Alabama’s first African-American dentist was Perry County native
The first African-American dentist in Alabama was born right in Marion. Thomas A. Curtis’s parents were formerly enslaved people from Perry County. After the Civil War, his father, Alexander H. Curtis, was a state Senator who also helped to raise money for what was to become Lincoln Normal School.Curtis left a teaching career to enroll... Read More
Alumnae organization works to keep Judson items together at latest sale
Though there was little warning beforehand, Judson College let alumnae know last week that a sale of antiques from the campus would happen on Saturday, Feb. 5 at Brittany House Antiques in Oak Hill, Ala.This is the second such sale of items from Judson’s collection. The first was held in January on the campus of... Read More
Walter Franklin ‘Frank’ Ramey
Walter Franklin Ramey (“Frank”), 85, silently slipped into eternal life on Saturday, January 29, 2022 at his home in Marion, AL. He was born in North Hale County, Greensboro route, to Robert Lee “Bob” and Pearl Hoggle Ramey on December 28, 1936. Frank grew up in the Hogglesville Community, near New Hope Baptist Church. In... Read More
Archives from the Negro Leader are a window into 1910s African-American life in the Black Belt
The Negro Leader, founded Oct. 1909 in Uniontown, wasn’t the first African-American owned publication in the Black Belt, or even in Perry County. The Marion Journal Reporter, one of the earliest, was in publication at least as far back as 1871 under the leadership of editor Wm. B. Patterson, and possibly even before that. However,... Read More
UNSUNG: Horace Sprott, Black Belt native, was toast of 50s folk scene
by: John Allan Clark When I first came across the name Horace Sprott, it wasn’t on a monument on the courthouse square or a historic marker out on Highway 14 east, although maybe it should have been. I wouldn’t have known his name if it hadn’t been for a YouTube playlist. Which is a shame, considering... Read More