Making History: Women work to get their Black Belt hometown to fully vaccinated
by: Casey Roberts Dorothy Oliver and Drucilla Russ-Jackson made history this past year in their community of Panola, Alabama, when they successfully got 97% of their community fully vaccinated by September 2021.Oliver, a widow and store-owner, and Russ-Jackson, Sumter County Commissioner and stepmother to Selma District Attorney Michael Jackson, joined forces shortly after the state’s... Read More
Classifieds – Week of Feb. 10, 2022
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Charles Jones, Sr.
Charles E. Jones, 84, of Demopolis, died Jan. 28 at his home.Jones was born August 1, 1937.Jones was a prominent local business owner, community leader, and politician, known throughout the Black Belt. He served on Demopolis’ city council, in a seat now held by his son, Charles Jones, Jr.Visitation was held on Friday, February 4... Read More
Alphonse Ashe
Alphonse Ashe died Jan. 29 at UAB Hospital in Birmingham at the age of 59. He was born May 28, 1962 to Ms. Rosie Ashe and the late Fred Ashe in Tuskegee.He confessed Christ at an early age at Holly Grove Missionary Baptist Church in Crenshaw, Miss. He later joined Mt. Horeb Baptist Church in... Read More
Legal Notices Feb. 10, 2022
Legal NoticeSTATE OF ALABAMAHALE COUNTYLetters Testamentary upon the last will of Linda H. Barnette, deceased, having been issued to the undersigned on the 28th day of December, 2021, by the Hon. Arthur L. Crawford, Sr., Judge of the Probate Court of said state and county, notice is hereby given that all persons having claims against... Read More
Joseph Warren Pollard III
Joseph Warren Pollard III passed away on Sunday, January 30th after a brief illness, surrounded by his family. Warren was born in Newbern, Alabama, January 20th, 1934 to Joseph Warren Pollard II and Helen Ayres Pollard. He was delivered by his grandfather, Dr. Ayres, and grew up in a small community, attending a one room... Read More
Alabama’s first African-American dentist was Perry County native
The first African-American dentist in Alabama was born right in Marion. Thomas A. Curtis’s parents were formerly enslaved people from Perry County. After the Civil War, his father, Alexander H. Curtis, was a state Senator who also helped to raise money for what was to become Lincoln Normal School.Curtis left a teaching career to enroll... Read More
Alumnae organization works to keep Judson items together at latest sale
Though there was little warning beforehand, Judson College let alumnae know last week that a sale of antiques from the campus would happen on Saturday, Feb. 5 at Brittany House Antiques in Oak Hill, Ala.This is the second such sale of items from Judson’s collection. The first was held in January on the campus of... Read More
Walter Franklin ‘Frank’ Ramey
Walter Franklin Ramey (“Frank”), 85, silently slipped into eternal life on Saturday, January 29, 2022 at his home in Marion, AL. He was born in North Hale County, Greensboro route, to Robert Lee “Bob” and Pearl Hoggle Ramey on December 28, 1936. Frank grew up in the Hogglesville Community, near New Hope Baptist Church. In... Read More
Archives from the Negro Leader are a window into 1910s African-American life in the Black Belt
The Negro Leader, founded Oct. 1909 in Uniontown, wasn’t the first African-American owned publication in the Black Belt, or even in Perry County. The Marion Journal Reporter, one of the earliest, was in publication at least as far back as 1871 under the leadership of editor Wm. B. Patterson, and possibly even before that. However,... Read More