AHA’s 2026 Alabama Colloquium series kicks off October 12, when we’ll engage our honorees in a consideration of America’s 250th from the perspective of history, literature, and the law. Congratulations to our 2026 Alabama Humanities Fellows: attorney Bill Baxley, historian Kathryn Braund, and poet Ashley Jones.
More about this seriesThe Alabama Colloquium series
October 12, 2026 | 11:30am
American Village | Montevallo
American Village’s campus will serve as the backdrop for a conversation considering America at 250, highlighting our Fellows’ efforts to document, examine, and help to make real the promise embedded in America’s Declaration of Independence.
Program highlights:
—A conversation between our newest Alabama Humanities Fellows: attorney and public servant Bill Baxley, historian Kathryn Braund, and poet Ashley M. Jones
—Presentations of awards to our Fellows, by the Hon. Myron Thompson, J.D. (Baxley), Wayne Flynt, Ph.D. (Braund), and Jacqueline Trimble, Ph.D. (Jones)
—Honoring the Alabama USA Semiquincentennial Commission as the 2026 AHA Champion of the Humanities awardee
—Recognizing Joyce Cauthen as the 2026 Wayne and Sally Greenhaw Service to the Humanities awardee
Note that attendance for this event is by invitation; a recording will be made available for online viewing.
On October 12, 2026, the Alabama Humanities Alliance will present a program that will explore our past, our connections to one another today, and what America’s founding principles mean to our future.
This is a timely conversation given America’s 250th anniversary in 2026. And we have an ideal group of people to steer this conversation: a historian, a poet, a lawyer, a folklorist, and the leadership of Alabama’s 250 Commission.
Scroll down for more on our honorees!
But, first, a note on our other special guests:
Our appreciation to our many sponsors for making this event possible, especially our presenting sponsor, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama.
2026 Alabama Colloquium series
Bill Baxley, J.D., is a former attorney general of Alabama, best known for prosecuting the state’s first cases against individuals associated with the Ku Klux Klan. He is also a United States Air Force and JAG Corps Army National Guard veteran.
Kathryn H. Braund, Ph.D., is Hollifield Professor of Southern History Emerita at Auburn University. She is a prolific author and scholar whose expertise lies in the intersecting threads of Creek and early American history in the South.
Ashley M. Jones was poet laureate of Alabama from 2022–2026, the first person of color and youngest person in Alabama’s history to hold this position. She is an award-winning author and founding director of the Magic City Poetry Festival.
Joyce Cauthen served as founding director of the Alabama Folklife Association and is a renowned expert on folk music traditions in Alabama. She is an acclaimed author and speaker, and is a founding member of AHA’s Road Scholars Speakers Bureau.
Throughout 2026, the Alabama USA Semiquincentennial Commission has led Alabama’s statewide celebrations of America’s 250th anniversary, and provided $675,000 in grant funding to make America at 250 celebrations possible across all 67 counties.