After reading the article about industrial baseball leagues in Alabama and Vulcan Park and Museum’s “From Factory to Field” exhibition in the Winter/Spring 2010 issue of Mosaic, Doug Purcell, executive director of the Historic Chattahoochee Commission, sent us this photo and message:

Attached is a photo of James Prestley (Buster) Waits, taken c. 1910 in the Grasselli area of present-day Birmingham. His father, Major Prestley Waits (1878-1938), was the manager of Grasselli Chemical Company (GCS). It is possible that GCS had a baseball team and Buster Waits was its “mascot.” Buster Waits was born in late 1904 in Grasselli and died in 1980 in Birmingham. He was the oldest son of Major Prestley Waits. “Major” was a given name–not a military rank.

AHF would like to thank Mr. Purcell for his interest in our magazine and grant-funded program “From Factory to Field,” and we encourage all members of the public to share your pictures and stories with us.

The exhibition “From Factory to Field,” opening April 1 at Vulcan Park and Museum, examines the phenomenon of America’s favorite pastime in Birmingham. The exhibit celebrates the 100th anniversary of Rickwood Field (pictured above), America’s oldest operational ballpark, and dispels the common myth that baseball made its way south through former Confederate prisoners of war, who learned the sport from Union captors.

“From Factory to Field” argues that Birmingham, in fact, embraced baseball for the same reasons that northern industrialized cities in the late 1800s did. Rail lines probably brought the idea of baseball to Birmingham, and the sport took hold because the game appealed to time-clock-based industrial society, which included immigrants and rural transplants who needed outdoor recreation in an urban setting as a means of assimilation and socialization. Baseball’s blend of teamwork and individualism,
two characteristics also applicable to an effective factory worker, reflect industrial work patterns. The industrial league system became a pool of talent for the town’s two professional ball teams: the Barons and the Black Barons. Baseball mirrored segregated life in Birmingham at the time. There are anecdotal reports of black and white teams playing one another and players being arrested in violation of city code.

The great Mobile-born pitcher Satchel Paige, who played for the Black Barons from 1927 to 1929, went on to play for the Cleveland Indians in 1948 at the age of 42, making him the game’s oldest rookie. Fairfield’s pride and joy, Willie Mays, went from playing for Fairfield’s industrial league team to eventually playing for the New York Giants. “From Factory to Field” celebrates these African-American players and others and discusses how they advanced civil rights in the city. The exhibition concludes with the desegregation of baseball and the modern-day Barons. Baseball is a compelling lens through which to view the social changes in Birmingham’s history.

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.

Is the winter of 2009-2010 worse than usual? The online Encyclopedia of Alabama is a great place to start any research you might undertake about our state.

An overview article on “Climate” by Philip Chaney states that the lowest recorded temperature in Alabama was -27° F at New Market in Madison County on January 30, 1966. If you were in New Market that day, you’ll never let anyone from the North tell you it doesn’t get cold in Alabama!

The article also notes, “The highest recorded amount of snowfall during a 24-hour period appears to be 13 inches on March 12-13, 1993, at Birmingham.” As a matter of fact, many readers of this blog were indeed in Birmingham those days and vividly recall the “Blizzard of ’93.”

But interestingly, the board and staff of the Alabama Humanities Foundation were at a planning retreat at Gulf Shores State Park when the snow hit the state then. We had flurries on the beach and encountered snow on the ground by the time we reached Bay Minette on the way back north.

For those Alabamians who are tired of winter, don’t despair. For one thing, you could be living in the Mid-Atlantic region and trying to swim through 40-50 inches of snow. For another thing, please note that Birmingham Bill, the resident groundhog at the Birmingham Zoo, did not see his shadow on February 2. This promises an early spring—with yards full of growing grass and weeds, mosquitoes on the wing, rising humidity.

In other words, summer in Alabama won’t be far behind. Then the real old timers can tell us about what it was like in Centerville on September 5, 1925, when the thermometer clocked in at 112° F.

