Hallowed Grounds Project layered over a architectural drawing of a President's Mansion slave cabin.


The Hallowed Grounds Project: Race, Slavery and Memory at the University of Alabama

"To accept one's past - one's history is not the same thing as drowning in it; it is learning how to use it. An invented past can never be used; it cracks and crumbles under the pressures of life, like clay in a season of drought." - James Baldwin
Actively researching since early Spring 2015, this page contains some but not all of my campus history research. This page highlights visualizations, transcriptions, primary sources, and other materials for understanding the history of slavery at the University of Alabama and its legacy. It is designed to provide individuals who have completed one of the Hallowed Ground alternate campus tours with expanded opportunities for exploration. It is for current students, alumni and staff who want to deepen their understanding on this underappreciated campus history as well as educators who want to enrich their courses. More importantly, it is a resource for descendants grappling with this complicated history and all other interested life-long learners.

It will be updated periodically with additional resources.

Note: ACUMEN, the digital collections of the University of Alabama libraries, is accessible on updated web browsers. If a blank page appears, it is recommended that you try another browser or even accessing it on your mobile device. As the University libraries updates its digital collections, new links to Content DM digital collections will be added.

Visualizations, Primary Sources and Transcriptions

Visualizations
Understanding RG 1 Slave Receipts
Understanding Slavery and the Civil War Financial Records (forthcoming)
Sanborn Fire Maps and the Postwar Campus, 1884-1899
Surveying UA Slave Cabins (HABS AL-207 Survey)

Select Primary Source Documents and Transcriptions
Extracts of the Faculty Minutes
Digitized Slave Receipts of RG 1 (Folders 90 A-D)
Bill of Sale (Moses), 1845
Bill of Sale (Isaac), 1853
Will of Isabel Pratt, 1857
Invoice for Purchase of Unknown Slaves, 1860
Slavery and the Civil War Era Documents
Enslaved Women at the University of Alabama

The Long Reconstruction Era in Tuscaloosa, 1865-1890

Defining Freedom - Religious Developments
Defining Freedom - Early African American Political Participation
Defining Freedom - Public Schools, 1870s
Defining Freedom - Public Schools, 1880s
Defining Freedom - Identity and Competing Visions of African American Freedom
Curbing African American Freedom - Violence (Non-Klan Incidents)
Curbing African American Freedom (Klan Incidents): Testimony of Edward Carter
Curbing African American Freedom (Klan Incidents): Testimony of Robert Gleed
Curbing African American Freedom (Klan Incidents): Intimidating White Supporters of Reconstruction
Virtual Exhibition (pdf version) - Slavery, Emancipation and the University of Alabama (Fall 2018): After Slavery: A Pop Up Museum
Virtual Exhibition (Adobe Spark version) - Slavery, Emancipation and the University (Fall 2018): After Slavery: A Pop Up Museum
Virtual Exhibition (pdf version) - Say Their Names: A Hallowed Grounds Project (Black History Month 2019)
Virtual Exhibition - Beyond Saying Their Names: A Hallowed Grounds Project (Black History Month 2020)

Legacy

Transcription: John T. Morgan, "Race Question in the United States," 1890.
Primary Source - Josiah C. Nott, “The Negro Race,” Popular Magazine of Anthropology 1 (July 1866): 102-118.
Transcription: Crimson White coverage during the dedication of the UDC Boulder.
Transcription: Crimson White coverage during the dedication of the UDC Memorial Stain Glass Window.
Transcription: Crimson White coverage of the transition from the Old Campus to the New Modern Campus of the 1920s.
Transcription: Remembering Jeremiah Barnes Amid the Civil Rights Movement, 1954.
Primary Source: Barnes Family Legacy in Brick and Mortar, 1950s.
Visual Culture: 1961 Corolla Yearbook (Cover, Introduction, and Dedication).
Speech: Vivian Malone Jones's Commencement Address, University of Alabama, 2000.
Primary Source: Commission on Race, Slavery, and Civil Rights at The University of Alabama - Faculty Senate Proposal
Primary Source: Rebecca Griesbach and Will Raney, "William and Hilary," Mosaic (Winter 2019): 7-11.
Primary Source: Jessa Reid Bolling, "UA Board of Trustees authorizes removal of three Confederate plaques," The Crimson White, June 8, 2020.
Primary Source: UA System Board of Trustees, UA President Stuart Bell and Chancellor Finis St. John, "Joint statement regarding plaque removals at UA and formation of Building Names Review Committee," June 8, 2020.

Walking Tours

Hallowed Grounds: Race, Slavery, and the University
Created by Hilary N. Green, this tour seeks to shed light onto the lives, experiences, and legacy of the many enslaved men, women, and children who lived, worked, and even died at the University of Alabama, 1829-1865. This is a printable 11 x 17 pamphlet version of the full tour. At a leisurely pace, it takes about 90 minutes.

Mobile Phone/iPad friendly: Hallowed Grounds: Race, Slavery and the University of Alabama
Created by Hilary N. Green using Adobe Spark, this is device friendly version of the shortened alternative campus tour designed for classes (50 minute or 75 minute) and Black History Month. At a leisurely pace, it takes about 45-60 minutes.

Mobile Phone/iPad friendly: Autherine Lucy: Forgotten Hero
Developed by Dr. Meredith Bagley using Adobe Spark, this alternative campus tour explores the campus history of Autherine Lucy and her legacy for the University of Alabama.

In the News


Further Readings: A Curated Bibliography