alabamablackhistory

Tuskegee Airman Finally gets his Due

Fri, 15 May 2026 04:26:11 GMT

It took more than six decades, but Tuskegee Airman Sherman W. White Jr. was finally honored Monday on a day when Americans paid tribute to their war dead. Overcast, rainy skies failed to hold down the crowd outside a house at 690 W. Jeff Davis Ave. as speakers praised a young man who paid the supreme sacrifice in defense of his country. A plaque, unveiled near the sidewalk where White and his family lived during World War II, mentioned their patriotism and sacrifices at home and aboard in the name of national defense.

While died July 2, 1943, when his P-40 fighter was shot down by German planes over Sicily as he and other Tuskegee Airmen escorted U.S. bombers to enemy installations. A second member of White’s unit also died when his plane was shot down. “Despite what you might see and feel, the sun is shining today,” said Montgomery historian Richard Bailey. Bailey mentioned several prominent black families and individuals who have lived on West Jeff Davis Avenue. He said the White marker “will add more than just a footnote to Montgomery history.” The crowd was large and appreciative as speakers lauded White. Veterans of several wars were on hand to honor his memory. “It is right today that we honor (White) and all of the brave,” said retired Army Maj. Gen. Will Hill Tankersley, an infantry officer who saw combat during the Korean War. The plaque cost about $1,700 and was paid for by the Montgomery Area Chamber of Commerce Historical Preservation and Promotion Foundation, said Chamber spokeswoman Patsy Guy, who attended the event.

The ceremony followed efforts by local historians who have been trying to draw attention to White and his brief but heroic service during World War II.

White graduated in the third Tuskegee Airmen class in May 1942 and was the first Montgomery native to complete basic training with a unit that would blaze a trail of glory across the skies of north Africa, Sicily and Germany.

He and another Tuskegee Airman, James McCullin, were believed to have been among the first black pilots killed during the war.

Montgomery historian Wesley Newton wrote an article about White and his family in Alabama Heritage magazine two years ago. That launched efforts to honor White in his hometown.

“Today is (as) if a bugler were playing taps for 1st Lt. Sherman White Jr., 99th Fighter Squadron, United States Army Air Forces,” Newton said.

Most of White’s relatives died years ago, but a cousin, Samson White, was on hand for the unveiling Monday morning.

It began to rain as the program began, but no one seemed to mind. They just opened their umbrellas and listened to glowing accounts of the young pilot who had given his life for his country.

“We have a lot of catching up to do,” said retired Air Force Maj. Carrol Woods of Montgomery, who referred to oversights

and slights involving black troops who served during World War II. Woods, a Tuskegee Airman who was shot down by ground

fire and spent several months in a prisoner of war camp, stood in the back of the big crowd. He was urged to step forward and

say a few words. Although Woods did not know White praised him for his contribution to the war effort.

State Rep. John Knight of Montgomery, who was awarded the Silver Star medal for heroism in the Vietnam War, called

the unveiling a “great occasion” and said: “We are some of the most patriotic people you have ever seen when it comes to the United States military and trying to defend our country.”

Published Montgomery Advertiser

Samson White at Marker

BTW High School Welcomes Back Graduates of All Ages

Fri, 15 May 2026 04:22:31 GMT

Alumni representing almost all of the graduating classes of the former Booker T. Washington High School were among those saddened when its doors closed in 1970. But many of them returned to their old campus for roll call and several days of celebrations this past week during an all-school reunion.

Former classmates chose the Fourth of July holiday weekend to gather in the Capital City to commemorate the institution’s beginning as the Swayne School and its subsequent 105-year history of educating Montgomery’s youth. While there were typical reunion activities, they spent a lot of time remembering their own impacts on the school’s legacy and treasuring the reflections of “now and in the years to be,” a poignant line of the school’s song, written by the late educator and performer Jesse D. Cook.

Festivities began last Thursday with a banquet at the Embassy Suites hotel, when State Rep. John Knight,BTW basketball center and graduate of the class of 1963, galvanized them as the keynote speaker.

Valtina Day Rankins, a member of the last graduating class, was there for the event organized by more than 15 members of the National Alumni Association. Alumni president Walter Harris, class of ’59, and Jessie Mae Williams, class of ’52, followed their reunion tradition and gathered with others at Lagoon Park’s Pete Peterson Lodge for a casual picnic on Saturday.

Deborah Hayes Moore

SOUTHERN HOSPITALITY

BTW Day

Alabama historian and author Richard Bailey, class of 1966, planned a two-phased gathering on Sunday as a part of the 2004 Alumni Homecoming. It included an afternoon of fond remembrances delivered by former administrators, teachers, athletes, coaches, student leaders and family members. A crowd of 200 gathered in Cafe de L’Ame, the lunchroom of the current BTW Magnet School, as a prelude to another proud moment for the graduates.

Current BTW Magnet School principal Quesha Starks led them on a walk through the old tunnel under Union Street, a place filled with years of high school memories gone by, to the streetside unveiling of an historical marker. The marker commemorates the history of Swayne School, founded in 1865 on one side, and the former BTW High, which graduated its first class under the name of Booker T. Washington High School in 1940 and closed its doors in 1970.

Former City Council member and benefactor Tracy Larkin, a 1963 BTW alum, provided the funding for the historic marker, which actually arrived in February but was not unveiled until . Sunday to coincide with the return to Montgomery for the all-school gatherings. Larkin was introduced by fellow classmate and U.S. Sen. Eddie Harbison, D-Ga., as the keynote speaker for the nostalgic afternoon. Laura McDade Chalk, president of the class of 1964, arrived from Huntsville and had the honor of performing the actual unveiling.

Among the many others on hand for the sentimental occasions were Carol Poe of Birmingham, president of the Black Heritage Council of the Alabama Historical Commission; former BTW football player Michael Washington, class of 1963, who went on to success playing for Coach Paul “Bear” Bryant at the University of Alabama; Leon Ross, ’59, and Jimmy Barker, class of ’68, who represented the Montgomery County Board of Education; Lionel Gamier, a former principal; Lettie Ross, a teacher at BTW during the early 1960s; Helen Shannon, whose late husband, James Shannon, was a BTW athletic coach; Robert Shannon, a 1933 alum of Swayne School, and his sons, Robert and Charles Shannon, who drove all night from Detroit to attend the ceremonies; Charlie Hardy, class of ’58, who sat next to Lula Davis, wife of the late Arthur “Buddy” Davis, whose winning tenure as head football coach lasted 16 years; Cornelius Howard, who returned for the reunion from Port Verde, Fla., and who led the BTW Yellow Jackets to state and national championships during his days as basketball coach; Simuel Sippial, class of ’61; Aubara Ramsey, class of 1966; James Jemison and Larry Weatherly, both of the class of ’68; Paulette Moncrief; and Loveless Babies, who returned to the Capital City from Jonesboro, Ga., and fondly called the group to attention with his hand whistle, as he had done several years as a legendary drum major for the BTW Marching 100.

Class of 1965

While several alums wore gold 2004 reunion T-shirts,Thomas Parks and his fellow classmates stood out in special blue-tees as the class of 1965. Lemuel Green, Larry Brown, Jeanetta Austin, Hardwick Prevo, Janice DuBose, Julia Sanders, Walter Jeter and Quinton Harris were among those on hand for the unveiling, and were among the 95 members of their class who continued the reunion festivities with a final party Monday evening at the Governor’s House Hotel and Conference Center.

Eugene Riley, vice president of the class when they were seniors, was there with his wife, Alberta, as the group danced until midnight to the sounds of • music provided by DJ Lynden McCall. Riley was excited because his had the honor of being the 100th class to graduate from BTW.

Published Montgomery Advertiser , July 8, 2004

Eugene Riley, left, Richard Bailey, center, and Jimmy Barker, right, were among those attending this past week’s all-school reunion for alums of Booker T. Washington High School.

Unveiling Puts Past in Light

Fri, 15 May 2026 04:17:50 GMT

Booker T. Washington High School alumni let out thunderous cheers during Sunday’s unveiling of the Swayne College/Booker T. Washington High School historic marker.

The two-sided marker was placed on Union Street at the campus of Booker T. Washington Magnet High School.

About 200 alumni attended the unveiling, representing Booker T. Washington High School graduating classes from 1940-1970.

Voncile Britton-Gowdy said the marker was needed because of the deep history of Booker T. Washington High School. Britto-Gowdy said Booker T. Washington High School and George Washington Carver High School were the only two public high schools in the area that black people could attend when she was in school. She graduated in 1962.

