors traveled here and how they journeyed west across the continent, looking for a better life.

“Journey Stories” is a Museum on Main Street exhibition, a collaboration between the Smithsonian Institution and the Alabama Humanities Foundation. The exhibit examines the intersection between modes of travel and Americans’ desire to feel free to move. The stories are diverse and focus on immigration, migration, innovation and freedom. “Journey Stories” uses engaging images with audio and artifacts to tell the individual stories that illustrate the critical roles travel and movement have played in building our diverse American society.

Right now, “Journey Stories” can be seen in Alexander City through Sept. 23. It will then move on to:

Marion — Sept. 28-Nov. 10
Mobile — Nov. 16-Dec. 27
Eufaula — Jan. 6, 2012-Feb. 15
Arab — Feb. 24-April 5

Watching the children view the exhibit panels, and seeing them explore Alexander City’s own complementary exhibit across the street in the lobby of City Hall, you can see their minds whirling. They are making connections between the settlers and their own ancestors. They are understanding why people come to America to seek out a better life. Perhaps they are contemplating their own “Journey Stories”—trips taken with parents and grandparents to Mt. Rushmore, Civil War battlegrounds, or Yellowstone National Park.

We all have a journey story to tell. Come see America’s “Journey Stories” in Alexander City or an Alabama town near you! And, if you would like to tell your own journey story here on AHF’s blog, please email it to: jdome@ahf.net.

We look forward to taking the journey with you!

General Krulak served 35 years in the U.S. Marine Corps. His last position was as Commandant of the Marine Corps and as a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He commanded a platoon and two rifle companies during two tours of duty in Vietnam and then held a variety of command and staff positions. These included deputy director of the White House Military Office, Commanding General, 6th Marine Expeditionary Brigade during Desert Storm, Commanding General, Marine Corps Combat Development Command, and Commanding General, Marine Forces Pacific. During his military service, General Krulak was awarded the Defense Distinguished Service Medal, the Silver Star Medal, the Bronze Star Medal with Combat “V” and two gold stars, the Purple Heart with gold star, the Meritorious Service Medal, the French Legion d’Honneur Commandeur rank, and many other decorations and medals.

Upon his retirement from the Marine Corps, General Krulak joined MBNA America Bank as Vice Chairman and Chief Administrative Officer and subsequently as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of MBNA Europe Bank, Ltd. After four years in this position, he returned to the United States and served as Vice Chairman, MBNA America Bank as Head of Corporate Development, Mergers and Acquisitions. General Krulak retired from MBNA in June 2005.

Today, General Krulak is the President for Birmingham-Southern College, a liberal arts college located in Birmingham. In addition, General Krulak currently sits on the Board of Directors of Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Corporation where he is a member of the Public Policy and Personnel Committees and the Board of Directors of Union Pacific Railroad Corporation where he is a member of the Finance and Audit Committees. He sits on the Board of Regents forthe Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences. He sits on the Board of the CEO Forum and serves as Director with Aston Villa Football Club in the United Kingdom. He is an advisor to the Center for Naval Analysis and Human Rights First. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

General Krulak is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and has a master’s degree in labor relations from George Washington University.

Join us on Sept. 26 to hear this accomplished man speak, and to congratulate this year’s award winners:

• Elaine Hughes, recipient of the 2011 Alabama Humanities Award
• Wells Fargo, recipient of the 2011 Charitable Organization in the Humanities

To order tickets and for more details, please click here.

AHF would like to cordially invite you to our annual awards luncheon, held this year at the Wynfrey Hotel in Birmingham on September 26, 2011 at noon.

Our keynote speaker will be Gen. Charles C. Krulak, the new president of Birmingham-Southern College. We will award the Alabama Humanities Award to Elaine Hughes and the Charitable Organization in the Humanities Award to Wells Fargo.

For more information about the luncheon, and to purchase tickets, please see our luncheon website.

Prior to the luncheon, five teachers will receive Jenice Riley Memorial Scholarships to help fund projects they submitted in the areas of history and civics. The award winners are:

• Rebecca J. Davis of Cahawba Christian Academy, Centreville, Ala.
• Debbie Redden and Tammy Quillin of Montgomery Catholic Prepatory, St. Bede Campus, Montgomery, Ala.
• Mallory Richardson of Edgewood Elementary School, Homewood, Ala.
• Stephane Nicole Singleton of Harlan Elementary School, Florence, Ala.

For more information about the Jenice Riley Memorial Scholarship, please visit our website.

We hope to see you on September 26 for this festive occasion!

If you already receive a copy of our magazine, tell us what you think about it by posting a comment! We’d love to get your ideas for future stories.

