Slavery and the Civil War
The gallery images document significant examples of sites of slavery and memory at the University of Alabama, past and present. For individuals using screen readers and for additional information on the images in the various galleries, click here.
Reconstruction and Post-Civil War Rebuilding
The images and documents below showcases specific physical sites, primary sources, and a virtual student exhibit for understanding how the post-Civil War era campus community remembered slavery, enslaved campus laborers and the postwar racial realities.
Transcription: John T. Morgan, "Race Question in the United States," Arena 2 (1890): 385-398.
Primary Source: T. Thomas Fortune, "The Afro-American," Arena 3 (1891): 115-118, a rebuttal to Morgan's "Race Question in the United States," 1890.
Primary Source - Josiah C. Nott, “The Negro Race,” Popular Magazine of Anthropology 1 (July 1866): 102-118.
Virtual Exhibition: After Slavery: A Pop Up Museum, created by BUI 301-015 Slavery, Emancipation and the University of Alabama students (Fall 2018).
Primary Source: T. Thomas Fortune, "The Afro-American," Arena 3 (1891): 115-118, a rebuttal to Morgan's "Race Question in the United States," 1890.
Primary Source - Josiah C. Nott, “The Negro Race,” Popular Magazine of Anthropology 1 (July 1866): 102-118.
Virtual Exhibition: After Slavery: A Pop Up Museum, created by BUI 301-015 Slavery, Emancipation and the University of Alabama students (Fall 2018).
Memorials and Commemorative Landscape
The images and documents below showcases specific physical sites and primary sources for understanding the predominantly Lost Cause memorials created at the University of Alabama.
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: 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.
2020 Removal of CSA Memorial Plaques
On June 8, 2020, University of Alabama officials removed three CSA Memorial plaques from the Gorgas Library and the UDC Boulder. In addition, the formation of a taskforce examining remaining buildings was formed. The following the day, facilities removed the UDC Boulder from the Quad.
On August 5, 2020, UA Board of Trustees renamed Nott Hall to Honors Hall.
On August 5, 2020, UA Board of Trustees renamed Nott Hall to Honors Hall.
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.
Primary Source: Board of Trustees of the University of Alabama, "Resolution - Amending the Name of Nott Hall," Special Called Board of Trustees Meeting, August 5, 2020.
Primary Source: Michael Casagrande, "Alabama strips racist name from campus building," Al.com, August 5, 2020.
Primary Source: March Hughes Cobb, "UA building named for slavery advocate to get new name," Tuscaloosa News, August 5, 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.
Primary Source: Board of Trustees of the University of Alabama, "Resolution - Amending the Name of Nott Hall," Special Called Board of Trustees Meeting, August 5, 2020.
Primary Source: Michael Casagrande, "Alabama strips racist name from campus building," Al.com, August 5, 2020.
Primary Source: March Hughes Cobb, "UA building named for slavery advocate to get new name," Tuscaloosa News, August 5, 2020.
Other Campuses
The University of Alabama is one of many institutions of higher education who are currently trying to grapple with its complex racial past from slavery to the present. The images and documents below showcases specific physical sites, and primary sources for contextualizing the Tuscaloosa campus with other flagship public universities.
Transcription: Julian Carr, “Unveiling of Confederate Monument at University. June 2, 1913” (Carr's Dedication Speech of Silent Sam monument at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
DH Project: Names in Brick & Stone: Histories from the University’s Built Landscape
Slavery at the University of Virginia: Visitor's Guide (2013)
President's Commission on Slavery and the University: 2018 Final Report to President Teresa A Sullivan
President's Commission on Slavery and the University: Enslaved African Americans at the University of Virginia - Walking Tour
President's Commission on Slavery and the University (Audio): Enslaved African Americans at the University of Virginia - Walking Tour
University of Georgia: Report from the Ad Hoc Committee on Baldwin Hall to Franklin College Faculty (2019)
DH Project: Names in Brick & Stone: Histories from the University’s Built Landscape
Slavery at the University of Virginia: Visitor's Guide (2013)
President's Commission on Slavery and the University: 2018 Final Report to President Teresa A Sullivan
President's Commission on Slavery and the University: Enslaved African Americans at the University of Virginia - Walking Tour
President's Commission on Slavery and the University (Audio): Enslaved African Americans at the University of Virginia - Walking Tour
University of Georgia: Report from the Ad Hoc Committee on Baldwin Hall to Franklin College Faculty (2019)