“If those two schools had not existed, I question whether we would have been educated,” Britton-Gowdy said.

Laura Chalk, left, and Richard Bailey unveil

a historic marker Sunday commemorating

both Swayne College and Booker T.

Washington Magnet High School.

Swayne College was a primary school that opened in 1869. Students could study the alphabet, reading, spelling, advanced reading, arithmetic, geography and writing. Though only a grade school, Swayne College is so named because it was created to become a college.

Swayne College became Booker T. Washington High School in 1937, and Booker T. Washington High School graduated its last class in 1970.

“Coming out of slavery in 1865, no one had an education. So the plan was to educate people first, then become a college,” said Richard Bailey, a 1966 BTW alumnus.

The Swayne College marker faces the north because Wager Swayne, for whom the school was named, was a Northerner, while the Booker T. Washington marker faces the south because Booker T. Washington was a Southerner.

Bailey, a member of the BTW Alumni Association, pushed for the marker to be placed on the BTW Magnet High School site because he said he is always interested in people having a good understanding of history.

“People can just come by here and get a sense of fulfillment by reading the marker,” he said.

Getting the marker placed at the school was a three-part effort, according to Bailey.

During Tracy Larkin’s tenure as city councilman for District 3, Larkin secured the funds for the project. Bailey, then researched the history of the school and wrote the words imprinted on the marker. Finally, the Montgomery Board of Education gave permission for the marker to be erected.

The unveiling was more than just a lesson in history. It was also a time for old classmates to come together and reminisce.

A Booker T, Washington Day program preceded the unveiling. Former athletes, coaches and community leaders spoke at the event. Tracy Larkin, the keynote speaker, encouraged the group of alumni to embrace today’s public schools as a way of giving back to the legacy of his alma mater.

“We made a pact with our alma mater that ‘always now and forever be,’ we’d pledge ‘our never-failing loyalty,’ ” Larkin said, quoting parts of the school’s song. “We must capture much of what’s been lost and pass it on to our children. That’s how we fulfill our pledge.”

Published Montgomery Advertiser , July 5, 2004

A large crowd of supporters watched as a historic marker

was unveiled Sunday in front of Booker T. Washington

Magnet High School on Union Street.

Historic legislation turns 40 CIVIL RIGHTS ACT MARKS ANNIVERSARY

Fri, 15 May 2026 04:12:15 GMT

By Alvin Benn

Montgomery Advertiser

When author and historian Richard Bailey was a teenager, Montgomery’s public libraries were separate and quite unequal.

He had to go to the “black” library because if he had tried to check out a book at the “white” library, he faced arrest.

“I didn’t know a single white kid my age when I left high school,” Bailey said.

President Lyndon Baines Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1964 in the East Room of the White House on July 2, 1964. The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., center, attended the signing.

In Evergreen, Jerome Gray and his friends wanted to see “Carmen Jones,” a popular movie that had an all-black cast. They first had to wait until the “white” movie was over.

“Even then, we had to go down an alley and then up the stairs to the balcony to watch the movie,” said Gray.

Those and other examples of blatant discrimination began to end 40 years ago today with the stroke of a pen by President Johnson, whose signature made the Civil Rights Act official.

It had been a long time coming — a decade after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that segregated public schools were illegal.

A year after Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act, he inked the Voting Rights Act, which stripped away barriers to voter registration and opened the electoral process to black Americans.

But not much was open to J.L. Chestnut as a boy growing up in Selma in the 1930s. He discovered that black people were not allowed to try on clothes at department stores. If they wanted a suit or dress, they had to buy it and hope it fit.

“I remember the separate water fountains and public restrooms,” said Chestnut, one of Alabama’s most prominent lawyers. “The only black people who had jobs downtown were janitors, barbers or delivery people.”

Wayne Flynt and his wife, Dorothy, were tossed out of the Alabama Department of Archives and History when an employee became upset seeing her at the same table as a black researcher.

“My wife and I may have been the only couple ever told to leave the Archives building on threat of arrest,” said Flynt, who is an Auburn University professor and an author and lecturer.

In 1958, law school student Bruce Boynton of Selma was arrested when he tried to order a cheeseburger and tea at a “white” bus stop cafe in Richmond, Va. It would become a landmark case eventually settled in his favor by the U.S. Supreme Court.

“What I did that day led to the lunch counter sit-ins around the South,” Boynton said. “Few ever ask me about it today. Few know anything about it.”

As the country marks the 40th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act, Alabama finds itself once again in the spotlight because many of the events that led to congressional passage of the document occurred in the state.

Montgomery’s yearlong bus boycott, which began in 1955 following Rosa Parks’ refusal to give up her seat to a white passenger, launched the modern civil rights movement.

Six years later a biracial group of travelers challenging segregated waiting rooms at bus stops in the South were brutalized by a group of white thugs at the Montgomery bus station.

In 1963, Birmingham police and firemen used dogs and fire hoses to thwart demonstrations by blacks protesting that city’s segregated public parks.

That same year, Gov. George Wallace stood in the schoolhouse door at the University of Alabama in an orchestrated, futile “protest” against the admission of two black students to the all-white school.

Other cities and other states had their own examples of discrimination in the area of public accommodations, but Alabama’s seemed to “lead” the way.

When Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act, many thought changes would be immediate. They eventually occurred, but not as fast as some had hoped. It didn’t take 15 years or more as it did to integrate public schools in the country, but it was a long, slow process.

Flynt said he and his wife were at the State Archives building after the Civil Rights Act had been signed into law, but found that it wasn’t being observed at a place he often used to do his research.

“My wife was at the extreme end of the table, far from the black woman who had been sitting at the other end,” Flynt said. “The employee said to me: “Suppose some legislator saw her sitting there with that black woman. He’d probably stop our funding.”

Gray, who is field director of the Alabama Democratic Conference based in Montgomery, said he and his friends hated segregation “and we’d get angry over the way things were, but we knew we couldn’t change anything at that time.”

Gray, 65, said he often wondered if those who fostered discrimination realized what they were doing.

“Here we had Christian people, good human beings, and they were promoting this nonsense,” Gray said.

Foundations for the Civil Rights Act were laid many years before Johnson signed it into law. The first push toward racial equality began after the end of World War II, when black troops came home from combat and refused to accept things the way they had been.

In a speech given just after he signed the law, Johnson talked about the country’s patriotic past and his hopes for the future devoid of discrimination.

“We believe that all men are entitled to the blessings of liberty,” he said. “Yet, millions are being deprived of those blessings — not because of their own failures, but because of the color of their skin.”

It’s unlikely he was aware of Boynton’s arrest, but his speech on July 2, 1964, certainly underscored the actions of many black citizens who had enough of segregation and weren’t going to stand for it anymore.

Boynton’s arrest may not have been as dramatic as Parks’ refusal to give up her seat on a Montgomery bus, but it was every bit as important.

A 21-year-old student at the Howard University Law School, Boynton was aware of a decree by the U.S. Interstate Commerce Commission prohibiting discrimination against plane, bus and train passengers.

He knew his actions on Dec. 18, 1958, could lead to his arrest, but it didn’t stop him from ordering his cheeseburger.

“The manager said ‘N—-r, move’ and when I didn’t, he called the police and they arrested me,” said Boynton, a Selma lawyer. I was convicted in city court and fined $10.”

The son of two activist parents, Boynton wasn’t about to pay the fine or accept the conviction. He eventually was represented by future U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall and the conviction was overturned.

Boynton said today’s generation of black men and women appear to lack the same commitment to equality that his generation had so avidly pursued.

“It reinforces my belief that the education of black people has never been a priority in this country,” he said. “Black people just don’t know their history. We were a creation of a slave society and until we know about out history, we will continue to be slaves.”

At the Rosa Parks Branch of the Montgomery Public Library, Jazzmine Gardber, M’Kaila Young, and her brother Michael spent part of Friday morning at a table, reading books to pass the time.

Neither seemed to know much about America’s civil rights era and the importance of the 40th anniversary of the federal law that ended segregation.

“I don’t really think about it too much, probably because it’s something in the past,” said M’Kaila, 10.

Teresa Temple, the manager of the Rosa Parks branch, began her career in 1953 when the city’s public library system was segregated. She was at the Union Street branch at the time. It wasn’t air-conditioned and the number of books fell far short of the city’s Carnegie Library, which was for use only by whites.

Three years before the Civil Rights Act was signed, the city built two new libraries — the “black one” now named for Parks and the “white one,” located on High Street.

Alabama author Richard Bailey remembers when public libraries were separate and unequal.