If you would like to receive a copy, sign up for our mailing list on our website, ahf.net.

Look for an issue to hit your mailbox soon!

Read our latest article in The Birmingham News here.

Or click here to see a video clip of AHF on ABC 33/40′s “Talk of Alabama” program.

For more information about Project Turn the Page, and to learn how you can contribute, visit our website.

Following the devastating tornadoes that ripped through our state in April, the Alabama Humanities Foundation (AHF) was awarded a $30,000 emergency grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) to launch Project Turn the Page, an initiative to help provide free books for damaged public libraries and schools.

AHF requested the emergency grant from NEH Chairman Jim Leach following the April 27 storms in order to help the affected communities. Public libraries suffered significant damage in Pratt City, White Hall, and Ragland, while schools were damaged in at least six different locations, including Jefferson County, Tuscaloosa County, Franklin County, Marion County and DeKalb County.

As part of Project Turn the Page, AHF plans to compile a list of books, including those focusing on Southern and Alabama history and fiction, as well as award-winning young adult titles. The libraries and schools will be invited to choose titles from the list that they wish to receive, up to a determined dollar amount. The books will be ordered by AHF and stored at the foundation’s Birmingham offices until the libraries and schools are prepared to receive their requested volumes.

“Our building was completely demolished in the April 27 tornadoes,” says Mary Schellhammer, librarian at Alberta Elementary in Tuscaloosa. Reading has always been very important at our school. We can’t have enough books. The library is the center of the school and the school is sort of the hub of Alberta City. So it’s important that we get our school back and an active library back.”

A portion of the grant monies will expand AHF’s new Literature and Health Care reading-and-discussion seminar at the VA Hospital in Tuscaloosa. Sessions will now include the impact of the tornado on the surrounding areas and how the hospital staff and patients are coping with the storms’ aftermath. Another portion will help the town of Cordova participate in AHF’s upcoming Museum on Main Street exhibit “Journey Stories.” The Smithsonian Institution’s traveling exhibit can be viewed at the Bankhead House and Heritage Center in neighboring Jasper beginning June 25. Cordova was scheduled to be a part of Walker County’s celebration of the exhibition until the storms came through in April.

AHF previously received an emergency grant from the NEH following Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Those monies were used to purchase books for the Bayou La Batre Library, repair damages to exhibitions at the Museum of Mobile, aid the USS Alabama and send students from Alma Bryant High School to the Alabama Shakespeare Festival in Montgomery.

If you would like to support Project Turn the Page, please call Paul Lawson at (205) 558-3992.

(Monetary donations only, please. Used books or new books cannot be accepted.)

All proceeds will benefit the Alabama Humanities Foundation and its programs.

Send letter and payment to:
Alabama Humanities Foundation
c/o Paul Lawson
1100 Ireland Way, Ste. 101
Birmingham, AL 35205

About Cotton Mary
“Mary Christine Tarley’s story is typical of many under-educated Southern women who were attracted to jobs in cotton mills in the 1930s, only to find themselves bound to the mill by the same threads they wove into cloth.”
—Bob Whetstone, AHF Board member and author of Cotton Mary, writes in the acknowledgements of his new historical fiction novel

Mr. Whetstone’s new book offers an inside look at the company-owned textile mill villages. The book’s protagonist, Mary, is “lured into dime-an-hour wages in a mill,” away from her family farm, only to find that she must rely on “every ounce of her coping skills to survive.”

By Paul Lawson, AHF director of development and public relations

Singer Ricky Nelson was slightly before my time but not by much. Gee, he would be 71 if he were alive today. He died tragically in a New Year’s Eve airplane crash headed to a concert in Texas. I vividly remember Ricky closing most of the old Ozzie and Harriet shows with one of his hit songs. Screaming teenage girls, of course, were included in the sound track. Looking back, I think ole Oz helped his youngest son out by using the TV series to promote Ricky’s music. Record sales shot up the next day. Mucho presto! The music video was born 25 years prior to MTV.

One of Ricky Nelson’s most popular songs, “Travelin’ Man,” fits nicely with an exciting new AHF project—“Journey Stories,” premiering in Alabama this summer. The song was written in about 20 minutes by little known writer, Jerry Fuller. His first choice was to offer it to Sam Cooke, but Sam turned it down. Ricky’s bass player, Joe Osborne, had been in the next room of the record company and heard it. He asked Cooke’s manager if he could hear it again, and the man said: “Here, you can have it.” It was one of Ricky’s biggest hits and stayed on the Billboard music charts for more than four months, including two weeks at number one.

