Newsroom Category: AHA News

AHA awards $380K in ’24 grants

In 2024, the Alabama Humanities Alliance awarded $379,063 to 65 nonprofits statewide. This funding made it possible for more than 200,000 Alabamians to come together and learn together. Communities from Florence to Spanish Fort, Camden to Ozark — and everywhere in between — created their own local programming that highlights Alabama’s rich history, literature, art, law, culture, and more.

 

Meet our 2024 grant recipients

 

Community cornerstones and education-focused nonprofits rely on AHA as the state’s primary source of funding for humanities programming. Recipients often include local libraries, museums, historic sites, universities, arts and literary organizations, chambers of commerce, archives, historical societies, literacy groups, and many other community-based nonprofits. Artists, filmmakers, and media producers often rely on AHA grants, too, for producing Alabama-focused documentaries, podcasts, and other digital media.

“AHA support allows amazing events to take place which otherwise would not happen,” says Mike Bunn, director of Historic Blakeley State Park, one of AHA’s 2024 grant recipients. “AHA inspires and supports projects for which there are few other available funding options.”

In 2024, public programming created by AHA-funded grantees reached at least 222,360 Alabamians across all 67 counties. This impact doesn’t include the additional programs that AHA provides directly, such as Alabama History Day, the Smithsonian’s Museum on Main Street traveling exhibits program, Road Scholar speakers, Healing History initiative, teacher workshops and scholarships, the Alabama Colloquium series, and much more.

 

Fifty years of grantmaking impact

The year 2024 marked AHA’s 50th anniversary. Over the past half-century, the Alabama Humanities Alliance has provided $12.9 million in grant funding to support at least 2,247 public humanities projects across the state. All funding for AHA’s grants program comes from an affiliate partnership with the National Endowment for the Humanities, and thanks to steadfast support from Alabama’s elected officials in the U.S. Congress.

“We are grateful that decision-makers recognize the value in what these grants offer to communities around our state, especially since there’s no other funding stream that offers statewide, humanities-focused funding,” says Chuck Holmes, AHA’s executive director. “These grants help local communities bring the past to life, highlight our vibrant culture, connect us to each other, and help us better understand this dynamic and complex state we all call home.”

A brief sampling of AHA-funded grantee projects, below, reveals a wide variety of topics and communities reached in 2024.

 

2024: Grant-funded project examples

Alabama Authors Day
Historic Blakeley Authority | Spanish Fort
Alabama Authors Day offers an annual celebration of the literary arts and our shared cultural and natural heritage. This program highlights recent works by accomplished Alabama authors and provokes discussion about important topics addressed in their writing.

 

Alabama Hip Hop 101
Southern Music Research Center | Statewide

This oral history project documents the history and growth of hip hop music and culture in Alabama; the project features a series of videos and interviews shared via the Southern Music Research Center’s podcast and website.

 

Brick and Barn
Sand Mountain Cooperative Education Center | Guntersville + Birmingham 

Brick and Barn aims to bridge Alabama’s urban-rural divide through a speaker series, offering talks on topics from energy and isolation to literature and migration — fostering dialogue and understanding between historically separated communities.

 

Exploring the Relationship Between the Human Condition and Artificial Intelligence
U.S. Space & Rocket Center Education Foundation | Huntsville

AHA funding enables this national AI Symposium to include conversations about the human condition within broader discussions about artificial intelligence — including how to incorporate history, philosophy, ethics, and law in AI decision-making.

 

Memphis and Charleston Railroad Bridge: Connecting the Shoals
University of North Alabama | Florence

The traveling exhibit explores how The Old Railroad Bridge has long connected towns and shaped lives in the Shoals; the exhibit traveled to four public libraries, offering talks by historians and authors in Florence, Sheffield, Tuscumbia, and Muscle Shoals.

 

Preserving the Lived Experiences of Senator Richard C. Shelby
The University of Alabama | Tuscaloosa

Senator Shelby, who retired after 36 years in the U.S. Senate, was one of the longest-serving senators in U.S. history; this oral history video project by the Shelby Institute for Policy and Leadership documents his life in Alabama and beyond.

 

About AHA’s grants

The Alabama Humanities Alliance offers a variety of grants to meet local needs:

Mini Grants
Up to $2,500
Offered monthly
No cost-share matches

Major Grants
Up to $10,000
Offered 3x a year
1:1 cost-share match

Media Grants
Up to $15,000
Offered annually
2:1 cost-share match

 

Upcoming 2025 grant deadlines:

 

Learn more about AHA’s grants offerings — including eligibility guidelines, types of projects funded, and how to apply — at alabamahumanities.org/grants.

