Using the Encyclopedia of Alabama
in Political Science Courses:
Adopting a New Resource in the Arsenal of Pedagogy
(Draft)
Prepared for
Alabama Political Science Association
40th Annual Meeting, Auburn University
March 30 and 31, 2012
Written by
Christopher P. Maloney
Laura N. Hill
Claire Wilson
1 Introduction
The online Encyclopedia of Alabama (EOA) offers political science professors and students in
Alabama a credible, free resource for content in areas of government, politics, and history -particularly the American civil rights movement. A cursory glance at syllabi available on the
American Political Science Association website reveals course instruction related to southern
politics, reconstruction, American government, race and gender studies, race and politics, race
and ethnicity, history of the civil rights movement, the U.S. constitution, federalism,
international relations, and U.S. foreign policy.1 Similarly, the University of Virginia’s Miller
Center for Public Affairs, which provides online access to syllabi2 as does the numerous
OpenCourseWare sites sponsored by specific universities, list descriptions of classes on these
topics. EOA offers content that supports many of these lessons. Indeed, a list of the most viewed
articles on the site, whether measured by month or year, reflects the popularity of articles on
topics that have value to a political science syllabus: “Scottsboro Trial,” “Segregation,”
“Plantation Agriculture,” “The Birmingham Campaign of 1963,” “Eugene ‘Bull’ Connor,” and
an article about Martin Luther King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” This brief review offers
evidence that EOA content can provide a valuable supplement to more traditional classroom
materials and readings for political science students.
1
For instance, American University professor David Lublin’s course on Southern Politics covers “Reconstruction,” “Disenfranchisement,” “Rise of the New South,” “Rise of the Republicans,” “the Civil Rights Movement,” and other topics. http://www.apsanet.org/content_3807.cfm, (accessed 3/21/2012). http://www1.american.edu/dlublin/courses/gov423/syl423.html, (accessed 3/21/2012). 2
The Miller Center provides links to numerous syllabi, including University of Missouri‐St Louis professor Dave Robertson whose Introduction to American Politics Course in Spring 2012 includes a session on civil rights, with links to civil rights and suffrage sites. http://www.umsl.edu/~robertsondb/011/sy011.html (accessed 3/21/2012). Elisabeth Sanders, in her social Movements in American Politics class in Fall 2005 discussed “The Movement Culture of Farmers in the Later 19th Century,” “Progressive Era Social Movements,” “Organized Labor,” “The Civil Rights Movement,” “Women and Equal Rights,” among others. http://web1.millercenter.org/apd/teaching/syllabi/Sanders_Social_Movements_fall05.pdf (accessed 3/21/2012). 2 Although EOA has only been available for a few years, its pedagogical value in the
college classroom has already been noticed and its content is being used in a range of subjects,
from drawing to geology to history. The first scholarly paper to come to EOA’s attention is by
Ben Robertson, associate professor in the English Department at Troy University, who discusses
how he employed EOA in a writing class. In “Teaching Writing with the Encyclopedia of
Alabama,” he emphasizes the importance of using content related to Alabama for fostering
student interest. “For students in Alabama, the quest for identity often is intricately intertwined
with the history of the region. Local students will better understand their own identities with
further study of the region, and transplanted students also may find a knowledge of Alabama
culture conducive to forwarding their own quests for identity.3 Furthermore, Robertson adds that
it is “useful resource for studying identity in relation to Alabama and for studying writing.”4 He
also notes that EOA is a free resource instructors and students may turn to anytime, without
“making special arrangements” such as ordering a supplemental book, and without concern for
whether the school system or student can bear that cost.5
As Robertson stresses, EOA is also free, at no cost to the user. The costs of a public
college education obtained from four-year and two- institution have risen significantly in the past
decade compared to the 1980s and 1990s.6 Therefore, it is reasonable to assume that instructors,
scholars, and students alike, are looking for less expensive teaching materials and textbooks. In
addition, the use of virtual classrooms and online textbooks is expected by some college
3
Robertson, Ben. “Teaching Writing with the Encyclopedia of Alabama,” (presentation at The Association of College English Teachers of Alabama Annual Conference, February 2011). 4
Ibid 5
Ibid, p.2 6
Baum, Sandy, and Jennifer Ma. Trends in College Pricing 2011. Trends in Higher Education Series. New York, NY: College Board Advocacy and Policy Center, p3. http://trends.collegeboard.org/downloads/College_Pricing_2011.pdf. (accessed 3/27/2012). 3 presidents to expand considerably in the coming decades. According to the Pew Research Center
Social and Demographic Trends project, “College presidents predict substantial growth in online
learning: 15% say most of their current undergraduate students have taken a class online, and
50% predict that 10 years from now most of their students will take classes online.”7 The report
also states that, “Nearly two-thirds of college presidents (62%) anticipate that 10 years from
now, more than half of the textbooks used by their undergraduate students will be entirely
digital.”8 EOA could be among those online resources college instructors and students turn to in
the future.
This paper will provide a brief overview of the history of the Encyclopedia of Alabama,
including its origins and purposes, and illustrate ways its content is applicable to the political
science classroom, specifically. In doing so, it will highlight and discuss just a fraction of the
material currently available on EOA, which currently offers more than 1,500 entries specifically
related to the state of Alabama. But, as will be illustrated, the impact of events and people stretch
far beyond its borders.