In the late 1960s, a few years after Johnson signed the law, several black students went to the “white library” and demanded to check out some books.

“When they were refused, they had a sit-in,” Temple recalled. “The library board felt they’d keep coming back, so they took the chairs out and they had to sit on the floor. They took out the chairs at our library, too.”

The chairs eventually were returned and segregation at the library ended — as it would at other public facilities — from parks and playgrounds to swimming pools and recreation centers in Montgomery and throughout the South.

“When you grew up under segregation, you just went with the flow,” said Temple, who, at 66, has been a witness to racism and racial harmony in the city she loves.

Bailey agrees. He said segregation was so entrenched, as he grew up in Montgomery “that we didn’t question it.”

“We knew the obstacles we faced and we didn’t want to be branded as trouble-makers,” he said. “If we had to do without something, that what we did.”

Bailey is one of Alabama’s most respected writers today and has authored several books about prominent black citizens.

If he had written them 40 years ago, its unlikely they’d have been available at Montgomery’s “white” library.

They can be found there today.

KEY DATES

When civil rights leaders began pushing for legislation to knock down barriers for blacks in education and employment, they were told the odds were against them.

But the mood in Congress changed after President Kennedy was assassinated and violence against civil rights workers and black citizens in the South increased.

Key dates in the push to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964:

June 11, 1963: President Kennedy calls for a civil rights act in televised speech
June 20: Rep. Emmanuel Celler, D-N.Y., introduces H.R. 7152 in the House
Nov. 22: President Kennedy dies from assassin’s bullet in Dallas
Feb. 10, 1964: The House passes the bill 290-130 after 70 days of public hearings with 275 witnesses and nine days of floor
Feb. 26: Senate votes 54-37 to bypass the Judiciary
March 26: Debate on civil rights bill begins
March 26 to June 10: Filibuster or attempt to delay vote on
June 10: Senate ends the filibuster with a 71-29 vote
June 19: Senate votes 73-27 for the Civil Rights Act
July 2: House passes the Senate version 289-126
July 2: President Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1964 into law

Source: Betty K. Koed, Assistant Historian, US Senate. Compiled by Ellyn Ferguson with Gannett News Service

STATE DELEGATION OPPOSED 1964 BILL

Members of the Alabama congressional delegation stood shoulder to shoulder 40 years ago to fight efforts to end segregation and racial discrimination.

And they lost—decisively.

Democratic Sens. Lister Hill and John Sparkman, and the eight members of Alabama’s House delegation, all Democrats, were some of the most active opponents of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. The legislation gave black Americans a better chance to increase their economic and political power.

“That piece of legislation by itself posed a significant challenge to what had become a way of life in the South,” said D’Linell Finley, a political science professor at Auburn University Montgomery. “The lawmakers had to oppose it because they were concerned about their political careers.”

Today, members of the Alabama delegation express strong support for the Civil Rights Act and recently voted for nonbinding resolutions honoring the 40th anniversary of its signing.

That represents a dramatic departure from the actions taken by the men who were members of the delegation in 1964. Statements and votes entered into the Congressional Record at the time reveal virulent opposition to the legislation among lawmakers representing Alabama and other Southern states.

The act, promoted by then-Attorney General Robert Kennedy and signed into law by President Johnson on July 2, 1964, outlawed discrimination based on “race, color, religion or national origin,” and sped the desegregation of public schools.

In 1964, 10 years after the landmark Brown v. Board of Education school desegregation decision, fewer than one-half of 1 percent of Alabama’s black children went to school with white children.

The act also denied federal funds to programs that discriminated, allowed discrimination cases to be heard in federal court, and reduced congressional representation to states that disenfranchised black voters.

The House approved the Civil Rights Act on Feb. 10, 1964, on a 290-130 vote, after lawmakers defeated dozens of amendments sponsored by Southern lawmakers aimed at weakening the act. One of the defeated amendments was a measure introduced in the Rules Committee by Rep. George Andrews of Union Springs that would have created a federal resettlement commission to move black people out of the South.

The chairman of the Rules Committee, Rep. William Conner, D-Miss., decided a more subtle attack might be more successful. He headed an informal Southern group of lawmakers, including the Alabamians, who met behind closed doors to craft amendments that would gut sections of the bill related to the integration of public accommodations and the cutoff of federal funds to agencies that discriminated.

Albert Rains of Gadsden argued unsuccessfully that denying federal funds to agencies that discriminated would “curb and curtail” the federal housing program that helped poor Alabamians secure shelter.

But Rep. Emanuel Celler, D-N.Y., retorted “as a matter of simple justice, federal funds to which taxpayers contribute ought not to be expanded to support or foster discriminatory practices.”

BLACK AMERICA BY THE NUMBERS

When Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 on July 2, supporters hoped it would significantly alter the lives of millions of blacks locked out of opportunities by decades of legal discrimination.

The Census Bureau, which collects demographic and economic information, has released a progress report on black America since then. The bureau adjusted income numbers for inflation for a truer comparison.

Here are the numbers:

An estimated 20.7 million blacks lived in the United States in 1964; an estimated 38.3 million blacks lived in the United States by July 1, 2002
$18,859 (in inflation adjusted dollars) was the black median family income in 1964; it was $33,634 in 2002 (Median income means half of all families had higher incomes and half had lower incomes.)
41.8 percent of U.S. blacks lived in poverty in 1966; 23.9 percent in 2002
26 percent of all blacks 25 and older had high school diplomas in 1964; 80 percent had diplomas by 2003 ‘
4 percent of blacks 25 and older had college degrees in 1964; 17 percent had college degrees in 2003

Compiled by Ellyn Ferguson with Gannett News Service

The drama in the Senate was more intense.

Southern senators opposed to the Civil Rights Act decided to use a different tactic than their colleagues in the House had used. Instead of trying to amend the legislation, they tried to prevent a vote on it through a filibuster, or extended debate.

Hill, along with Sens. Alien J. Ellender, D-La., and John Stennis, D-Miss., led a 19-member group of Southern lawmakers who took turns keeping the filibuster alive on the Senate floor.

The filibuster lasted 57 days until supporters of the bill were able to muster enough votes to end it.

Southern senators had used the filibuster about a dozen times before to derail civil rights legislation, but this time the tactic failed. The Civil Rights Act was approved by the Senate on a 73-27 vote on June 19, 1964.

Congressional approval of the act was prompted in large part by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s historic 1963 march on Washington and escalating racial strife, including riots in northern cities and the bombing deaths of four black girls in a Birmingham church.

“The events of the civil rights movement were always in the forefront of the debate on the bill,” said Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., a proponent of the bill. “Each step of the way, we knew that everything we did had real consequences for the future of the nation.”

Published July 2, 2004

Montgomery Advertiser

Teresa Temple, manager of the Rosa Parks Library branch in Montgomery, started working when the city’s public library system in 1953 when it was segregated.

History of Centennial Hill comes to life at Sunday lecture

Fri, 15 May 2026 03:57:28 GMT

The history and people of one of Montgomery’s oldest neighborhoods were the focus of a special Sunday lecture.

Richard Bailey presented the lecture “An Afternoon in Centennial Hill” Sunday at the Church of the Good Shepherd on South Jackson Street.

The event was sponsored by the Landmarks Foundation and the Centennial Hill Neighborhood Association.

Several present and former residents were on hand to share firsthand knowledge of the community.

Civil rights pioneer Johnnie Carr and state Sen. Charles Langford live in the community.

Centennial Hill is near the downtown area and includes many notable landmarks, including Alabama State University and Booker T. Washington Magnet High School.

Marker Tells Stories of Slave Trade, Freedom

Fri, 15 May 2026 03:55:56 GMT

History converges at square

By Ken L. Spear, Montgomery Advertiser

A historic marker unveiled in the town square on Dexter Tuesday took a crowd of Montgomerians back to more than a century ago.

The planting of the new marker at Court Square Fountain nurtures two stories: One side designates the location of the city’s slave market. Its flipside denotes the 1866 parade to mark the first time Alabamians had the opportunity to observe the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation.

“Montgomery is arguably the most historic city in America,” said Councilman Tracy Larkin. While commemorating the past, it can sometimes be “painful and embarrassing,” but there is value in studying all history.”

The life-changing events of decades gone by merely form a triangle near Court Square, ceremony participants learned. Slaves shipped from the Alabama River were traded along with mules and other livestock, historians noted. In this area lies a marker summarizing the story about the telegram to fire on Fort Sumter, sparking the Civil War. And this spot also marks where Rosa Parks boarded the bus in December 1955 and gave birth to the Montgomery bus boycott.

