RuralSWAlabama

Rosa Young Memorial at Rosebud, AL

Born in Rosebud in 1874, Rosa Young graduated valedictorian from Payne University in Selma. She opened a private school with seven students, which grew in three years to 215 students. With the help of the Lutheran Church, Young founded thirty rural sch …

Selma Interpretative Center at Selma, AL (Welcome Center to the Selma to Montgomery National Historic Trail)

The Selma to Montgomery National Historic Trail was established by Congress in 1996, to commemorate the events, people, and route of the 1965 Voting Rights March in Alabama. The March route is a component of the National Trails System, and is administe …

Snow Hill Normal and Industrial Institute located in Wilcox County

This is a historic African-American school that was founded in 1893 by Dr. William J. Edwards, a graduate of Tuskegee University. The school opened as the Colored Literary and Industrial School in a one-room log cabin on the R. O. Simpson plantation.  …

The Beloit Industrial Institute at Beloit, AL (operated 1888-1923; listed on the Alabama Register)

The Beloit Industrial Institute, which operated from 1888 to 1923, was the first Christian school for African-Americans in Dallas County. It was located on Highway 22 in the community of Beloit, AL about 10 miles southwest of Selma. The Beloit Industri …

The Gee’s Bend Quilt Mural Trail

Gee’s Bend is a small rural community located in a curve in the Alabama River in the northern part of Wilcox County, AL.  Founded in the early 1800s, it was the site of cotton plantations.  After the Civil War, the freed slaves became tenant farmers an …

The Safe House Black History Museum at Greensboro, AL

On the night of March 21, 1968, Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. sought refuge from the Ku Klux Klan inside a small, shotgun-style home in the depot neighborhood of Greensboro, AL. (This occurred just two weeks prior to the assassination of Rev. King in Mem …

Thomaston Colored Institute at Thomaston, AL (built 1910, listed on National Register)

The Thomaston Colored Institute, also known as the Thomaston Academy, is a historic African American school building in the town of Thomaston, AL. This two-story brick building was completed in May 1910 as a private school by an African American religi …

Williams’ Temple CME Church at Thomasville, AL (consolidated with Booker City to form Miles College)

In 1898, the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church, seeking to serve the educational needs of black students opened a school and church in Thomasville, Williams Temple CME Church. Four years later, the CME Church began construction on another facility a …

Zion United Methodist Church at Marion, AL

Located adjacent to the town square, Zion United Methodist Church was a focal point for the civil rights movement of the 1960s.  The night march that ended with the shooting of Marion native, Jimmie Lee Jackson, started at this church. The death of Jim …