Overview
EOA is a collaborative project of Auburn University, the Alabama Humanities Foundation, the
State Department of Education, the University of Alabama Press, and numerous other entities
and scholars across the state and beyond. It is overseen by Auburn University’s Office of
Outreach and has recently entered into a partnership with the University of Alabama for support
of the project. Under development since 2002 and launched in September 2008, EOA currently
7
Pew Center Research Center Social and Demographic Trends project. The Digital Revolution and Higher Education: College Presidents, Public Differ on Value of Online Learning. Washington, D.C.: Pew Research Center, p.1. http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2011/08/28/the‐digital‐revolution‐and‐higher‐education (accessed 3/27/2012). 8
Ibid 4 offers more than 1,500 articles, most with numerous additional internal links to related content,
media images, and external links to appropriate sites of interest. The editorial goal for EOA is to
be comprehensive, trustworthy, concise, balanced, intellectually honest, and considerate of
multiple points of view. Its “Principles and Characteristics” statement, which are published
online, more fully explains the project’s editorial philosophy.9 Most of EOA’s articles,
particularly those on benchmark subjects, are written by noted subject experts and scholars. The
list of EOA authors includes political science department faculty from across the state and other
well-known scholars, such as: Governor Albert Brewer, Glen Browder, Wayne Flynt, Anne
Permaloff, Susan Pace Hamill, Carl Grafton, Patrick Cotter, Frederick Beatty, Thomas Vocino,
Dorothy Autrey, Jess Brown, Steven Brown, Brad Moody, Harry Joiner, and Gerald Gryski.
EOA is the first comprehensive encyclopedia on Alabama since 1921, when a fourvolume work by state archivist Thomas M. Owen of the Alabama Department of Archives and
History was published. Esteemed historian J. Mills Thornton, author of Politics and Power in a
Slave Society: Alabama, 1800-1860, said of Owen’s work: “While a monument to the
scholarship of the early twentieth century, and still very useful, it also shows all the limitations of
that scholarship. It essentially excludes all blacks and Republicans for instance, and shows no
sensitivity to the role that these and other dissenting groups played in forming the history of the
state.” The Encyclopedia of Alabama addresses these issues. Additionally, historian Dan T.
Carter, a distinguished scholar of Alabama history, recounts how that the absence of an updated
reference source has impeded his research for more than three decades.10 He experienced the
problem while researching and writing his well-known study of the Scottsboro trials in the 1960s
9
http://encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Principles.jsp (accessed 3/21/2012). Murray, Steve and Dr. Robert Jakeman. “Alabama Humanities Foundation Grant Application to the National endowment for the Humanities,” Narrative, p. 10, 2003. 10
5 and again in the 1990s while preparing his award-winning biography of George Wallace. “Time
and time again,” he reports, “I had to stop and do background research on the culture, history and
geography of the state and I often found myself relying upon reference tools dating from the late
19th and early 20th century. . . . I can’t over-emphasize the importance of this project [EOA] for
research scholars.” 11
Addressing the continual need to educate students on why certain resources are not
acceptable for assignments, Robertson, the English professor at Troy University, also teaches
students how to evaluate online resources, such as Wikipedia and the Encyclopedia of Alabama.
He provides this contrast of the two sources:
“Wikipedia articles are not vetted in a way that ensures the highest quality.
Indeed, anyone can post or revise Wikipedia articles without going through an
editorial process to ensure quality. The Encyclopedia of Alabama is a completely
different entity. It provides a strong contrast with Wikipedia, which students
initially might not see as being especially different. Both sources are available
online; both tout their encyclopedic qualities; both offer articles on a plethora of
subjects. The similarities extend only so far, however, and students who look at
both sources will find significant differences. For example, the articles in the
EOA are carefully edited, and the writers of the articles are qualified in the fields
in which they write.”12
Setting EOA apart from the “Wiki” model and other free online resources is the fact that
EOA articles are designed to be used as credible sources by school systems and education
professional. Only EOA staff may make revisions to the article, unlike those adopting the Wiki
model in which almost anyone with internet access may edit and author anonymously.
11
12
Ibid Robertson, Ben. “Teaching Writing with the Encyclopedia of Alabama,” p.3 (n.p). 6 Contributing to the credibility of EOA’s articles, in addition to respected authors and responsible
editing, is the fact that the name of the author, the date the article was first published and last
updated, and importantly, a vetted list of additional resources so that scholars and researchers
may easily find, and delve into more substantive works on the topic are provided.
Structure
EOA is constructed around 12 main categories: 1) history; 2) religion; 3) arts and literature; 4)
government and politics; 5) education; 6) peoples; 7) folklife; 8) agriculture; 9) business and
industry; 10) geography and environment; 11) science and technology; and 12) sports and
recreation. Of particular interest to the political science audience is the government and politics
section. This section is subdivided into 12 categories: contemporary political issues, elections,
Executive branch, Federal agencies, iconography (state symbols), judiciary, legislative branch,
military, political figures, political parties, state agencies, and terms and concepts.