I invite you to put “Travelin’ Man” in the CD player and listen as you journey to one of the six cultural institutions hosting “Journey Stories.” In Alabama, the six communities hosting the exhibition starting on June 25 at the Bankhead House and Heritage Center in Jasper are: Alexander City, Arab, Eufaula, Jasper, Marion and Mobile. Don’t miss out on a winner, like Sam Cooke did!

For all of the specifics on the Smithsonian Institution’s exhibition “Journey Stories,” including dates and locations, visit ahf.net/journeystories.

By Jennifer Dome, AHF public relations and publications manager

One of my earliest memories is traveling in the back seat of my parents’ station wagon from North Carolina to South Dakota where we were going to live while my father attended Air Force Officer Training School in Illinois. I always seemed to be in the back seat of a station wagon, or mini van, or some vehicle while growing up. As the daughter of an Air Force captain, such was my lot in life from age 1 through 16 when we finally made our last trek, from California to New Jersey, where my father retired.

It was on those trips, though, that I got to see a vast majority of our amazing country. From the plains of Kansas, to the mountains of Grand Teton National Park, to the snowy peaks of the Rockies, there are very few states that I haven’t at least driven through. And along the way I’ve learned a lot about our country’s history.

I was born in New Hampshire and left New England before I could walk to live in North Carolina. I only attended school through first grade there, but it was time enough to pick up my teacher, Mrs. Best’s, southern drawl and learn to say “you make me ill” for just about any reason at all. What I remember most about North Carolina is the beautiful beach, and bouncing in the waves of the Atlantic Ocean.

Next up was a short stint in South Dakota where we stayed with friends, the Mortons, and got a first-hand look at the Badlands, an amazing landscape east of Rapid City where prairie dogs seemed to be the only life that existed.

When my dad finished school, our next post was Minot, North Dakota, where the snows piled high and frost bite was a scary thought to this seven-year-old. Here I traveled to water parks near the Canadian border, and the International Peace Gardens across that border. What I remember most about those trips are the fields and fields of wheat, and the rows of sunflowers, blooming and stretching their yellow faces to the hot summer sun.

We moved back to South Dakota as a family and had our first taste of living off the Air Force base, in Rapid City itself. It was there that I got my largest taste of American history: Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse, the plight of the Sioux. South Dakota is a rich state, with a deep history buried in the Black Hills. I’ll always remember the sunrise Easter church service we attended at Mount Rushmore, seeing the sun come up and shine like a spotlight on those four faces.

It was during this time that we traveled to Yellowstone National Park and Grand Teton National Park, two of the most beautiful places I’ve ever visited, besides Hawaii. Between Old Faithful and the mountains that rise out of Jenny Lake, I’d never seen a landscape so grand.

California was next on the map and traveling through Utah to get there was an interesting experience. I remember getting stuck in Utah for a few days because my mother was sick, and dad taking my sister and I to see “Aladdin” to pass the time. The landscape there seemed rugged, but the orange glow the sun produced as it set was stunning.

Then, California, with its wide beaches and traffic congestion and hazy, palm-tree-lined horizons, was unlike anywhere I’d ever seen. Especially because we lived far from the glitz and glamor of L.A. in the middle of the Mojave Dessert, at Edwards Air Force Base. As a middle school and high school student, it became common to be out on the base’s golf course late at night with friends, and have to stand still, in scared, hushed silence, as coyotes traipsed nearby. Witnessing shuttle landings, and hearing sonic booms, tied this place to history as the place where Chuck Yeager first broke the speed of sound.

It’s the move from California to New Jersey that I remember best, going through the Rockies and stopping in Breckenridge, Colorado, for a night. The mountains rise out of the ground and shoot straight for the sky, snow on the tops even in July. On to Texas we drove, getting my first look at the metropolis of Dallas, then on to the East Coast, where I finished high school and now call home, despite having lived in Pennsylvania, Chicago, London and now Birmingham, Alabama, since high school.

From D.C. up to my father’s hometown of Boston, the East Coast has always seemed so accessible and the opportunities to learn endless. From the Smithsonian museums to the Liberty Bell, to Wall Street and then Quincy Market, the East Coast is a fruitful trail that tells the story of our country’s birth.

I’ve been very lucky, to be raised this way and see the states I’ve seen. Sure, there were miles on the road when I propped up baby doll blankets to block out my sister and her peskiness, and no doubt we tested my parents’ patience numerous times. But now I look at the travels I took as a child and I’m thankful for the experience, thankful that I live in such a free and beautiful country where I can drive from state to state, taking in the bounty. Without the journeys I had as a child, I might not appreciate Alabama as much, with its wonderful landscapes, from the ocean in Mobile, to the mountains up north, and all the historical sites in between.