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Introduction 1
Part I: The Makers 5
William Christenberry: Pilgrimage of the Heart 7
A visual artist in search of the essence of rural byways and childhood haunts
Charles Moore: Witness to Change 15
A photojournalist’s nation-shaking images of the civil rights movement
Bernice Sims: A Folk Artist’s Stamp on History 25
A folk artist renders the past, and the passing scene, in rich colors
Kathryn Tucker Windham and Charlie Lucas:
Kathryn and the “Tin Man” 30
She tells ghost stories; he makes art from metal; they are neighbors and best friends
Part II: The Tellers 37
Mary Ward Brown: Black Belt Storyteller 39
A first-time author at age 69, she still hears the muse twenty years later
Sena Jeter Naslund: A Story Deep Inside Her 46
A novelist turns to a civil rights tragedy as basis for a wrenching tale
Diane McWhorter: Taking Pictures from the Inside 53
A journalist weaves hometown Birmingham’s
tumultuous history with her own
Frye Gaillard: Writing His Way Home 61
Leaving behind Mobile in his 20s, a native son returns in his 50s to start anew
Artelia Bendolph: The Girl in the Window 67
Aged and blind, a woman tells of her famous, long-ago photograph in Gee’s Bend
Eugene Sledge: “With the Old Breed” 75
The WWII memoirist speaks of his boyhood, the war, and a book he had to write
Part III: The Journeyers 81
Mel Allen: “Voice of the Yankees” 83
His homerun cry, “Going, going, gone!” captivated baseball fans everywhere
Gay Talese: Made in Alabama 91
A train to Tuscaloosa began his journey to becoming a famous New Journalist
Howell Raines: Coming Full Circle 99
Meditations on a legendary newspaper career and different paths taken
Winston Groom: The House That Gump Built 105
When Forrest Gump told his story, he transformed the author’s world, too
Tommy Tarrants and Stan Chassin: Deliver Us from Evil 111
A Jew and a Klansman, violence and forgiveness, lives intersecting after over forty years
Part IV: Witnesses to the Movement 123
Neil Davis: Tough, Sweet Voice of Reason 125
The editor from Auburn brought his pen to bear on a time of strife and hope
Vivian Malone and James Hood:
The Stand in the Schoolhouse Door 133
The University of Alabama’s first black students recall the day the nation watched
George Wallace Jr.: The Loyal Son 141
Loving, defending, and coming to terms with a father controversial to the world
Johnnie Carr: Sustaining the Dream 148
In her 90s, the Montgomery Improvement Association’s leader keeps on
Theresa Burroughs: In Beauty’s Care 156
When Dr. King needed safety in Greensboro, her beauty shop was his refuge
Part V: Down Back Roads 163
Sara Hamm: Keeping the Faith 165
In the last Jewish family in Eufaula, a woman strives to keep traditions vibrant
Restoring Rosenwald: The Oak Grove School 170
Former students shore up the legacy of Julius Rosenwald and Booker T. Washington
Bessie Papas: A Malbis Life 176
Residing at the Greek Orthodox settlement since 1920, she tells of a vanished world
Edward Carl and Walter Bellingrath: Driving Mr. Bellingrath 185
From behind the wheel of a Packard limousine, an unusual friendship develops
William Bolton and Herbert Henson: Visiting Old Pals 192
At the coon dog cemetery, old cousins reminisce about dogs they’ve known
Scoop, Red, Moon, and Shorty: The Oak Tree Social Club 197
For twenty years the domino game has continued, as has the talk and the laughter
Part VI: Different Windows on Dixie 203
Yolande “Bebe” Betbeze: Cinderella in Charge 205
Miss America 1951 looks back on a life of beauty, social conviction, and controversy
Alex Alvarez: Voices from the Past 217
In south Alabama, a Creek language teacher deepens his Native American culture
Abby Fisher: “What Miss Fisher Knows
about Old Home Cooking” 223
The elusive author of what was, possibly, the first African American cookbook
Part VII: Personal Sojourns 231
Greetings from Brooklyn, Alabama 233
A sojourn from one Brooklyn to another
Joe Bear: Ice Cream Man 238
A summer job, a Polish immigrant’s tale, and the clanging bells of freedom
Windows: A Son Remembers 246
The nameplate was still on the door: Charles Hoffman, Lawyer
Acknowledgments 253
Permissions 255
About the Author 258