Go Tell It On Red Mountain
Jefferson County Greenways is set to unveil “Go Tell It On Red Mountain,” an initiative aimed at delving into Birmingham’s rich industrial history and the legacy of its historic company towns. A partnership between Red Mountain Park, the Alabama Humanities Alliance, and the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) College of Arts and Sciences launched this oral history project, which is now ready to share with the public. The project features scholars with expertise on labor history, industrial history, race relations, and lives of those who resided and worked on and around Red Mountain as well as residents of the Wenonah community.
UAB students from two College of Arts and Sciences classes collaborated on “Go Tell It On Red Mountain.” Members of the “Community as a Classroom: Civic Engagement in Birmingham” class formulated interview questions for interview subjects, drawing from their biographical backgrounds and academic work, which were then used by students from the “Community Ethnography and Public History” class to conduct the interviews. Participants learned how to operate professional cameras, audio equipment, and editing software to conduct community-based interviews. Assistant Professor Michele Forman, Director of the Media Studies Program at UAB, said the “students loved getting the chance to understand Birmingham’s history through filming on-site at Red Mountain Park with the scholars and residents.”
Starting November 17th, informative oral history videos and audio clips created by the students will be available for the public to access on their phones and engage in the history of Red Mountain at four key historical sites around the park: Mine No. 13, the Smythe Mining Camp excavation site, Mine No. 10, and the park’s Wenonah entrance on Venice Road.
To celebrate the project’s release and begin sharing these oral histories with the public, Red Mountain Park is hosting “Go Tell It On Red Mountain” – An Oral History Presentation on Sunday, November 17th at 2 PM. The program will feature a panel discussion with the project’s scholars and UAB collaborators facilitated by Laura Anderson from the Alabama Humanities Alliance. Together, they will share stories from Birmingham’s mining era and discuss the project’s development. Afterward, attendees will be encouraged to take a self-guided audio tour on their phones to a few key historical sites. Read on below to learn more about the “Go Tell It On Red Mountain” interview subjects.
Dr. Horace Huntley, a retired professor from the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), has worked extensively as a Civil Rights, Labor History, Black History and African American Studies historian. Earning a PhD in History from the University of Pittsburgh, Huntley was the inaugural Director of the Oral History Project of the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute. Growing up in the Wenonah community, Huntley’s life and scholarship culminated in a collection of oral histories in his “Black Workers’ Struggle for Equality in Birmingham.”
Dr. Marlene Hunt Rikard is a professor emeritus of history, at Samford University, where she initiated their oral history project in 1979. With a PhD in history from the University of Alabama, her research focused on the Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Company (U.S. Steel) and the steel industry in Birmingham–specifically company towns including Wenonah.
Will McCollum is an anthropology PhD candidate at the University of Chicago. He conducts historical, ethnographic, and archaeological research in Birmingham, Alabama, examining late nineteenth-century mining camps and company towns that formed the basis for the growth and development of the industrial capital of the “New” South at the turn of the twentieth century.
Councilor Wardine Alexander, Birmingham City Council President Pro Tempore and District 7 Councilor, is a proud Birmingham native. Councilor Alexander, whose District encompasses Red Mountain Park, grew up in the Wenonah community. Her beloved father, Ward Towers, former basketball coach at Wenonah High School, fostered her love for serving her community. Alexander graduated from Wenonah High School and attended the University of Alabama earning a B.S. Degree in Medical Technology from the University of Alabama in Birmingham. Councilor Alexander was appointed to the Birmingham City Council on October 20, 2018, to represent District 7. She works to improve public safety, economic opportunity, and enhance the quality of life for all residents within District 7 by way of workforce development and community revitalization programs.