Organizers say this marker highlights one of the most momentous occasions in history and future research on families. In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln declared in the Emancipation Proclamation all persons held as slaves were free. When news arrived to the Capital City, a parade through town followed.

Holland Thompson, a pioneering black Holland Thompson, a pioneering black alderman and state legislator during that period, then told the crowd to “show by good conduct, industry and fidelity, that the year 1866 was a year of jubilee, instead of insurrection, ” the marker read.

Thompson also told the mass of people to acquire land, homes and education for their children, the marker read.

“The slave marker is important because genealogists usually take pride in knowing where slaves were sold so that they Oh trace their lineage@ more effectively,” said historian, Rich Bailey. “Montgomery was a major slave market in the antebellum South.”

For 16,year-old Raymond Barnes, his understanding of slavery is more of a textbook issue and stories passed down through generations.

“It is good not to have somebody ruling over you. We’re free and can do whatever we want,” said Raymond as he entered St. Jude Catholic Church for an Emancipation Proclamation celebration. “I’m happy we don’t have to go through that stuff.”

Robert James, a past president of the Emancipation Association of Montgomery, said the past can’t be overlooked.

“Those of us who had relatives who came through those times can only think about what they went through,” James said, “and thank God it won’t happen again.”

___________________________

Ken L Spear covered education for the Montgomery Advertiser; Photos by Mickey Welsh Staff

MONTGOMERY SLAVE MARKETS

On the reverse of the historic marker unveiled Tuesday is a designation of Montgomery’s slave market. It states:

The city’s slave market was at the Artesian Basin (Court Square). Slaves of all ages were auctioned, along with land and livestock, standing in line to be inspected. Public posters advertised sales and included gender, approximate age, first name (slaves did not have last names), skill, price, complexion and owner’s name. In the 1850s, able field hands brought $1,500; skilled artisans $3,000. In 1859, the city had seven auctioneers and four slave depots; one at Market Street (Dexter Avenue) and Lawrence, another at the corner of Perry and Monroe, and two on Market between Lawrence and McDonough.

Originally Published: Montgomery Advertiser, 2 January 2002

Researcher Writes Book About Key Blacks

Fri, 15 May 2026 03:53:34 GMT

Claims although they belonged to the Republican Party, they were not carpet-baggers or scalawags

by Nick Lackeos

Alabama Journal staff writer

Editors note: This article was originally printed in the Montgomery Advertiser under the title, Neither Carpetbagger Nor Scalawag. It appeared on page 1F of the Sunday, June 9, 1991 edition and republished in the Maxwell-Gunter Dispatch on 21 June 1991. Dr. Richard Bailey is assigned to the Center for Aerospace Doctrine, Research and Education, and was named one of the 20 Maxwell-Gunter Angels in April 1991 for his volunteer work.

Prior to the Civil War, one-time slave Horace King was famous in Alabama for his bridge-building skills. But it was his post Civil War job that brought him to the attention of a local author. Mr. King was one of 247 influential black men who held public office in Alabama during Reconstruction who are featured in a book written by Richard Bailey.

Dr. Bailey is a research and writing specialist at the Center for Aerospace Doctrine, Research and Education. His work involves researching and editing military documents and manuscripts, and coaching Air University students in research and writing.

Reconstruction is a period that fascinates the Montgomery native. He became familiar with the period during the research and writing of a dissertation to obtain his doctorate in history from Kansas State University. He continued the research after the dissertation, spending weekends and evenings for six years poring over old letters, documents and photographs at the Alabama Department of Archives and History.

He financed publication of “Neither Carpetbaggers Nor Scalawags: Black Officeholders during the Reconstruction of Alabama, 1867-1878.” The hardback book went on sale in March [1991] and is available at bookstores in several Alabama cities.

One of the more fascinating men featured in the book is Mr. King, who was born in South Carolina in 1809 and sent North by his owner to learn the bridge building trade.

John Godwin, King’s owner brought him to Alabama as his foreman in 1832. In his first year in the state, he constructed the Dillingham Street Bridge, linking Phenix City and Columbus, GA. Over the next 30 years, Mr. King built bridges that spanned the Chattahoochee River as far north as Lafayette and as far south as Eufaula.

He also constructed roads in west Georgia and east Alabama, and in 1840 restored the Muscogee County Courthouse in Columbus. The structure had burned the previous year.

When Godwin went bankrupt in 1846, instead of selling King to help with his debts, he freed the slave, an act that illustrated the “unusual bond of friendship” the two men shared, Mr. Bailey wrote in his book. King was the only black, future legislator who “received his freedom while residing in Alabama.”

King was an excellent example of a good, productive citizen, and a man who took pride in doing quality work, Mr. Bailey said. His reputation as a fine builder was known throughout Alabama and Georgia, and he was chosen to repair the stairwell in the state Capitol in Montgomery after it burned in 1849.

During the Civil War, King repaired bridges for the Confederacy, writes Mr. Bailey.

However, by the end of the Civil War, things were beginning to happen for blacks as a whole, Mr. Bailey said. Blacks were encouraged to vote and run for office. King had no trouble in that arena, he said.

“Horace King represented Russell County in the Alabama Legislature, but he didn’t even have to run for office,” Mr. Bailey said. “The blacks and whites of Russell County drafted him. He was a man of his word. And he worked for good race relations.”

And when blacks like King served in the legislature and held other public offices in that era, they worked to make it possible for blacks in general to better themselves, he said.

It was in this period that blacks in Alabama were able to establish banks, schools, labor unions and newspapers, he said. “When you look at the kind of poverty they must have experienced in slavery, you can understand the significance of these achievements,” Mr. Bailey said. These changes not only benefit blacks, they also helped poor whites, many of whom had no access to schools before the Civil War.

“Reconstruction brought public education to Alabama,” Mr. Bailey said.

Despite their achievements, black legislators and other black office holders began to lose power in the political arena.

Mr. King moved to LaGrange, Ga., with his five sons and continued to construct homes and bridges, until his death in 1887.

In looking back over his research, Mr. Bailey wrote: “White Republicans wanted only the black vote; they tolerated black office holding, which existed in the shadows of white Republican rule. In that context, although black lawmakers belonged to the Republican Party, they were neither carpetbaggers nor scalawags.”

The more Mr. Bailey learned about the era — the people and their achievements — the more he wanted to share the information with others, he said. “I wanted to write this book so people could see the great personalities — blacks and whites — that we had here in Alabama during Reconstruction.”

Mr. Bailey is fascinated by many periods of history. When he reads about World War II or the Battle of Hastings, he feels as if he were there.

“When you are a historian, what happened 40 years ago or 100 years ago is just like yesterday,” he said. He began to feel a kinship with the past when he was a boy in Montgomery public schools, reading history textbooks and biographies.

His parents, Lottie and the late Raymond Bailey, always encouraged him and his seven brothers and three sisters to do their best in school. In his school days, he was an athlete, working out with weights and playing football. He loved books but he never dreamed he would someday be an author.

“If you were black, growing up in Alabama in the 50s and 60s, you didn’t grow up dreaming you’d write a book or get a Ph.D.,” he said. “You dreamed of just graduating from high school and of getting a job, and you hoped you would find work in something other than digging ditches.”

Originally Published:

Neither Carpetbagger Nor Scalawag, Montgomery Advertiser-Journal, 9 June 1991

Researcher Writes Book about Key Blacks, Maxwell-Gunter Dispatch, 21 June 1991

Nick Lackeos, Alabama Journal

Books and Such

Fri, 15 May 2026 03:50:23 GMT

by Dr. Ralph J. Bryson

Neither Carpetbaggers Nor Scalawags: Black Officeholders During the Reconstruction of Alabama, 1867-1878, by Dr. Richard Bailey

A Profile and Review

When Richard Bailey became a national officer in Kappa Alpha Psi, little did he realize that 21 years later he would write a significant work in American history. At the 56th Grand Chapter meeting in Charlotte, NC, Dr. William T. Carter was elected 20th Grand Polemarch and LM Bailey Grand Strategus. Richard, then, was a junior at Alabama State University, a member of Beta Zeta Chapter, and President of the Panhellenic Council. LM Bailey went on to receive the BS and MEd from Alabama State, the MA from Atlanta University, and the Ph.D. from Kansas State University. He majored in 19th Century American history.

