Clarke County Democrat

Upcoming Historical Society speakers

Mike Bunn speaks on the ‘Fourteenth Colony,’ British West Florida July 25

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Mike Bunn, cover of his new book

Mike Bunn, cover of his new book

The Clarke County Historical Society has resumed its monthly meetings and has speakers, many newly published books, lined up to speak for the next several months.

Meetings are the fourth Sundays of each month at 2:30 p.m. at Grove Hill Town Hall unless otherwise specified.

Mike Bunn will be the speaker at the July 25 meeting. Bunn, director of Historic Blakeley Park in Spanish Fort, has authored several books and spoke to the local historical society before. His topic will his newest book, “Fourteenth Colony: The Forgotten Story of the Gulf South During America’s Revolutionary Era.”

The British colony of West Florida—which once stretched from the mighty Mississippi to the shallow bends of the Apalachicola and portions of what are now the states of Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana—is the forgotten fourteenth colony of America’s Revolutionary era. Unlike the betterknown Thirteen Colonies, British West Florida did not rebel against the British government. Mike Bunn offers the first comprehensive history of the colony, introducing readers to the Gulf Coast’s remarkable British period and putting West Florida back in its rightful place on the map of Colonial America.

 

 

The August 29 meeting will feature Paula Lenoir Webb who will speak on her new book, “Such a Woman: The Life of Madame Octavia Wilson LeVert.”

LeVert (1810-1877) was a well-known socialite and writer during the mid-nineteenth century. From the 1830s to the 1850s, Le Vert hosted elegant gatherings of prominent politicians, literary figures, and professionals at her home in Mobile.

She was an early advocate for the welfare of women and worked tirelessly on behalf of the “Save Mount Vernon” movement to rescue and preserve the home of George Washington.

Her only book, “Souvenirs of Travel” which recorded her two trips to Europe in the 1850s was popular at the time

Paula Webb is a tenured librarian at the University of South Alabama. Her first book was “Mobile Under Siege: Surviving the Union Blockade.”

A Clarke County native will be the topic for the September 26 meeting

Loula Friend Dunn (1896-1977) was a significant and influential figure in the field of public welfare, leaving her mark on state, national and international welfare programs over a career that spanned 40 years.

She was commissioner of Public Welfare in Alabama before being tapped to become the executive director of the American Public Welfare Association, a national organization headquartered in Washington, D. C.

Terry Foster, a retired Clarke County educator who was principal of Grove Hill Elementary School, will be the speaker. He is a great nephew of Dunn’s.

The October 31 meeting will be the day after Pioneer Day, the Clarke County Historical Society’s and Museum’s signature event which is returning this year after a two-year absence (the first due to weather and the second to the coronavirus pandemic).

Dr. Daniel Haulman will speak on the Tuskegee Airmen, a group of mostly African American military pilots and airmen who fought in World War II. They were educated at Tuskegee Institute (now Tuskegee University) and trained at several nearby airfields. They were the first African American aviators in the U.S. Armed Forces.

Haulman, of Montgomery, is a military historian and may be the foremost authority on the Tuskegee Airmen, having authored several books on the topic, including “Eleven Myths About the Tuskegee Airmen,” “The Tuskegee Airmen and the ‘Never Lost a Bomber’ Myth,” “The Tuskegee Airmen Chronology: A Detailed Timeline of the Red Tails and Other Black Pilots of World War II,” “Tuskegee Airmen Questions and Answers for Students and Teachers,” “The Tuskegee Airmen, An Illustrated History, 1939-1949” and “What Hollywood Got Right and Wrong about the Tuskegee Airmen in the Great New Movie, Red Tails.”

Haulman’s research and publications helped give the Tuskegee Airmen the recognition they deserved, most of which has only come in recent years.

In November, the historical society’s meeting will be on the road to dedicate a historical marker.

The November 28 meeting will be at Rockville Baptist Church where a program on Hal’s Lake will be given. After the meeting, the group will travel to the marker location in nearby Carlton for the dedication.

Hal, sometimes called “King Hal,” was a runaway slave who escaped into the south end of Clarke County in the early 1800s where he created his own “kingdom” of escaped slaves around a lake that became known as Hal’s Lake. Slave owners eventually learned of the location and attacked and conquered “Hal’s Kingdom,” killing him in the process.

The marker was made possible by a grant from the William G. Pomeroy Foundation, “committed to supporting the celebration and preservation of community history; and to raising awareness, supporting research and improving the quality of care for patients and their families who are facing a blood cancer diagnosis.”

The society does not meet in December because of the Christmas/New Year’s holidays but will resume on January 30 with a Tuscaloosa attorney as the speaker.

Chris McIllwain has authored several books and his most recent is “The South’s Forgotten Fire-Eater: David Hubbard and North Alabama’s Long Road to Disunion.” Hubbard, a north Alabama politician, was the most outspoken of secessionists in the region and would serve in the Confederate Congress.

McIlwain is also the author of three books: “Civil War Alabama; 1865 Alabama,” “From Civil War to Uncivil Peace,” and “The Million Dollar Man Who Helped Kill a President.”

McIlwain is also a frequent contributor to the Alabama Review and a lecturer on Alabama history at schools, civic groups, and the Alabama Department of Archives and History.

The book authors will all have copies of their works available for sale at the meetings.

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