Written by: Bob S.

We would also like to take this time to point out new changes in our booking procedures and guidelines that are highlighted below.

New guidelines and procedure changes effective January 1, 2010:

• AHF will only allow respective organizations/clubs to book one speaker per year.
• AHF kindly requests a $50 contribution to assist in offsetting the program expenses.
• When submitting a speaker request form, we ask that the contribution accompany the form.
• If an organization is unable to make the suggested $50 contribution, then they should contact AHF Programs Coordinator Michael Chambers at (205) 558-3999 for further assistance.

Interested in book a complimentary speaking engagement? Click here.

]]> http://www.ahf.net/blog/2010/02/online-speakers-bureau-catalog/feed/ 1 http://www.ahf.net/blog/2010/02/insight-on-kwanzaa/ http://www.ahf.net/blog/2010/02/insight-on-kwanzaa/#comments Wed, 03 Feb 2010 23:17:07 +0000 mbrowneahf http://www.ahf.net/blog/?p=769 Habari gani, or “What is the news?” This welcoming greeting is Swahili, a non-tribal language spoken throughout most of East Africa. It is the primary greeting for each day of Kwanzaa (Swahili for First Fruits), an African-American secular celebration that was created by Maulana Karenga, Ph.D., in 1966.

Over the years, confusion has arisen over this holiday, some thinking it was an African holiday, some melding it with Christmas since it begins the day after. Truth is, Kwanzaa is based on broad-based African traditions–the sense of collective work, responsibility, collective economics, for instance–but there is no Kwanzaa per se anywhere in Africa.

Kwanzaa and Christmas are also different celebrations, though some elements of Kwanzaa are in Christmas–family, sharing of gifts–Zawadi. However, the gift-giving for Kwanzaa differs from that of Christmas. Kwanzaa gift-givers are encouraged to offer handmade gifts of cultural significance, an African batakari (tunic), for instance, books and puzzles, given over the seven days of Kwanzaa.

The Seven Days of Kwanzaa, the Nguzo Saba in Swahili, begins on December 26 and ends on January 1. Each day has a name, and they are:

1. Umoja: unity
2. Kujichagulia: self-determination
3. Ujima: collective work and responsibility
4. Ujamaa: cooperative Economics
5. Nia: purpose
6. Kuumba: creativity
7. Imani: faith

Each day’s celebration is vibrant with family and friends coming together to share traditional food–hoppin’ johns, beans, jollof rice, fried plantain–stories from African-American history, family history, folklore, gifts. The biggest feast, however, occurs on the sixth day of Kwanzaa, Kuumba. The last day’s celebration ends with a shout of harambe–”Let’s work together”–seven times.

In a typical home where Kwanzaa is celebrated, a table will be set with an African cloth (usually kente.) At the center of the table will be the mkeka, the mat. Behind this mat would be set a kinara, seven-hole candle-holder, with themishumaa saba, seven candles–three red (for the struggle), three green (for the land), one black (for the people.)

A candle is lit for each day of Kwanzaa, until the last day when all seven are lit. On the mat is placed mazao–fruits, vegetables; vibunzi–ear of corn for each child in the household; and the kikombe cha umoja–unity cup from which all drink at the end of each ceremony.

Written by: Malík B.

]]> http://www.ahf.net/blog/2010/02/insight-on-kwanzaa/feed/ 2 http://www.ahf.net/blog/2010/01/embracing-the-humanities/ http://www.ahf.net/blog/2010/01/embracing-the-humanities/#comments Wed, 27 Jan 2010 21:31:08 +0000 bbashorahf http://www.ahf.net/blog/?p=763 Over the past several months, I have blogged about the importance of embracing the many facets of the humanities. The opportunities to benefit and appreciate the diversity of human experiences through heritage, tradition and language are clearly boundless right here in the state of Alabama.