Since that time Dr. Bailey has enjoyed a joint fellowship from Cleveland State University and the University of Massachusetts to travel and study in Europe and Africa. Hard working and much in demand, he has written columns in a number of newspapers and has appeared on numerous state radio and television shows. He is a member of the Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church, the Montgomery Alumni Chapter, the Alabama Historical Association, and Phi Delta Kappa. Dr. Bailey is married and the father of two daughters and one son, Richard Bailey, Jr. Currently he is a research and writing specialist at the Center for Aerospace Doctrine, Research and Education at Maxwell Air Force Base’s Air University.

Neither Carpetbaggers Nor Scalawags is a study of the leadership role which black officeholders played in Alabama during the period of Reconstruction. Not looking for personal advantages (Northern carpetbaggers) nor seeking to ride the backs of the Republicans in power (Southern scalawags), black leaders, according to Bailey, were concerned with developing an educational, economic and social existence for their people. With the help of sympathetic whites–the biracial aspect of the book–blacks assumed positions of political, religious, and educational leadership. Between 1867 and 1884, 108 African Americans represented Alabama as lawmakers. In an interview, Bailey said that in this period blacks in Alabama were able to establish banks, schools, labor unions, and newspapers.

“When you look at the kind of poverty they must have experienced in slavery, you can understand the significance of these achievements,” he said. These changes not only benefited blacks, but they also helped poor whites, many of whom had no access to schools before the Civil War.

According to Bailey, “Reconstruction brought public education to Alabama. Both Alabama State and Alabama A&M universities were founded then.

In his book, Bailey profiles some 247 influential black men who held office during this period. Among them were Horace King, who built bridges that spanned the Chattahoochee River as far north as Lafayette and as far south as Eufaula. Later he represented Russell County in the Alabama legislature. James T. Rapier was appointed assessor of internal revenue in April 1871 and praised as “the leading colored man of our state. . . .” Benjamin F. Royal of Bullock County served three successive terms in the senate. Ovide Gregory, a free-born delegate who spoke fluent French and Spanish, represented Mobile County.

Bailey brings out quite well the decline of the Reconstruction Movement and the disappointments this brought to the black leaders. Ku Klux Klan violence became more widespread against blacks, and federal troops became less reliable in stopping the terrorist activities. Democrats began to gain the upper hand. With the compromise election of Republican Rutherford B. Hayes to the Presidency in 1876, federal troops were withdrawn altogether from the South. Bailey said that “in the absence of legal protection for blacks, a new kind of violence swept across Alabama, leaving fear in its tracks.” Lynchings became commonplace. In a sad way, the Reconstruction period came to an end. However, Bailey points out that the African American members of the Republican Party during this time–neither carpetbaggers nor scalawags–were men of vision, and they laid the foundation for future leadership.

Dr. Bailey is to be commended for this fine piece of historical research. It is not only factual but also well-written. Appendix A in the book lists the major black officeholders with such pertinent information as the county they represented, pre-war and post-war status, age, and other facts. Appendix B does the same thing for minor officeholders. Much can be made of this data alone.

If you wish to purchase a copy of this book, which the author financed himself, orders may be placed to:

Richard Bailey

P.0. Box 1264

Montgomery, AL 36102-1264

Work: (205) 953-6745

Or you can call any book outlet using the ISBN.

The cost is $XX.XX, and the book is well worth it.

Published: October 1991

States black officeholders after Civil War had impact

Fri, 15 May 2026 03:48:33 GMT

NEITHER CARPETBAGGERS NOR SCALAWAGS, Black Officeholders during the Reconstruction of Alabama, 1867-1878, by Richard Bailey. 498 pages. $29.95.

While we generally think of the Civil War ending on April 9, 1865, at Appomattox, Va., when Lee surrendered to Grant, fighting continued in Alabama until May 8, when Confederate Gen. Richard Taylor gave up to Union forces near Citronelle.

When that happened, 439,000 slaves were suddenly freed. In Alabama, a new phase of American history began. The former slaves found themselves looking for food and shelter — the same as many poor whites.

In this self-published work, historian Richard Bailey puts a focus on the role that black elected officials played in the tumult of Reconstruction, but also paints a stark and vivid portrait of life in those troubled times after the gunfire ended and “peace” began.

He tells of hundreds of blacks leavings plantations to be free only to find themselves shackled by cold and hunger. Many, living in fields and in small huts, froze to death in the bitterly cold winter of 1865-66.

Before long, many found themselves back on plantations, working for meager wages or shares, paid after deductions for food, lodging, etc. White resistance to blacks voting and seeking office resulted in full-scale violence, often led by the Ku Klux Klan.

In Eufaula, 800 blacks marched into town to take part in an election. Gunfire erupted. When it ended, several whites were wounded, but 100 blacks were wounded and killed. Yet, in the days to come, more than 300 black men were elected to various offices in the state, and at Selma, a black man was hired to be a member of the police force.

Bailey, in his preface, states that the work is in part a response to earlier accounts in which the violence and social upheaval of Reconstruction is blamed in large part on black office holders, who won office running under the banner of the Republican Party, the party of Lincoln.

In the back of the book, Bailey provides a list of the officeholders, giving their status prior to the Civil War, their age, what office they held, where they were from, and other data. Researchers will find this chart alone a vital and valuable tool.

The officeholders include John Carraway of Mobile county, who had served in the Civil War with the 54th Massachusetts Regiment, an all black unit. As a member of the Alabama Legislature, Carraway lost a battle to eliminate discriminatory practices in transportation. As a private in the Army he had written a ballad that depicted life for black soldiers, called “Colored Volunteers.”

In the end, blacks who won offices in Alabama began to lose them as quickly as they had been gained, and within a dozen years of freedom, few held elected posts. By the end of the 1870s, none did.

Bailey says many factors led to the demise of blacks in political office in Alabama during that stormy period in Alabama.

“The African-American members of the party were confronted with insurmountable obstacles and uncompromising opposition. Therefore, whatever one says or writes about them one should note that they were men of vision. Because of these men, a semblance of leadership emerged…. These men helped to establish black education and helped black education to grow…”

Frank Sikora

Originally Published: The Birmingham News, Sunday, 21 July 1991, 4F

Unit Had Its Role to Play in War

Fri, 15 May 2026 02:48:48 GMT

By Frank Mastin, Jr.

MONTGOMERY Advertiser

Black soldiers of the 54th Massachusetts Regiment went through hell for the right to fight and die like men in the Civil War. When they were permitted, grudgingly, to fight in July 1863, they faced death in combat as well as execution by the Confederates if they were captured.

“This unit wanted to prove that blacks were not afraid to fight,” said historian Richard Bailey, research and writing specialist with the Air University Press at Maxwell Air Force Base.

“Any blacks who fought in the Civil War on the side of the Union Army and were captured by the Confederacy were not treated like prisoners of war. (They) were killed, there is no question about it,” said Bailey, who earned his doctorate from Kansas State University. He specializes in the Reconstruction period after the Civil War.

The 54th Massachusetts Regiment was formed reluctantly at the request of Frederick Douglass, a leading spokesman for blacks in the 1800s, Bailey said. Douglass had petitioned President Abraham Lincoln to form a black regiment so blacks could fight for their freedom. His son, Lewis Douglass, served with the 54th Massachusetts. Frederick Douglass argued that blacks should be allowed to fight for their freedom because the war was about slavery.

Initially, he was rebuffed by Northern whites who said, “‘They won’t fight, and, besides, this is not about slavery,”‘ Bailey said. Slavery became a major issue of the Civil War as the fortunes of war shifted to the Union side after 1862, Bailey said. Anthony Gene Carey, associate professor of history at Auburn University, said that while the North entered the war to reunite the secessionist Southern states, the goal of the Confederacy was to maintain its independence, which included the preservation of slavery.

In 1863, Douglass got his wish and the 54th Massachusetts was formed of free blacks from Massachusetts and other Union states, Bailey said. The regiment saw combat for the first time July 18, 1863. Led that day by their white commanding officer, 26-year-old Col. Robert Gould Shaw, the men of the 54th conducted a frontal assault across open ground against the heavily defended and well-fortified Fort Wagner, S.C., according to Bailey’s book “Neither Carpetbaggers nor Scalawags” (Third Edition, 1997).

From inside Fort Wagner, 1,700 defenders trained their muskets on 600 members of the 54th, killing 34 and wounding 146. Another 92 men of the 54th were captured or reported missing in action. The Confederates lost only eight men. The regiment’s attack on Fort Wagner is portrayed with chilling effect in the 1989 movie “Glory,” which won three Academy Awards.