Government and Politics
Contemporary Political Issues
This category provides articles on subjects that influence today’s political conversations, such as
constitutional reform, the “Ten Commandments Monument controversy,” home rule, poverty,
and political interest groups. It is perhaps worth highlighting two pieces, constitutional reform
and the Ten Commandments controversy, as examples of topics relevant to current classroom
discussions. The former highlights efforts to revise Alabama’s 1901 Constitution, one of the
7 longest in the world (it now stands at 827 amendments)13 because it requires matters usually
adjudicated at the local level, such as tax policies, to be considered by the legislature through the
amendment process. The result is, according to legal and tax scholar Susan Pace Hamill, “that
local property tax referendums passed by local residents may fail if they do not get a majority of
the required statewide vote. One consequence of this provision is that local governments heavily
rely on high sales taxes, which apply even to necessities such as groceries, to fund schools and
meet other local needs. In addition to creating a volatile budget, over-reliance on sales taxes
contributes greatly to the regressive tax burden experienced by poor and middle-class
Alabamians and the chronic underfunding of most of Alabama's school districts.”14 Sales taxes,
home rule, education funding, regressive taxes, and class can all be addressed with this one topic.
The reform article links to a piece on the 1901 Constitutional Convention that explains
the context of the convention as well the 1875 constitutional convention and the 1893 Sayre Act
which collectively began the restriction of voting rights in Alabama. The goal and result of the
1901 meeting was a document that denied suffrage to blacks and poor whites, through a
grandfather clause, literacy requirements, and a poll tax. The article also describes unsuccessful
efforts to block its passage.15 It is an excellent vehicle for discussing voting rights, Jim Crow
laws, and the purposes of constitutions.
The aforementioned Ten Commandments controversy centered on then-Chief Justice of
the Alabama Supreme Court Roy Moore placing a large granite monument featuring carvings of
the Ten Commandments and other biblical passages in the rotunda of the Alabama Judicial
13
http://alisondb.legislature.state.al.us/acas/ACASLoginie.asp, (accessed 3/22/2012). Hamill, Susan Pace, “Constitutional Reform,” in Encyclopedia of Alabama, http://encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h‐2925 (accessed 3/22/2012). 15
Warren, Sarah K. “1901 Constitutional Convention.” Encyclopedia of Alabama, http://encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h‐3030 (accessed 3/22/2012). 14
8 Building in Montgomery. His placement of a plaque bearing the commandments in his circuit
judge courtroom in the 1990s had previously generated legal debate and exposure that helped his
election to the high court. His actions as Chief Justice were challenged and declared a violation
of the Establishment Clause on November 18, 2002. Moore, however, resisted the court’s orders
and was suspended for not removing the monument, and then removed from office “for
purposefully defying” a federal court order to remove it, which occurred on November 14,
2003.16
Why mention a nearly decade-old debate that was settled in court? Moore has a history of
religious and political activism and his recent election as the Republican candidate for chief
justice means it is highly likely the issues surrounding his previous removal from office will
surface again. According to one recent press account, because of the controversy, he is
“considered one of Alabama's most polarizing political figures and his nomination win…has
generated national attention from the press and political groups, both pro and con Moore. Some
pols said Moore returning to his old job will further harm the state’s image.”17
Elections
Since presidential elections are currently in both the national and international news, it seems
appropriate to highlight relevant EOA content. Articles in the elections category focus on those
electoral contests which have been most influential or controversial in the state. They include the
Governor’s Election of 1892 in which there was considerable fraud committed in defeating
16
Kraft, Emilie. “The Ten Commandments Controversy,” Encyclopedia of Alabama, http://encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h‐1525 (accessed 3/22/2012). 17
Dean, Charles J. “Alabama political insiders consider an ‘anybody but Roy Moore or Harry Lyon’ candidate,” The Montgomery Advertiser http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2012/03/alabama_political_insiders_con.html (accessed 3/22/2012). 9 Populist leader Reuben Kolb,18 and the Presidential Race of 1928, which provides a telling
description of the ways in which prejudices and polarizing social issues blur and reshape
traditional voting patterns. In that election Alabama voters, for the first time since
Reconstruction, strongly backed a Republican presidential candidate, Herbert Hoover, over
Democrat, Alfred Smith. The issues then were not unlike the social issues that influence the
current presidential race. Both Hoover and the majority of Alabamians supported Prohibition,
whereas Smith did not, and Smith’s Catholicism fueled anti-Catholic prejudices that dated back
to the mid-nineteenth century.
This election would see long-time Democrat Tom Helfin (also featured in an EOA
article) actively support Hoover. Indeed, historian Elbert Watson states that “Heflin bolted the
Democratic Party,” and, “in speeches throughout the state, he accused Smith and the Catholic
Church of conspiring to overthrow the U.S. government” and “unleashed bitter attacks on Smith,
African Americans, and efforts to repeal the Eighteenth Amendment.”19 Unfortunately for
Heflin, notes Watson, these positions brought about a strong reaction from the Birmingham News
and Montgomery Advertiser and ouster from the Democratic Party, resulting in a failed third
party bid for the Senate in 1930.20
The 1928 election would perhaps foreshadow Alabama’s streak of independence that
would emerge in later presidential contests. In 1948, it backed Strom Thurmond and the
Dixiecrat movement. The state split its electoral votes between Harry F. Byrd of Virginia and
Democrat John F. Kennedy in the 1960 presidential race and went solidly behind Republican
18
Rogers, William Warren. “The Election of 1892,” Encyclopedia of Alabama, http://encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h‐2351 (accessed 3/21/2012). 19
Watson, Elbert. “J. Thomas Heflin,” Encyclopedia of Alabama, http://encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h‐2952 (accessed 3/21/2012). 20
Ibid. 10 Barry Goldwater over Democrat Lyndon Johnson in 1964. In the subsequent presidential race,
Alabamians supported native son George Wallace and his 1968 run for the White House on a
conservative platform with the Independent Party. In these races, issues like state’s rights,
racism, and labor relations shaped the political landscape and may resurface in evaluations of
contemporary politics.