It is easy to lecture away at the advantages of delving into the humanities, all the while never truly pursuing the goal oneself. So, in the spirit of the New Year and its refreshing sense of starting anew, I have decided to recap some of my previous points and truly take them to heart myself.

Let this list be a reminder to you as well and perhaps a starting point for creating your own!

In the year 2010, I will:

1. Learn about the foreign cultures within my own state (i.e. museums, festivals, community involvement, etc.)
2. Start to create a library of various genres for my son and daughter.
3. Speak more French to my son and daughter so that they, too, can profit from being bilingual.
4. Participate in a writing workshop.
5. Take the whole family to the theater to see a play, a musical, or a ballet.

As I have said before, it is a true luxury to live in a state that allows for a mixture of cultures and the resources to support all aspects of the humanities. Let us take advantage of and fully enjoy our heritage, traditions and languages in this New Year.

Bonne Année et Bonne Santé à tous! Happy New Year!

Written by: Béverly B.

]]> http://www.ahf.net/blog/2010/01/embracing-the-humanities/feed/ 0 http://www.ahf.net/blog/2010/01/take-time-to-listen/ http://www.ahf.net/blog/2010/01/take-time-to-listen/#comments Wed, 20 Jan 2010 21:14:23 +0000 bwhetstoneahf http://www.ahf.net/blog/?p=759 I stow my carry-on and settle into a window seat just in time to hear the flight attendant announce, “Has anyone on this flight lost a wallet?” The 200 passengers, including myself, discreetly check through our belongings for our cash and credit cards. Momentarily she breaks the silence, “Now that I have your attention, we will demonstrate the safety features of this plane.”

Caught off guard? Maybe, but even the seasoned travelers who have witnessed the seat belt, flotation device and emergency exit routine countless times now fix their eyes on the uniformed attendant.

Commanding people’s attention is difficult with the increasing number of distractions that assail our senses daily. While this flight attendant used a creative approach to capture our interest, live communication seems to be losing its appeal today. An appeal has come for families to sit down and talk about their lives with each other.

A family in Tennessee initiated the first National Day of Listening, a campaign to emphasize the importance of capturing oral history from their elders before the opportunity is lost. What better way to preserve unique family culture? Yet, some families are reluctant to talk about their past for various reasons.

I remember my mother’s refusal to tell her story about growing up in her sharecropper family. She countered questions about her childhood with the admonition, “Remember, the best part of our family is here and now.” Had I not interviewed numerous friends and relatives after her death, I would not have discovered my family’s Scots-Irish culture and language, rich and colorful even with its warts and scars.

The quest for oral family history is an integral tool for studying humanities. In recent years, this very effective approach for understanding history has found a niche in elementary and high-school classrooms. Teachers require interviews with family members, grandparents and other retirees to demonstrate to students the relevance of the past to their own lives. The results of these interviews may even be documented through quilts, photographs, DVDs, videos, drama productions, journals and storytelling. Furthermore, these projects often become the focus of community heritage celebrations.

The Alabama Humanities Foundation is pleased to have supported numerous oral history projects through the Jenice Riley Memorial Scholarship, which is now accepting applications. Moreover, these assignments enable students to develop effective listening skills. Recording oral history is not limited to schoolchildren. Do you recall the popular television show several decades ago which opened with, “The city has a million stories to tell, and this is just one of them?” There is a wealth of untold stories in every Alabama community, in every Alabamian waiting to be told and recorded—one of the greatest treasures we can leave for the generations that succeed us.

As my plane lands in Birmingham and taxies toward the terminal, several passengers, contrary to the attendant’s instructions, release their seat belts. “Not yet!” she warns. Another click. “Not yet!” The command is louder this time. Then as the plane comes to a stop, she mockingly declares with feigned disgust, “Now. . . get out!” Maybe it’s time to get out and mine that mother lode of stories in your community. AHF is here to help. Click here to learn more.

Written by: Bob W.