Carey said the role of the 54th Massachusetts was an important part of the Civil War story. “I think the regiment itself is important, at least symbolically, or as an example of what African-Americans can and would do in battle,” Carey said. “By the end of the Civil War, 186,000 black soldiers served in the Union Army – that’s a lot of folks,” Carey said. “Historians now appreciate the contributions of black soldiers in the last couple of years of the war in terms of victory,” he said, “even if, as often was the case, they served in garrison duty.”

Although the black garrison soldiers freed their white Union comrades to fight, Carey said, many other black units, such as the 54th, actually saw combat.

Originally Published: Montgomery Advertiser, 26 May 1997

Song is part of soldier’s legacy

Fri, 15 May 2026 02:35:15 GMT

Bailey, who has a doctorate in 19th century American history, is research and writing specialist with the Air University Press at Maxwell Air Force Base.

In his book, “Neither Carpetbaggers nor Scalawags,” and in an interview last week, Bailey recalled his extensive research into Carraway’s past for his doctoral dissertation.

“I lost him in late 1869 and the early 1870’s,” Bailey said.

His research turned up no photograph of John Carraway, Bailey said.

Born in New Bern, N.C., in 1834, Carraway was the son of a wealthy white planter, Charles Carraway, and a slave woman whose name did not show up in historical records, Bailey said.

Carraway received his freedom upon the death of his father and traveled to Alabama, then back to New York, where he became a tailor.

After the war, Carraway returned to Alabama to live with his mother in Mobile, where he also became president of the Loyal Newspaper Society of Alabama and assistant editor of the Mobile Nationalist, the first black-oriented newspaper in Alabama, Bailey said.

Although Bailey can place Carraway in Company A of the 54th Massachusetts Regiment from March 3, 1863, to March 30, 1865, he found no record of Carraway excelling in a leadership role.

However, Bailey did discover an extraordinary piece of history related to Carraway’s military service in the 54th. As a private in the 54th, Carraway wrote a song, “Colored Volunteers,” about the experiences of the black soldiers in the unit.

Although this information was well-documented in Bailey’s research, nowhere in 15 years of searching had he found the song set to music.

What complicated Bailey’s search was the fact the song written by Carraway shows up in different sources under various titles and attributed to an unknown songwriter.

During a recent conversation with his boss, Col. Allan W. Howey, Director of the Air University Press, Bailey mentioned his interest in a song from the Civil War called “Colored Volunteers.”

“I said, ‘There was nothing about ‘Colored Volunteers’ in the movie ‘Glory,’ ” Bailey said. “He (Howey) said that he thought he heard the music.”

However, Bailey never had been able to associate any music with Carraway’s song.

The day after their conversation, Howey brought to the office a book of “Ballads and Songs of the Civil War” by Jerry Silverman, Published in 1993 by Mel Bay Publications.

Howey purchased the songbook last year during a visit to the Gettysburg Military National Park. On page 15 is a song labeled “The Regimental Song of the Massachusetts 54th(Colored) Regiment.”

“But the song is entitled ‘Give Us a Flag’ and is set to the tune of ‘Hoist Up the Flag’ by Billy Holmes,” Bailey said.

In the movie “Glory,” the 54th Massachusetts is shown marching to the instrumental tune “Give Us a Flag,” which Howey recognized from his songbook.

Carraway’s original tune to the song might be lost, but Billy Holmes’ music gives the words life.

The song lyrics were the same as Carraway’s “Colored Volunteers,” Which Bailey saw for the first time in a story in the Birmingham News in 1990.

“I said ‘My God, you’ve found it!’ ” Bailey said. “I had been looking for this (the music) for years!

“That was just like somebody telling you that your great-great grandfather was alive, and that they were going to take you to him. And they took you someplace and you saw your great-great grandfather sitting there.

“What we have here, for the first time since the Civil War, are the pieces of the puzzle linked together,” Bailey said. “The words, the songwriter, and the music.”

Originally Published: Montgomery Advertiser, 26 May 1997

Historian Richard Bailey of Montgomery

discusses the Civil War era song ‘Colored

Volunteers’ by John Carraway, who lived

much of his life in Alabama.

Fact Finder: A historian researched the exploits of a celebrated black Union soldier

By Frank Mastin, Jr.

Montgomery Advertiser

A Montgomery historian said the storied 54thMassachusetts Regiment, whose exploits are depicted in the 1989 film “Glory,” produced Alabama’s most celebrated black Union Army veteran.

John Carraway served one term as a Mobile alderman in 1869, which overlapped his earlier election to the Alabama House of Representatives in 1868, said historian Richard Bailey.

Media Reviews

Fri, 15 May 2026 02:27:51 GMT

Selected reviews of Neither Carpetbaggers Nor Scalawags, Black Officeholders during the Reconstruction of Alabama, 1867-1878.

Song is Part of Soldier’s Legacy

Montgomery Advertiser, 26 May 1997

Unit had its Role to Play in War

Montgomery Advertiser, 26 May 1997

States Black Officeholders After Civil War Had Impact

Frank Sikora, The Birmingham News, Sunday, 21 July 1991

Books and Such

Dr. Ralph J. Bryson, October 1991

Researcher Writes Book about Key Blacks

Nick Lackeos, Alabama Journal

Appeared in Dispatch, 21 June 1991 and also as

Neither Carpetbagger Nor Scalawag, Montgomery Advertiser-Journal, 9 June 1991

Dr. Richard Bailey Seeks To Discover Explorer De Soto’s Trail Through State

Fri, 15 May 2026 02:23:57 GMT

by Alvin Benn

Staff Writer

As a young man, Richard Bailey read everything he could get his hands on. He also loved to deliver his hometown Newspaper because it not only provided him with valuable tips on current events, but history lessons as well.

Today, Dr. Bailey is one of the state’s most respected historians, and his love of the past was underscored when he was one of only a few named to the Alabama De Soto Commission.

He and his colleagues spent years trying to come up with answers to a riddle 450 years in the making – what route did the famous Spanish explorer take on his ill-fated trip through the Southeastern United States in the 16th century?

It was a controversial assignment for commission members because they knew that regardless of their findings, there -would be disagreements from those with differing opinions and agendas.

“The biggest disagreement was which route he took when he left the Selma area,” said Dr. Bailey, 44, who is a research and writing specialist at the Center for Aerospace Doctrine, Research, and Education at Maxwell Air Force Base. “Some believe he went into Mississippi, while others feel he went south toward Mobile.”

De Soto’s route has been a puzzle ever since he and his Spanish troops landed in what now is Tampa, Fla., in 1539. His was the latest effort to find gold and other riches in the “New World” discovered 47 years earlier by Christopher Columbus.

It is known that De Soto’s 1,000-man force and the traveling city they inhabited moved through Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Oklahoma.

The exact path may never be known, Dr. Bailey said, because time has taken its toll on the expedition, and there are few clues to make a definitive statement on it.

“It’s impossible to say definitely where somebody traveled 450 years ago,” he said. “There are such widely diverse views on it, that we may never know.”

As the years go by and modern science merges with computerized technology, De Soto’s exact route might be found, he said.

“We don’t have the proper tools right now, but nothing is out of the realm of possibility in the years ahead as we continue to move forward scientifically,” said Dr. Bailey.

A scholar and author, he admits his fascination with De Soto probably had its roots when he was a youngster delivering The Montgomery Advertiser and The Alabama Journal.

His first route included about 135 Journal customers just after he finished the sixth grade, and after finishing the ninth grade he moved on to a bigger route with The Advertiser. He walked part of the time and rode a bicycle other times. He delivered The Journal in the area around Alabama State University near downtown Montgomery and The Advertiser in the Dalraida area.

Dr. Bailey’s pride and joy was his bicycle, bought at Sears and Roebuck with profits from his newspaper routes I remember it had big rubber tires,” he said with a smile. “It didn’t cost as much as a Schwinn, but it was just what I wanted and needed at the time.”

Most of Dr. Bailey’s life has been spent in academia, and it has given him a special appreciation for good study habits. He has a bachelor ‘s degree in science and two master’s degrees – in education and arts – as well as a doctorate.

He received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Alabama State University and then picked up his Ph.D. in philosophy from Kansas State University. He and his wife, Judy, have two daughters and a son.

In 1985, then-Gov. George Wallace named him to the 32-member Alabama De Soto Commission chaired by Doug Jones of the University of Alabama. “He (Dr. Bailey) was very enthusiastic about what we were doing and was an asset to our committee,” Dr. Jones said. “He was faithful in his attendance and was not afraid to let his opinions be known. Richard was very supportive or what we did and is a good citizen.”