The Executive Branch
This category contains biographies on each of Alabama’s governors, generally discussing their
importance to the state, but also connecting them, when applicable, to larger national issues. In
addition, users will find overviews of executive branch offices. Readily available information of
this type is exceptionally valuable to students and researchers.
The Judiciary
Alabama has been called home by some noted jurists, including Hugo Black and Frank M.
Johnson Jr., and is the place of origination for many significant court cases, including New York
Times v. Sullivan that “guaranteed” freedom of speech and freedom of the press in the United
States.21 Patterson v. Alabama “was a 1935 U.S. Supreme Court decision resulting from the
controversial Scottsboro trials, which began in 1931. The high court’s unanimous decision held
that the exclusion of African Americans from Alabama juries invalidated defendant Haywood
Patterson’s conviction of rape by an all-white jury,” writes historian Charles Kenneth Roberts.
“Whereas Norris v. Alabama set the precedent that excluding blacks from juries was
discriminatory and unlawful, Patterson and Norris together showed that the Supreme Court was
21
Joiner, Harry M. “The New York Times v. Sullivan,” The Encyclopedia of Alabama, http://encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h‐2990 (accessed 3/20/2012). 11 beginning, however slowly, to invalidate the Jim Crow system by correcting injustices as well as
upholding the letter of the law.”22
Another important case originating in Alabama was Reynolds v. Sims. This was the
“landmark 1964 United States Supreme Court decision in which the court applied the ‘one
person, one vote’ ruling from its previous cases against Alabama’s severely malapportioned state
legislative districts. The effect of this decision was to grant Alabama citizens equal
representation in the state legislature,”23 according to political science professor Steve P. Brown.
Legislative Branch
All U.S. Senators who have represented Alabama, absent current Senators Sessions and Shelby,
are addressed in biographies in the encyclopedia. Some notable examples include John Hollis
Bankhead, who supported reforms to improve transportation infrastructure and laid the
foundation for the Tennessee Valley Authority that helped improve the lives of millions in the
South.24 His son, William B. Bankhead served as Speaker of the House of Representatives and
used that platform to oppose the isolationists in Congress in the years before World War II,
warning about the dangers of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan and supporting Franklin
Roosevelt’s attempts to put the country on a war footing, in addition to aiding Roosevelt’s
unsuccessful attempt to increase the size of the U.S. Supreme Court and successful move to
enact the Fair Labor Standards Act.25
22
Roberts, Charles Kenneth. “Patterson v. Alabama,” The Encyclopedia of Alabama, http://encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h‐1899 (accessed 3/20/2012). 23
Brown, Steven P. “Reynolds v. Sims,” The Encyclopedia of Alabama, http://encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h‐2023 (accessed 3/21/2012). 24
Cooley, Angela Jill. “John Hollis Bankhead,” The Encyclopedia of Alabama, http://encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h‐1495 (accessed 3/21/2012). 25
Dowdy, G. Wayne. “William B. Bankhead,” The Encyclopedia of Alabama, http://encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h‐1366 (accessed 3/21/2012). 12 Senator John Sparkman was known for progressive stances on health care, unions, and
wages, despite supporting segregation, 26 whereas Lister Hill was known as a strong supporter of
Alabama’s economic interests in Washington, D.C. and was co-author of the Hill-Burton Act
which provided needed funds for public hospitals, especially in rural areas.27
EOA also has entries on a large number of U.S. Representatives, and it is worth
highlighting a few. Carl Elliot, who had a hardscrabble upbringing in Jasper, Walker County,
promoted “education and social programs that would benefit his district.”28 Roberts says that
Elliot, prompted by the 1957 launch of the Soviet satellites Sputnik I and II was “instrumental in
passing the National Defense Education Act of 1958 which allocated funding for educational
institutions at all levels, primarily to advance defense-related disciplines like mathematics,
sciences, and modern languages, as well as to generally improve the educational infrastructure of
the country. The legislation provided low-interest loans to college students, graduate fellowships,
and vocational training. Elliott counted this legislation among his proudest achievements.”29
Alabama Representative Henry Steagall deserves mention as the co-author of the 1934
Glass-Steagall Act which established the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and
separated banking functions from investment functions in financial institutions. The repeal of
26
Webb, Samuel L. “John J. Sparkman,” The Encyclopedia of Alabama, http://encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h‐1441 (accessed 3/21/2012). 27
Foster, Ralph. “Luther Leonidas Hill Jr.,” The Encyclopedia of Alabama, http://encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h‐2949 (accessed 3/21/2012). 28
Roberts, Charles Kenneth. “Carl Elliott,” The Encyclopedia of Alabama, http://encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h‐2377 (accessed 3/22/2012). 29
Roberts, Charles Kenneth. “Carl Elliott,” The Encyclopedia of Alabama, http://encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h‐2377 (accessed 3/22/2012). 13 this act in the 1990s has been called a significant factor in the recent recession and banking
crisis, and there have been calls to reinstitute some of its provisions.30
Today it is hard to imagine Alabama as a hotbed of progressivism, given the current
controversy over immigration legislation and the recent primary victory of religious zealot Roy
Moore, but the actions of the aforementioned legislators provide hard evidence of Alabama’s
shifting political positions during important periods of national change. Also, using these
Alabamians as an entry point to discussions on concepts being taught in the classroom creates a
connection for students that might not exist if other examples were used.