]]> http://www.ahf.net/blog/2010/01/take-time-to-listen/feed/ 0 http://www.ahf.net/blog/2010/01/apocalyptic-fiction/ http://www.ahf.net/blog/2010/01/apocalyptic-fiction/#comments Thu, 14 Jan 2010 16:21:47 +0000 avineyardahf http://www.ahf.net/blog/?p=753 It seems like post-apocalyptic films and books are all over the place right now. Just watching the previews for the movie 2012, which came out in November, made me want to cry. I don’t want the world to end in 2012, or anytime soon, really. So why are we so fascinated with it?

When I was assigned Cormac McCarthy’s The Road for my American literature class last semester, I approached it apprehensively. Oh no, I thought. Can I really handle reading this right now? Will it leave me with a feeling of hopelessness, like most of the other post-apocalypse lit out there?

The answer was no. The Road was simply amazing: tense, terrifying, and yes, hopeful. The characters, unnamed throughout, are carrying the torch of humanity through impossible odds, and though they don’t emerge from the road of the title unscathed, they still emerge.

I read the book in a night, and then started loaning it out to everyone I knew. Things may get bad, the world may end, maybe even in 2012, but at least we have good books to get us through. (I’m still not ready to go see the movie, though.)

Written by: Amethyst V.

]]> http://www.ahf.net/blog/2010/01/apocalyptic-fiction/feed/ 0 http://www.ahf.net/blog/2010/01/choo-choo/ http://www.ahf.net/blog/2010/01/choo-choo/#comments Tue, 12 Jan 2010 16:38:51 +0000 rstewartahf http://www.ahf.net/blog/?p=747 Only days before we arrived for the Federation of State Humanities Councils’ national conference in Omaha, Nebraska, in November, the city’s famed “oracle,” investor Warren Buffett, announced that he was buying Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad. I don’t know whether Buffett, from his Berkshire Hathaway offices, can see either the BNSF tracks or those of the Union-Pacific also headquartered downtown. But the railroad has been a defining feature of Omaha since its post-Civil War beginnings, and I’m sure Buffett understands the historical connections. (Of course he didn’t buy the railroad out of nostalgia. Burlington Northern is a profitable enterprise, which he purchased at a fair price, and it promises even greater returns in the future.)

…I have seldom heard a train go by and not wished I was on it.” Paul Theroux, writer

Does Buffett’s investment have anything to do with the humanities—other than the presence of 300+ humanists in his hometown the same week, or the history and romance of railroads? Moreover, is it of any relevance to Alabamians?

I would answer the first question by pointing out that Buffett is known as a long-term value investor, an approach not unlike those of us who work in the humanities. Understanding deeply the value of our mission, we don’t expect quick profits but instead long-term gain from the study and appreciation of history, literature and the like.

Most important of all…it’s an all-in wager on the economic future of the United States. I love these bets.” Warren Buffett, billionaire.

As for the relevance of this news to Alabamians, I can only suggest that business, government and civic leaders in Birmingham should note:

• Buffett spent $34 billion on something that runs on steel rails, instead of fiber-optic cable, and carries stuff like coal and corn, instead of tweets and blogs. With all due appreciation for Birmingham’s diversified economy, based on finance, education and healthcare, we shouldn’t forget that many workers here still make and transport actual products.
• Railroads—including passenger trains—still have a vital place in our national transportation network. Why can’t we invest in efficient public transportation systems in Alabama, even if they are only reliable bus systems?
• Two Birmingham parks and cultural institutions, the Railroad Reservation Park currently under development, and Sloss Furnaces, which is nearly 30 years old as an industrial museum, need greater public support. Planners hope eventually to link these two open spaces and icons of our past via a pedestrian corridor alongside the rail lines that bisect the city. Let’s hope that dream becomes reality.

Written by: Bob S.

]]> http://www.ahf.net/blog/2010/01/choo-choo/feed/ 0