Alabama Short Stories

At the end of World War II, another war started, the Cold War. To win the minds and hearts of people around the world against the Soviet Union, the U.S. State Department put together a show of modern art that was to tour the world. The show, “Advancing American Art,” did not win the hearts and minds of some of its people. It was recalled and put up for auction at pennies on the dollar. Auburn University recognized an opportunity an...

The University of Alabama accepted a bid to play in the 1926 Rose Bowl against powerhouse University of Washington. This was the first time a team from the South was invited to play in this historic event. The underdog Alabama team won the game in no small part because of the play of Johnny Mack Brown. Learn the story of this game and how Brown went from being the “Dothan Antelope” to one of Hollywood's leading men and stars o...

We have grown up hearing stories about the gold rush. But it’s always the California gold rush they are talking about. An event so huge that years later, San Francisco’s NFL team called themselves the ’49ers after the prospectors of the 1849 gold rush. But the first gold rush started in the east and as prospectors followed the gold vein, they discovered gold in east Alabama. Learn the story about this event and what happened to the...

Mrs. Irene, as she was known to neighbors, was born with a sixth sense. From a young age, she was able to find things, easter eggs, misplaced items, or the missing hunting dog. Her father tried to shield her from the scrutiny fortune tellers received in the community. Instead, Irene Teel became popular with people driving miles for her advice and wisdom. When a small child went missing, and the National Guard was called in, it was ...

Music is a vital part of our lives in Alabama, and it covers all genres. This story is about one genre of music called Sacred Harp. It is named after the book of songs of the same name. at the beginning of the 20th century, these songs sounded antiquated to modern listeners. Worried that this style would go away, teachers presented Sacred Harp music as a virtue, a tradition that would be passed down the generations. And some of the...

Zelda Sayre was born and raised in Montgomery, the daughter of a lawyer and politician. She was a socialite and caught the interest of young men from as far away as Atlanta. No one swept her off her feet until she met a young soldier stationed in Montgomery named F. Scott Fitzgerald. Their marriage and volatile relationship became the story ideas for books such as “The Great Gatsby” and made them the poster children of the Jazz Age...

Spider Martin was a commercial photographer in Birmingham, Alabama, who billed himself with a little tongue-in-cheek as the “world’s greatest photographer.” He worked for corporate clients and earned his fair share of awards for his work. But his real claim to fame was as a photographer for the Birmingham News when he stood on the Edmund Pettus Bridge documenting what the Alabama State Troopers did to John Lewis and the rest of the...

Roads in Alabama go as far back as when indians followed the trails that animals had created. These trails would be widened and “improved” as more people and bigger vehicles used them. When the car came along, it was apparent that we must have good roads and we needed them fast. The good roads movement sprang up to encourage and push state and local governments to build and maintain roads. This is the story of those roads here in A...

Cudjo Lewis was a captive aboard the Clotilda when it entered Mobile Harbor, the last slave boat to the United States in 1860. The story was well known to locals in Mobile but two writers, Emma Langdon Roche and Zora Neale Hurston, went to find Cudjo and tell their version of his story. Over 80 years later, Ben Raines would find the remains of the Clotilda and bring the story to light again. 

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I hope you have enjoyed the first 5 seasons of the Alabama Short Stories podcast. When I released season three, I published the book, Alabama Short Stories, Volume 1. This was the perfect solution for those who like their podcasts in written form. And as a bonus, it had pictures to illustrate the stories. 

With season six of the podcast upon us, I am proud to announce volume two of the book, Alabama Short Stories. There are 30 ...

Welcome to Alabama Short Stories. This is Shawn Wright, and I am happy to say that Season 6 starts on Tuesday, March 5, 2024, with more great stories about the state of Alabama.

I will start the season with a story in the news the past couple of years. It’s about Cudjo Lewis and the writers who have been telling this former slave's story for the past 100+ years, and we find the Clotilda in the process.

We take driving on ou...

Armistice Day was created at the end of what we now know as World War I. At the end of World War II, one Birmingham native felt a need to celebrate all veterans, and he set out to honor them. Raymond Weeks took his fight to Washington, D.C., and then put his words into action by leading what has become the largest and oldest Veteran’s Day Parade in the nation in his hometown of Birmingham. Listen to this episode to determine if his...

When Alabama Power made plans for Lewis Smith Dam in a rural area of Northwest Alabama, they knew they had plenty of time to clear the basin of trees, buildings, and other potential obstructions before the lake filled. Then the rains came, and the basin started to fill up fast. Learn about the area of Smith Lake and what happened when the rains came.

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What do you do when you have one of the largest buildings in Birmingham that feature a smooth glass finish with lights to illuminate each window. Create art, of course! Learn about how the Regions building changes light colors and has created designs for the holidays, Olympics, and Golf Tournaments for the past 50 years.

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John Henry was a steel-driving man or maybe just a folk tale. John Henry died while competing against a steam drill in West Virginia, or did he? Some think this folk hero, or real-life hero, died here in Alabama at a tunnel south of Leeds close to Dunavant. Listen to the story, and you decide if he was real and where he died. I think you know where we stand on this issue.

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Carrie Tuggle and her husband, John, moved to Birmingham in 1883 in search of better work opportunities and social life. They threw themselves into work and growing their family. They both actively participated in the Knights of Pythias, a national fraternal organization. Carrie was a social worker and would see young boys in the court system being sent to prison with adults. It was too much for her to bear. The couple would start ...

Harper Lee and Truman Capote are two of this country's most celebrated writers. Lee for her Pulitzer Prize-winning To Kill A Mockingbird, and Capote for In Cold Blood, among others. Both writers got their start behind a battered old typewriter brought home by Lee’s father when they were children. They grew up as next-door neighbors in the town of Monroeville, Alabama. They would play a part in each other's most celebrated...

Hugo Black was a U.S. Senator from Alabama who supported FDR’s New Deal. When an opening on the Supreme Court became available, the President knew he wanted an ally on the court, and Hugo Black was his first choice. If the President had done a little due diligence, he would have discovered that his candidate had a checkered past. In 1923, at the end of a trolley line in Shades Valley and by the remains of a race track and dried lak...

Yolande Betbeze was a college student at Mobile’s Spring Hill College when she saw an opportunity to help her get out of the South. She won the Miss Torch contest, which sent her to Miss Alabama and then to the Miss America Pageant, which she won in 1951. Miss America was just the start for Betbeze, as her reign created controversy and helped create a competing pageant that exists today. Listen to her story and hear what happened t...