Military
With military spending constituting a significant share of the federal budget over the last 50
years,31 the revenue generated and jobs created by defense spending in Alabama becomes an
important classroom topic. Alabama is home to Fort Rucker, Anniston Army Depot, Maxwell
Air Force Base, Redstone Arsenal, and a small section of Fort Benning. Also contributing to the
flow of federal dollars into the state are the Marshall Space Flight Center and the large number
of government contractors and research firms associated with the National Aeronautics and
Space Administration’s activities in Huntsville and the surrounding area. The roles these
organizations play in the state’s economy influences lobbying efforts and shapes elections in the
state.
30
Powell, Larry. “Henry B. Steagall,” The Encyclopedia of Alabama, http://encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h‐3204 (accessed 3/22/2012). 31
Spending by the Department of Defense as a share of all spending among federal departments or units has ranged from 46.9 percent in 1962 to 18.8 percent in 2011. See Table 4.2, Percentage Distribution of Outlays by Agency: 1962‐2017, http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/Historicals 14 In addition to the modern military issues, Alabama has several historical military stories
that shaped the political paths of the nation. EOA’s article on the Tuskegee Airman training
program as well as the Tuskegee Airman themselves are arguably two of the most informative
and authoritative articles on the subjects available on the Web. They were written by two noted
experts, Alabama historian Robert “Jeff” Jakeman and Air Force historian Daniel Haulman,
respectively. Alabama also had an important connection to one of the most significant events of
the Cold War era: the aborted 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion, which heightened tensions between the
United States, Cuba, and the Soviet Union. This event prompted the deployment of nuclear
armed missiles on the island of Cuba, and perhaps brought the world closer to nuclear war than
any other event during the period. EOA’s “Bay of Pigs Invasion and the Alabama Air National
Guard” entry provides a local tie to complicated issues thus improving the chances of the
concepts being taught resonating with students.
Political Figures
Political figures who deserve mention in classes on race, gender, minority studies, international
relations, U.S. foreign policy, and domestic policy include Condoleezza Rice and Alexis
Herman. Rice, an influential foreign policy expert in two Republican administrations, grew up in
Birmingham during the racial unrest of the 1950s. She served as an advisor to Pres. George H.
W. Bush and as national security advisor and later Secretary of State for Pres. George W. Bush;
she was the first African American woman to hold those positions. She is noted as an ardent
defender of the president’s policies toward Iraq and justifying the invasion of that country in
March 2003. In addition, Rice “presided over a new formulation of policy that came to be called
the Bush Doctrine, which espoused preemptive war as tool of foreign policy” and “was seen by
many scholars and critics as preventive war, a more ambiguous justification under international
15 law,” says the article’s author, Christopher Maloney. Rice also “implemented a broader policy
agenda called ‘Transformational Diplomacy,’ an agenda that involved relocating U.S. diplomats
and other Foreign Service personnel to areas of greater need, urging personnel to serve in
dangerous locations and to increase their skills, and focusing on regions and regional problems
rather than specific states.”32
Mobile native Alexis Herman has so far been the only African America Secretary of
Labor, serving in that cabinet position during Pres. Bill Clinton’s administration. A long-time
Democrat and advocate for the disadvantaged, she worked in the employment and training
system along the Gulf Coast on behalf of women and minorities before joining the Carter
Administration and later Clinton’s. Under her watch, the Department of Labor instituted a
substantial overhaul of workforce development programs, and was active in Democratic
politics.33
Political Parties
EOA articles provide substantive analyses of the Democratic and Republican parties and
illustrate the Democratic swing toward progressivism in the 1930s and the rise of the Republican
party in the South in the 1960s. People were attracted to the New Deal policies of Democrat
Franklin Roosevelt, but were later repelled by liberal Democratic stands in support of
desegregation, such as Pres. Harry Truman’s support for eliminating the poll tax and enforcing
job discrimination laws. These actions pushed many individuals in Alabama into the Dixiecrat
32
Maloney, Christopher. “Condoleezza Rice,” The Encyclopedia of Alabama, http://encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h‐2541 (accessed 3/22/2012). 33
Maloney, Christopher. “Alexis Herman,” The Encyclopedia of Alabama, http://encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h‐2521 (accessed 3/22/2012). 16 Party, according to historian Kari Frederikson.34 She adds that party members were influential in
Alabama far beyond efforts to elect Strom Thurmond over Harry Truman. “Although the
Dixiecrats have been dismissed as a failed third party, they were essential to southern political
change. The Dixiecrat Party broke the South's solid historic allegiance to the national
Democratic Party and in doing so inaugurated an unpredictable era in which white southerners
grappled with a variety of efforts to thwart racial progress. Dixiecrats were prominent members
of the White Citizens Councils and other massive resistance organizations dedicated to
upholding segregation that flourished throughout the region in the 1950s and 1960s.”35
During the 1960s, Republicans in the state “took advantage of the social liberalism of the
Democratic Party and made inroads at the local, county, and state levels…White Alabamians
