Episode 84 - Chase Stephens on 2025 AHA Wiggins Diss Awd

Air Date: June 2, 2025 Transcript: https://tinyurl.com/fk7hby52 Dr. David Chase Stephens (AU ’24), winner of the Alabama Historical Association’s 2025 Sarah Woolfolk Wiggins Award for the best dissertation in Alabama History, discusses his dissertation entitled “To Obstruct and Resist: Paradise v. Allen, Integration Efforts, and the Alabama State Troopers” (Dec. 2024). Stephens examines the strum und drang of integrating the Alabama State Troopers by hiring and promoting Black and women officers. He examines the four major lawsuits at the heart of these efforts as well as resistance to integration that Gov. Guy Hunt dropped in the mid-1980s. Links mentioned in the episode: Alabama Historical Association: https://www.alabamahistory.net/ Sarah Woolfolk Wiggins Dissertation Award: https://www.alabamahistory.net/wiggins-dissertation-award Stephens, “To Obstruct and Resist: Paradise v. Allen, Integration Efforts, and the Alabama State Troopers”: https://etd.auburn.edu/handle/10415/9481 Paradise v. Allen / NAACP v. Allen: https://encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/paradise-v-allen/ Alabama Department of Public Safety: https://encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/alabama-law-enforcement-agency/ US v. Frazer (1970): https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/FSupp/317/1079/1415562/ Mieth v. Dothard (1976): https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/FSupp/418/1169/1602972/ Dothard v. Rawlinson (1977): https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/433/321/ Gov. George Wallace: https://encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/george-c-wallace-1963-67-1971-79-1983-87/ Gov. Fob James: https://encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/forrest-fob-james-jr-1979-83-1995-99/ Gov. Guy Hunt: https://encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/guy-hunt-1987-93/ Cowie, Freedom’s Dominion: https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/jefferson-cowie/freedom%E2%80%99s-dominion-winner-of-the-pulitzer-prize/9781541672819/?lens=basic-books Founded in 1947, the Alabama Historical Association is the oldest statewide historical society in Alabama. The AHA provides opportunities for meaningful engagement with the past through publications, meetings, historical markers, and other programs. If you enjoyed this edition of the Alabama History Podcast, don’t forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode!