Browse Items (18 total)

  • Tags: African American History

Metal’s Terrace was a project initiated to provide housing for African American workers in the Shoals. This was also known as the War Housing Project Ala 1213. This housing was to be used strictly for African Americans. It became ready to house…

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P.B. Swoopes Dry Cleaners was a business run by P.B. Swoopes in Sheffield Alabama. Swoopes was a graduate of Sheffield school. He would go on to open his dry cleaning business in downtown Sheffield. Swoopes started his dry cleaning business in 1927.…

As far back as 1912 there is a record of a fair for African Americans taking place in Colbert County. The fair took place at a location called the Fair Grounds. The fair was popular, with a large turnout for the event. The event officially began on a…

First Baptist Missionary Church was originally founded in 1886. The first church consisted of two wooden buildings. These buildings would later be destroyed in a fire. The congregation was then forced to use the Masonic Hall as their new meeting…

The First Baptist Church of Tuscumbia was originally formed by a small group of African American worshipers. The church was established in 1866 shortly after the Civil War under the guidance of Elder W.E. Northcross. The church members did not have…

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Dr. A.W. Davis and his wife had a home built called Shady Dell in 1920. The home is located across from where his former office stood. Dr. Davis was the first black physician in northwest Alabama. He arrived in Tuscumbia in 1903. He practiced…

The Thompson and Son Funeral home was originally built in 1912 for a doctor and his family. The Thompson family along with Tim Ricks converted the house into a funeral home. Ricks left the business in 1922. The house was then renamed Thompson’s…

St. Paul African Methodist Church was established in the early 1840s. A group of African Americans from a congregation called First Methodist left to form what is now known as the St. Paul African American Methodist Church. The original name of the…

The church is located near Lagrange College and the home of Abraham Ricks. The church no longer holds regular services. A former slave, Parson George Ricks, established the church. After gaining his freedom, Parson Ricks took work as a cotton picker.…

Lesley Temple CME church is a Methodist church first formed in 1880 under Pastor Lesley. The church was first located at a site called Gin Hill on what used to be Highway 43. The church was rebuilt in 1927. Because building paper which was placed on…

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Leighton Training School was a trade school established with the help of a grant provided by Julius Rosenwald. Like other Rosenwald schools, the African American community was required to raise additional funds for the school to be built. The African…

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When the Zion First Missionary Church was sold to the African American congregation, the land next to the building found use as a cemetery for the African American congregation. As such, the cemetery is strictly filled with only African American…

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Zion Church used to be an white Baptist church prior to the Civil War. During the war, the church was used as a hospital by Union troops. After the Civil War, the white parishioners no longer wanted to use the church as it had become defiled. Because…

Former members of the Church of Christ in the Ricks community originally founded the High Street Church of Christ. The congregation first met in the home of one of its members to worship. The congregation continued to grow and moved to the Art…

Sterling High School was another prominent school for African Americans in Colbert County. The origin of the school is in a Baptist Church on East 20th St. Originally, the school only served five students and a man named Henry Hopkins was hired as…

This church was located close to what is now downtown Tuscumbia. The original buildings were cotton gins sheds. It has been said that these cotton gin sheds were used as a church as far back as the year 1870. The church served as a place of worship…

Mount Zion was a Rosenwald school located in Florence, Alabama. The local community was provided a grant from Julius Rosenwald to build a school for the African American community. Like other Rosenwald schools the local community had to provide…

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Trenholm High School was originally founded as the Osborne Colored Academy in 1877. From there it became Tuscumbia’s Colored School, which lasted until 1921. The Tuscumbia’s Colored School changed its name to Trenholm High School in 1921. The…
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