began voting for Republican candidates with increasing frequency and slowly changed their
official party registration to Republican. Several factors account for these changes: support for
integration and civil rights programs by national Democrats like John Kennedy, Robert Kennedy,
and Lyndon Johnson; realignment of the Democratic Party to include strong influence from
blacks, social liberals, and union members; Governor George Wallace’s constant bashing of both
national Democrats and the Civil Rights Act of 1964; the growing conservatism of the national
Republican Party; and economic changes that made Alabama more urban, less dependent on
traditional agricultural products like cotton, and more dependent on technology.” 36
Also important in any discussion of political parties in Alabama is the little-known
National Democratic Party of Alabama; EOA’s entry on this party would be an appropriate
34
Frederickson, Kari. “Dixiecrats,” The Encyclopedia of Alabama, http://encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h‐1477 (accessed 3/22/2012). 35
Ibid 36
Frederick, Jeff. “Republican Party in Alabama,” Encyclopedia of Alabama, http://encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h‐1500 (accessed 3/20/2012). 17 reading in a class on race and politics, and the civil rights movement. According to southern
history scholar Mathew Edmunds, “The National Democratic Party of Alabama (NDPA) was
formed in 1968 to provide blacks with an alternative to the state’s white-controlled Democratic
Party. Although it failed to make significant headway in statewide campaigns, the party did have
some local success, and perhaps more importantly, it provided many African Americans with
their first experience in politics.” 37 An important and compelling follow-up to this finding would
be additional research on the organization and an attempt to quantify that political experience.
History
Budding and established political science scholars alike will find EOA’s History category
highly valuable as well. Likely, the ones of most significant interest to researchers will be the
entries on the American civil rights and social movements in the United States, but there is
compelling content for those interested in Native American studies as well.
Like government and politics, the history category is further subdivided into 12
categories: Until 1540: Native Peoples, 1540-1783; Europeans and Native Peoples, 17831819; American Expansion, 1819-1838; Early Statehood and Indian Removal, 1838-1874;
Civil War and Reconstruction, 1875-1929; The New South Era, 1929-1945; The Great
Depression and World War II, 1946-1987; Post-World War II and the Era of Civil Rights,
1987-present; Recent Alabama, Historians, and Historic Sites. And similar to the articles in
the government and politics section, they provide context and a local connection to concepts
being taught. For the sake of brevity, this paper highlights only the most relevant.
37
Edmunds, Matthew C. “The National Democratic Party of Alabama, Encyclopedia of Alabama, http://encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h‐1518 (accessed 3/20/2012). 18 1540-1783: Europeans and Native Peoples
Native Americanists interested in the Southeastern United States will find background
material on the major Native American tribes with traditional homelands in what is now
Alabama: the Cherokee, Chickasaws, Choctaws, and Creeks, in addition to entries on the
colonial era, the territorial period, and Alabama’s early statehood. Scholars researching the
international relations of imperial France, Great Britain, and Spain which frequently sparred
in the New World for supremacy in Europe. Readers will find articles on British West
Florida, early European exploration in Alabama, Fort Toulouse, and Southeastern Indians
and the American Revolution, for example.
1783-1819: American Expansion
The content in this category covers Alabama’s territorial period and subsequent statehood.
Articles such topics as the Broad River Group and major events like the 1813-1814 Creek
War, which presaged Indian removal and Alabama Fever. This content would be of interest
to those researching the formation of Alabama and the influence of land speculation.
Furthermore, Alabama Fever, the rush of land-hungry settlers into the stateprimarily for
acrage to grow cotton, led to Indian removal, and to the rise of Alabama as a cotton state,
making it a significant player in the secession of southern states, leading to the U.S. Civil
War.38
38
Keith, LeeAnna. “Alabama Fever,” Encyclopedia of Alabama, http://encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h‐3155 (accessed 3/20/2012). 19 1819-1838: Early Statehood and Indian Removal
Prior and subsequent to Alabama statehood, numerous treaties with the Cherokees,
Choctaws, and Creeks were signed. The cumulative effect of the Treaties of Indian Springs
(1821 and 1825), and the several Treaties of Washington (1826 and 1832) was the loss,
through cessions, of virtually all Native American territory to the United States. Most of
these treaties are addressed in EOA, and provide context for the conflicts between the
signatories and the outcomes that ensued, to the detriment of the tribes. Also in this
category, EOA introduces the long-standing issue of states’ rights, which resound today. and
the character of William Lowndes Yancey, who was an influentical and “outspoken
proponents of states’ rights” in the antebellum period.39
1838-1874: Civil War and Reconstruction
EOA contains considerable content on topics important to understanding the Civil War , the
several phases of Reconstruction, and later attempts to undo gains made by the state’s
freedmen. During this period, the disputes over states’ rights came to a head, culminating in
secession, which is expertly detailed in an article by Alabama historian J. Mills Thornton
III.40 Other articles of note include ones on plantation agriculture, the Know-Nothing Party,
the Whig Party, Unionism, African American Union troops, the Free State of Winston, the
Election Riots of 1874, and the Alabama Bourbons who resisted Reconstruction.