… Although De Soto’s movements generally are common knowledge to historians, specifics often, are unavailable and amount to a needle in a huge historic haystack. Those in De Soto’s party who were entrusted to keep records did their best but couldn’t pinpoint exact locations. Whatever they did and wherever they went were firsts – much like the Lewis and Clark expedition into the uncharted Northwest Territory in the early 1800s.

Dr. Bailey and other members of the Alabama De Soto Commission pored over thousands of documents and visited areas the Spaniards are believed to have explored. De Soto’s army included a little bit of everything – from soldiers to priests who blessed them, from scribes to a large herd of swine.

The huge entourage traveled up to 4,000 miles as it wound its way into the Carolinas, Tennessee and then down to Mexico during a three-year odyssey in search of treasure that always eluded them.

De Soto’s caravan “discovered” the Mississippi River, and it is believed he was buried there in 1541 when he died of fever, Dr. Bailey said.

A major assignment of the Alabama De Soto Commission was to designate a trail to spotlight the route taken by the Spaniards. For historians such as Dr. Bailey, it offered a rare opportunity,

“We got a chance to look at the expedition from an academic perspective,” he said. “We dealt with the opening up of the New World by the Europeans. Few people today can condone De Soto’s methods, but the trip itself was a major historical event.” Dr. Bailey believes that De Soto and his troops entered the state in the Childersburg area, but he tends to disagree with those who feel the Spaniard went through the east Alabama city.

… He said the biggest question mark of all on finding the definitive route is the exact location of Mabila where De Soto got his comeuppance at the hands or Chief Tascaluza and about 5,000 Indians.

Some historians believe Mabila is somewhere near Cahawba, which is about 12 mills southwest of Selma. Others contend it’s in Clarke County, while another group feels it’s in the Mobile area because of the spelling similarity.

“If we can determine the exact location of Mabila, I think it would go a long way in figuring out the definitive route taken by De Soto on his way toward the Mississippi River,” Dr. Bailey said.

Chief Tascaluza, angered by the brutal treatment of his people by the Spanish explores lured De Soto and a group into the walled city of Mabila and then sprang his trap.

By the time the smoke and dust had cleared, a large portion of the De Soto expedition lay dead or dying and the rest was, indeed, history as it worked its way into virtual oblivion.

Only a handful of the De Soto group ever got back to Spain and 450 years later, their trek through Alabama is noted by markers from U.S. 270 in the Piedmont area near the Georgia line to U.S. 82 west of Tuscaloosa near the Mississippi border. Dr. Bailey believes Mabila is in the Cahawba area and that De Soto moved west from that point toward Mississippi.

His tenure with the Alabama De Soto Commission is viewed as another learning experience – one which provided him invaluable political as well as historical lessons.

“I think we can look back at that time in our history arid learn the value of keeping good records based on what we see and not what our perspectives might be,” he said.

In the meantime, he’s looking ahead to the 500th anniversary of De Soto’s trek…around the year 2040. Richard Jr. is only 1 year old, “so he should be about theright age when they try to find the definitive route again.”

Montgomery Advertiser , December 1, 1992

King Unified Thousands Churches Provided Network Supporting King

Fri, 15 May 2026 02:20:16 GMT

Photo by Jamie Sturtevant/Staff

Dr. Bailey comments on the movement the Rev. Dr. King led

by Greg Jaffe

Staff Writer

SEE PUBLICATION FOR TEXT

Montgomery Advertiser, January 17, 1993

Timeout for History

Fri, 15 May 2026 02:15:37 GMT

Students from the Montgomery County public schools’ Time Out program listen to historian Richard Bailey at the spot where Rosa Parks was arrested in 1955 for not giving up her seat on a city bus to a white man. The students were taking part Sunday in the Montgomery Community Network’s African-American Tour of historical sites.

Montgomery Advertiser, December 1, 1992

Blacks have long contributed to state

Fri, 15 May 2026 02:12:39 GMT

IMPACT TOUCHES MANY AREAS

Blacks have long contributed to state

By Richard Bailey

African-Americans with Alabama ties have rendered an invaluable service to the state and nation.

In military affairs, “Major” Jeffreys fought with Andrew Jackson in Mobile during the War of 1812. Alamo Joe, also known as Joe Travis, was a slave of William Barrett Travis and the sole male survivor at the Alamo. James H. Alston, later of Tuskegee, was a drummer in the Mexican War. John Carraway of Mobile wrote ” Colored Volunteers,” the most popular tune of black troops during the Civil War.

In the 20th century, Charles “Chief” Anderson trained blacks at Moton Field for air combat. Trying to rescue his mates at Pearl Harbor, Julius Ellsberry of Birmingham became the first Alabama black to die in World War II. William A. Campbell, of the 99th Fighter Squadron, was the first black to bomb enemy territory in the same war.

Showing political savvy, Reconstruction blacks helped to establish the Alabama Republican Party, churches, schools, banks, and labor unions. Benjamin S. Turner,

James Thomas Rapier, and Jeremiah Haralson were elected to Congress. Elected in 1882, W. P. Williams of Meridianville was the last black statewide officeholder of the 19th century.

Thomas Reed and Fred D. Gray reintroduced blacks to statewide officeholding in 1970 – nearly 88 years after Williams’ election – under the banner of the Democratic Party. They continued to advance the welfare of blacks. Earl F. Hilliard is the sole black congressman of the 20th century.

In education, Emerson Institute of Mobile became the state’s first black college in 1865. William Savery was the guiding force behind the establishment of Talladega College in 1867, while William James Edwards founded Snow Hill Institute in 1893.

At Tuskegee Institute, Booker T. Washington’s faculty reads like a who’s who of academia: Warren Logan handled finance; Monroe Work headed historical research; Cleve Abbott’s sport teams were nearly unstoppable; George Washington Carver traveled uncharted paths in scientific research; Thomas Campbell and Clinton J. Calloway advanced the farm extension program; Clement Richardson excelled in literature; Emmett J. Scott was Washington’s secretary until he was called to work in Washington; and Robert Park, a white faculty member, helped to establish social work at the University of Chicago after leaving Tuskegee.

Such names as Martin Luther King, Fred Shuttlesworth, and Ralph D. Abernathy helped to make Alabama the civil rights capital of the world. Adding to this list the names of Joseph Lowery, Arthur Shores, Rosa Parks, Albert Turner, Jimmie Lee Jackson, Fred D. Reese, E. D. Nixon, Gwendolyn Patton, and Bob Mants will cause readers to assume that having Alabama ties is a prerequisite for work in civil rights. Alabama blacks have held their own in athletics, too. Joe Louis and Jesse Owens excelled at the time when blacks had few national heroes.

Through the talents of Satchel Paige, Henry Aaron, Cleon Jones, Monte Irvin, Willie Mays, Willie McCovey and Bo Jackson, Alabama has been well represented in baseball. The state has two heavyweight champions in Louis and Evander Holyfield.

Alabama blacks sang with the Temptations and the Drifters. Prominent entertainers have included Dinah Washington, Nat King Cole, Big Mamma Thornton, W. C. Handy, and Wilson Pickett.

Percy L. Julian and Levi Watkins Jr. have continued the pace established in science by Carver. Andrew Jackson Beard invented the railroad coupler, and Isaac Hathaway was one of the nation’s most celebrated sculptors.

In literature, Margaret Walker Alexander, Jim Haskins, and Sonia Sanchez have written for wide audiences.

When Alabama builds on the record of these achievers, the future becomes as bright as the past.

Richard Bailey is a historian and the author of the forthcoming, “They Too Call Alabama Home: African American Profiles, 1800-1998. “

Montgomery Advertiser, 1999

City Unveils Civil Rights Marker

Fri, 15 May 2026 01:56:20 GMT

Historian Richard Bailey speaks during the unveiling of an historic marker across the street from City Hall in Montgomery on Thursday. The marker honors Elijah Cook on one side and commemorates the city of Montgomery v. Rosa Parks on the other.

Rev. Robert Graetz, left, chats with

attorney Fred Gray before the unveiling.

Published Montgomery Advertiser

Baily Speaks at King Day Ceremony

Fri, 15 May 2026 01:53:27 GMT

By Kimberly L Wright

Dispatch staff writer

When summarizing the impact of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., speaker Dr. Richard Bailey of the Air Force Research Institute noted, “Whether you live in Mobile, Minneapolis or Monterey, on the third Monday of January, all roads in America lead to Montgomery.” Attendees and speakers alike pondered the life and legacy of Dr. King during a Martin Luther King Jr. Remembrance Day luncheon Jan. 22 at the Officers’ Club, an event with the theme of “Remember, Celebrate and Act! A Day On, Not a Day Off”.