39
White, D. Jonathan. “States’ Rights,” Encyclopedia of Alabama, http://encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h‐2367 (accessed 3/20/2012). 40
Thornton, J. Mills III. “Secession.” Encyclopedia of Alabama, http://encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h‐3148 (accessed 3/20/2012). 20 1875-1929: The New South Era
Within this time period, Alabama saw the rise of or institutionalization of the Jim Crow system
of social stratification, the Convict Lease System, Populism, and the labor movements. In
addition, women’s suffrage became a state and national issue and reform-minded women in the
state formed the the Alabama Equal Suffrage Association (AESA) in Birmingham in 1912 “with
the goal of gaining the right to vote for white women in the state.”41 The story of the suffrage
movement in Alabama mirrors that of the nation, thus providing a convenient microcosm for
readings associated with government or race and gender classes.
The work of the AESA, says historian Valerie Pope Burnes, “paid off in June 1919, when
a federal suffrage amendment was sent to the states for ratification. The AESA led the push to
have the Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution ratified by the state of Alabama, but their
drive failed.”42 The organization was opposed “vehemently,” notes Burns, by the Women’s
Anti-Ratification League which “was formed in 1919 to oppose Alabama’s adoption of the
Nineteenth Amendment, with Marie Bankhead Owen (later head of the Alabama Department of
Archives and History) serving as the group’s legislative chair. Most state legislators rejected any
infringement on their authority from the federal government. Thus in 1920, Tennessee became
the 36th state to ratify the amendment, giving American women the right to vote. Having
achieved suffrage, the AESA members dissolved the organization, and many members joined the
League of Women Voters, a national association founded at the 1920 convention of the
NASWA.”43 The efforts of individuals, such as Patti Ruffner Jacobs, who founded the
Birmingham Equal Suffrage Association in 1911, and Mobile native, Alva Vanderbilt Belmont,
41
Burnes, Valerie Pope. “The Alabama Equal Suffrage Association.” Encyclopedia of Alabama, http://encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h‐1150 (accessed 3/20/2012). 42
Ibid (accessed 3/20/2012). 43
Ibid (accessed 3/20/2012). 21 who was heavily involved in the suffrage movement on a national scale, are highlighted in other
articles.
1929-1945: The Great Depression and World War II
This era saw the federal response to the Great Depression and its consequences in Alabama.
In terms of understanding the effects and attempts to ameliorate the impact of the depression,
information can be pulled together from EOA materials on cotton, the Alabama Share
Croppers Union, the experimental Prairie Farms Resettlement Community, and articles that
address the various politicians who served in Congress during that time.
An example worth expanding upon is the Birmingham-based Southern Conference
for Human Welfare (SCHW) civil rights organization, which was active from 1938 to 1948.
It “tried to bring long-overdue New Deal-inspired reforms to the South,”44 according to
Alabama historian Rebecca Woodham. In particular, the organization “was committed to
improving social justice and civil rights and instituting electoral reform in the region by
repealing the poll tax. Perhaps the most noteworthy of a number of organizations that grew
out of the movement for regional reform in the 1930s, the SCHW folded because of funding
problems and charges of harboring Communist sympathies, but it laid the groundwork for
future civil rights activism.”45
1946-1987: Post-World War II and the Civil Rights Era
There are more than 50 articles in EOA’s civil rights subcategory. Their topics span from the
major personalities and significant events that have Alabama ties and gained international
44
Woodham, Rebecca. “Southern Conference for Human Welfare,” The Encyclopedia of Alabama, http://encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h‐1593 (accessed 3/20/2012). 45
Ibid (accessed 3/20/2012). 22 exposure to little-known, but influential, foot soldiers of the movement who are seldom
covered in lesson plans but are important to understanding the how the movement gained
momentum. As the Southern Poverty Law Center contends, “When students learn about the
movement, they learn what it means to be an active American citizen. They learn how to
recognize injustice. They learn about the role of individuals, as well as the importance of
organization. And they see that people can come together to stand against oppression.”46
Because of Alabama’s pivotal role in the era, its stories—as told through EOA—become a
pedagogical goldmine.
As a starting point, the EOA article “Segregation (Jim Crow)” provides an excellent
overview of legal and social system’s foundations and the conditions it engendered. It
provides the background needed to understand why the deaths of Samuel Younge Jr, a Navy
veteran killed for using a whites-only bathroom, and Jimmy Lee Jackson, shot by an
Alabama state trooper at a small protest in Marion, became catalysts for action. The first
Selma to Montgomery march, which resulted in the “Bloody Sunday” episode, was organized
to protest Jackson’s death. The passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act is directly tied to the
national exposure that march, and the ones that followed it, generated. EOA has articles on all
these events.