To further emphasize the theme, 2nd Lt. Sherry Liebnitzky, who served as master of ceremonies, noted, “Remember the little bit you do today can go a long way tomorrow.”

Dr. King was an “ordinary person who accomplished extraordinary things by answering the clarion call for humanity,” said Dr. Bailey. He also brought out lesser-known facts about Dr. King to highlight his ordinariness. When he was an undergraduate at Morehouse College, Dr. King was a member of the glee club even though he did not excel at it. Also, Dr. King graduated Morehouse College with a 2.48 grade point average on a 4-point scale. “He did not allow his 2.48 GPA to deter him,” said Dr. Bailey.

Propelled into action by his strong Christian faith, Dr. King accepted ministry as his calling while at Morehouse, embracing the power of love as a “force . for progressive social change.” The research of political activism was the initial step Dr. King took as a way of “refusing to cooperate with an evil system,” said Dr. Bailey. Mahatma Gandhi’s “example of love and nonviolence” profoundly influenced Dr. King, as he was “inspired by the vision of humanity proceeding toward peace.” He began to see nonviolence as a “primary and necessary means of affecting social change. Love was the heart of the teachings of Jesus,” he said. He adopted all of Gandhi’s practices as “a way of life.” Dr. King was also inspired by the social disobedience of Henry David Thoreau, who went to jail for something in which he believed.

Accepting a ministry position, Dr. King came to Montgomery in 1953, describing it as a “sleepy little city.” But it would not stay that way, and he was propelled into political activism in 1955 during the Montgomery Bus Boycott, during which time he was arrested, and his parsonage was firebombed. The bus boycott transformed King from a scholar- minister into “a man for the ages,” said Dr. Bailey.

Dr. Bailey said that Dr. King “majored in love, minored in hope.” When Dr. King established the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in 1957, “that was love;” when he won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964, “that was hope,” said Dr. Bailey. Weeks before his assassination in Memphis in 1968, Dr. King told his congregation at the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta that he wanted to be remembered as someone who “tried to love somebody and tried to give his life serving others,” said Dr. Bailey. As a final spur to action, Dr. Bailey asked those present to take action like King did to make a difference in the lives of those who are suffering. “I ask you to reach out to the 1 million homeless children in America who see life only through teardrops,” he said. He also cited statistics for those jobless, hungry, depressed, functionally illiterate, or suicidal. “Make this world a better place,” said Dr. Bailey. “Yes, we can.”

Col. Kris Beasley, 42nd Air Base Wing commander, who called the speech Dr. Bailey gave “inspiring from the heart,” likewise encouraged those assembled to work toward a better tomorrow. “Let’s go out and do some good things in the world,” he said.

Published Maxwell-Gunter Dispatch

Dr. Richard Bailey

Alabama Voices Lincoln: ‘The Great Emancipator’ by Richard Bailey

Fri, 15 May 2026 01:41:44 GMT

Another Alabamian observed on the eve of the 1912 celebration, “He [Lincoln] will forever live in the memory of a grateful people.”

Richard Bailey chairs the Montgomery Historic Preservation Commission.

“Aye, He signed that Declaration

Freed the Negro’s life from sin.

Aye, that noble Christian Lincoln

Signed it with his feather pen.”

New Year’s Day 2013 marks the sesquicentennial of the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation, one of the most significant documents in American history.

Indeed, the Emancipation Proclamation immortalized Pres. Abraham Lincoln. For example, a 2009 C-Span poll of 64 historians reaffirmed a poll of 2000 that rated Lincoln as the best president ever. In addition, 42 cities, five national parks (the highest among presidents), a national holiday, and Ford Motor Company’s luxury vehicle have been named for Lincoln. A coin and a postal stamp also bear his likeness.

Black Americans call him the “Great Emancipator” and credit the party of Lincoln for black suffrage. Through the Reconstruction Act of 2 March 1867, former slaves in Tuscumbia became the first black voters in Alabama when they participated in a municipal election on 1 April 1867.

Through a supplementary act of 23 March, military commanders enrolled new black voters statewide and supervised an election for a constitutional convention for November. These voters became the first black voters in state history, the 45 black registrars who enrolled these 88,243 voters became the state’s first black officeholders, and the 18 constitutional convention delegates became the state’s first black lawmakers.

Appearing in north Alabama in 1863, the Union League gave former slaves enormous reasons to help organize the Alabama Republican Party. Black votes also helped to elect William Hugh Smith of Randolph County as the state’s first Republican governor in February 1868.

Black appreciation for Lincoln continued on 12 February 1900, when James Weldon Johnson recited his “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing” to introduce guest speaker Booker T. Washington for a Lincoln birthday celebration; the black-owned and – –operated Lincoln Motion Picture Company of Los Angeles relied on an all-black cast to produce six family-oriented films between 1915 and 1921; and in 1926 Carter G. Woodson placed Black History Week in February to coincide with the birth dates of Lincoln and Frederick Douglass.

Similar to the Lincoln Chapel School, Lincoln Cemetery was an asset to Primrose Heights. Ida Barnett of 516 S. Ripley Street began selling lots in 1907, months before the cemetery’s opening in March 1908; company manager R. L. Dillard sold lots for $25.00, with $1.00 down and $1.00 monthly from his Dexter Avenue office; and D. L. Brown, a later manager at the relocated N. Lawrence Street office, constructed vaults and headstones at his Tatum Street plant.

In addition, Talmadge DeWitt Bryant of Wetumpka survived a torpedo attack and the sinking of the President Lincoln in June 1918, and US Navy Cmdr Marquis Patton of Sylacauga served aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln in 2008.

Businessman Ed Weiss of Demopolis was one of six statewide agents for the Birmingham-based Lincoln Reserve Life Insurance Company, nicknamed also called the “Giant of Dixie.”

Dentist W. F. Watkins and businessman W. J. Robinson represented Montgomery at the permanent organization of the Lincoln League of America that assembled at the Pythian Temple Theatre in New Orleans in June 1919. It sought protection for blacks regarding voting, violence, and public accommodation.

After the president signed the proclamation, he realized its limited direct effect in freeing the slaves. His proposal in the 1864 Republican Party platform called for a constitutional amendment to abolish slavery. He called the 13th Amendment “An Act of Justice.”

Yet southern blacks could not observe the proclamation, since the nation was still at war. That situation soon changed, too. At 7 AM on 12 April 1865—exactly four years after southern forces fired on Fort Sumter to begin the war –Mayor Walter L. Coleman and 10 councilmen surrendered Montgomery. Gen Edward McCook later spoke near the same spot where Jefferson Davis had taken his oath of office. Rejoicing blacks realized freedom had arrived.

Emancipation celebrations in the South began in earnest in 1866. Alabama celebrations have occurred in such locales as Waugh, Dothan, Mobile, Plateau, Greenville, Birmingham, Union Springs, Mount Meigs, and Madison Park.

They are usually celebrated on New Year’s Day; however, Montgomery’s 1884 celebration occurred in April, and the city’s 1911 celebration occurred on 2 January, since New Year’s Day was a Sunday.

Themes have emphasized morality, frugality, and equal rights. Some programs have urged audiences to “harbor no ill feelings towards their white brethren.” Programs include a reading of the Emancipation Proclamation and a speech by a prominent person. Early celebrations were preceded by parades–with brass bands, fire companies, and local organizations–that usually began at the court house or a church. The first Emancipation parade in Montgomery began on Commerce Street and ended at the southeast corner of Mildred and Holcombe Streets—three blocks from the spot where Gen James H. Wilson had set up his command at Moulton and Church Streets in 1865 to conclude the first march from Selma to Montgomery.

These programs would not have been possible had there been no proclamation. But at 10:30 that New Year’s Day morning, the proclamation was brought to the president for his signature. He noticed an error and marked his revision. Shortly past noon, President Lincoln used the stroke of his small-barrel Gillott pen to affix his name, saying he never “felt more certain that I was doing right, than I do in signing this paper.” In fact, one historian has called it the most momentous decision an American president has ever made. (Mr. Lincoln’s pen is on loan to the Smithsonian Institution.)

Back in Alabama, Ethel L. Glenn, a Montgomerian and a Fisk University student, captured the essence of the signing with her 1907 poem, “Abraham Lincoln and His Pen,” stating,

Originally Published:

Montgomery Advertiser, 1 January 2013