Naturally EOA has articles on the movement’s Alabama luminaries, Martin Luther
King Jr., Rosa Parks, Fred Shuttlesworth, John Lewis, E.D. Nixon, and Fred Gray, and its
protagonists, Gov. George Wallace, Eugene “Bull” Connor, and Sheriff James Clark. EOA
also tells the stories of people like Montgomery resident Jo Ann Robinson, the key organizer
46
Southern Poverty Law Center. Teaching the Movement: The State of Civil Rights Education in the United States 2011. Montgomery, Ala.; The Southern Poverty Law Center, 2011. P. ?? http://www.splcenter.org/get‐
informed/publications/teaching‐the‐movement/why‐the‐civil‐rights‐movement‐matters (accessed 3/27/2012). 23 of the bus boycott after the arrest of Rosa Parks. She kept her work with the Montgomery
Improvement Association behind the scenes, so as not to jeopardize her job teaching English
at Alabama State College.47 (Few are aware that it was Robinson who had proposed, a full
year before Park’s arrest, a bus boycott to community activists.) Another lesser known
person is attorney Arthur Davis Shores, one of the first and most successful black attorneys
in the state. Shores represented Autherine Lucy, the first African American woman admitted
to the University of Alabama and who was then denied entry after the institution learned of
her race. There are also articles on the white Alabamians who opposed segregation. Attorney
Clifford Durr, the white attorney who posted bail for and counseled Rosa Parks the night of
her arrest, and his wife, Virginia, who spent years working to eliminate the poll tax, who
opened their home and wallets to the many activists drawn to Montgomery. Their actions
resulted in ostracism and financial hardship.48 Another little known story is that of Juliette
Hampton Morgan, a white librarian with a prominent family. Her letters to the editors calling
for the end of segregation threatened her job, and one that was published by the Tuscaloosa
News in 1958 prompted such a vitriolic response that she committed suicide.49 There are also
articles on other martyrs of the movement, such as Viola Gregg Liuzzo, who was shot and
killed while driving activists to Selma after the Selma to Montgomery March, and John
Myrick Daniels and James Reeb, both men of the cloth who had come to Alabama to support
the movement and were killed.
47
Woodham, Rebecca. “Jo Ann Robinson,” The Encyclopedia of Alabama, http://encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h‐3124 (accessed 3/20/2012). 48
Brown, Sarah Hart. “Clifford Durr,” The Encyclopedia of Alabama, http://encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h‐1254 (accessed 3/20/2012). 49
Stanton, Mary. “Juliette Hampton Morgan,” The Encyclopedia of Alabama, http://encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h‐1581 (accessed 3/20/2012). 24 Perhaps one of the key moments of the struggle was the 1956 prohibition against the
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) from operating
in Alabama. This event, which resulted from the group’s failure register as an “out-of-state
organization,”50 prompted the formation of the Alabama Christian Movement for Human
Rights by Reverend Fred Lee Shuttlesworth. It would be, writes EOA contributor and
Shuttlesworth biographer Andrew Manis, “the most important civil rights organization in
Birmingham during the black freedom struggle of the 1950s and 1960s.”51 The ACMHR, he
adds, “engaged in bus boycotts, sit-ins, and other forms of protest and is especially noted for
organizing the Birmingham Campaign of 1963. The group was also known for its greater
willingness to confront local authorities than civil rights groups in Montgomery.”52
Indeed, during those eight years when the NAACP was barred from Alabama, other
“black advocacy groups…filled the void,” notes civil rights historian Dorothy Autrey.53 In
addition to the ACMHR, these groups included the Montgomery Improvement Association
(MIA), which was organized in 1955 and Mobile’s Non-Partisan Voters League, which was
founded in 1956. According to Autrey, “new generations of black Alabamians identified with
these groups and their emphasis on direct action in contrast to the NAACP’s legal approach.
Further, proponents of Black Power, with its origins in Alabama’s Lowndes County Freedom
Organization, would soon take center stage in the national fight for civil rights in the
1960s.”54 The NAACP chapter in Alabama would be reinstated in 1964, facilitated by the
50
Autrey, Dorothy. “National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP),” The Encyclopedia of Alabama, http://encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h‐1670 (accessed 3/20/2012). 51
Manis, Andrew. “Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights,” The Encyclopedia of Alabama, http://encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h‐2594 (accessed 3/20/2012). 52
Ibid (accessed 3/20/2012). 53
Autrey, Dorothy. “National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP),” The Encyclopedia of Alabama, http://encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h‐1670 (accessed 3/20/2012). 54
Ibid (accessed 3/20/2012). 25 1958 Supreme Court decision NAACP v. Alabama, but it “never regained its original
prominence in the state. But NAACP branches had, over the years, created the groundswell
that would place Alabama at the center of the modern struggle for social justice.”55
The relation of EOA’s civil rights content to a civil rights curriculum is most obvious,
but in what other areas could EOA content be utilized? Perhaps as part of a course on social
movements or in comparative politics courses that looks at social movements across the
globe or racism, racial violence (along with EOA’s several articles on the Ku Klux Klan and
its widely viewed piece on the Freedom Rides), and race and minority studies.
Conclusion
The preceding discussion illustrates the wide range of free online content related to Alabama
that is easily accessible at the Encyclopedia of Alabama, and how it can support the
development of rich college-level curricula in the political science classroom. However, there
is much more information available to be exploited by the inventive instructor. For instance,
EOA has articles on each of the state’s 67 counties and dozens of municipalities in the
Geography and Environment category. It covers numerous key industries and important
personalities in the business community within the Business and Industry section. Science
and Technology illustrates Alabama’s importance in the Aerospace Industry. Finally, the
subcategory of People in Religion exemplifies how much mixing occurs between religion
and politics in Alabama. For those political science educators who are seeking a new and
affordable source of materials to engage their students, the Encyclopedia of Alabama may be
the answer.
55
Ibid (accessed 3/20/2012). 26