 

About the Alabama Humanities Alliance
Founded in 1974, the nonprofit and nonpartisan Alabama Humanities Alliance serves as a state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Through our grantmaking and public programming, we promote lifelong learning and impactful storytelling that lifts up our state. We believe the humanities can bring our communities together and help us all see each other as fully human. Learn more at alabamahumanities.org.

AHA welcomes nine new board members  

The new year brings new faces to the Alabama Humanities Alliance’s statewide board of directors. Seven board members saw their terms expire at the end of 2024, with nine new members following in their footsteps in 2025.

AHA’s newest board members come from seven different counties, representing Alabama’s rich geographic and cultural diversity. They come from academia, business, law, government, history, and nonprofit leadership.

“I am so grateful that each member of AHA’s board is committed to helping provide opportunities for storytelling, lifelong learning and community engagement across every county of this state,” says Chuck Holmes, AHA’s executive director. “We see over and over how the arts and humanities bring Alabamians together, and help us all better understand each other and these vibrant, complex communities we call home.”

Meet AHA’s full board of directors.

 

2025 board leadership
Robbie McGhee

Robbie McGhee, of Atmore, will serve as the new chair of AHA’s board of directors in 2025-2026. McGhee is an enrolled member of the Poarch Band of Creek Indians, and has been an advocate for Native American issues at all levels of government. He is in his fifth term on the Poarch Band of Creek Indians Tribal Council.

The rest of AHA’s 2025 board’s leadership includes:

Chandra Brown Stewart, Vice Chair (Mobile): Executive Director, Lifelines Counseling Services

Clay Loftin, Secretary (Montgomery): Manager of Governmental Affairs, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama

Bob Barnett, Treasurer (Pell City): Structural Engineer and Adjunct Professor

Ed Mizzell, Immediate Past Chair (Birmingham): Managing Director, Luckie & Company

Diane Clouse, At-Large (Ozark): Retired Educator and Performing Arts Choreographer

Susan Yvette Price, J.D., At-Large (Montgomery): Senior Vice Chancellor and Chief of Staff, Alabama Community College System

  

Welcome to the new class

AHA’s newest board members come from across the state and bring a variety of strengths and experience to the Alabama Humanities Alliance. Read each member’s full bio. 

Darrell Ezell, Ph.D. (Huntsville): Social Scientist, Professor, and CEO of Heritage Solutions

Markell Heilbron (Birmingham): Director of Corporate Responsibility, Alabama Power

Jason Isbell (Pike Road): Senior Vice President, State Government Affairs and Economic Development, Regions Bank

Joseph Messina, Ph.D. (Tuscaloosa): Professor of Geography; Dean of the College of Arts & Sciences, University of Alabama

Alan Miller, J.D. (Chelsea): President and CEO, American Village Citizenship Trust, Montevallo. 

Sidney James Nakhjavan (Auburn): Retired Executive Director, Cary Center for the Advancement of Philanthropy and Nonprofit Studies, Auburn University

Chris Robinson (Huntsville): Senior Technical Advisor, U.S. Department of the Treasury

Sam Todd, J.D. (Birmingham): Director of business development, Vulcan Materials Company

Roger Williams (Florence): Certified Public Accountant; President, Patterson, Prince, and Associates, P.C.

 

Saying thank you

AHA’s outgoing board members have helped move the organization forward in substantial ways  commitment helped us move the organization forward in substantial ways. Thank you to Darren Hicks (Birmingham), Dorothy Huston, Ph.D. (Huntsville), Mark Nelson, Ph.D. (Tuscaloosa/Birmingham), Brett Shaffer (Birmingham), Sheryl Threadgill-Matthews (Camden), R.B. Walker (Birmingham), and Andy Weil (Montgomery).  

Among many other accomplishments, these members helped shepherd AHA through a year of reflections, planning, and celebrations in 2024, the Alliance’s 50th anniversary.

 

National role for AHA board member
Susan Price

Also of note, Susan Yvette Price, J.D., an at-large member of the board’s executive committee, has also been elected to the board of the Federation of State Humanities Councils. Her appointment took place January 1.

The Federation is the national association of the Alabama Humanities Alliance and 54 other state and territorial humanities councils that promote humanities-rich programming across the United States. The D.C.-based Federation’s chief role is to advocate for increased investment in state humanities councils. It also nurtures the national network of state councils and other allies of the humanities and arts in efforts to amplify the meaning and importance of our work.

“Susan’s new volunteer role as a Federation board member is an important extension of her volunteer role for AHA,” Holmes says. “I am grateful to her for taking on this responsibility, which is a win-win. The Federation is the beneficiary of her extraordinary talents, energy, and expertise. AHA is the beneficiary with an Alabama voice at the table on important national conversations and policy decisions about the humanities and its role in American life.”

 

About the Alabama Humanities Alliance
Founded in 1974, the nonprofit Alabama Humanities Alliance serves as a state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Through our grantmaking and public programming, we connect Alabamians to impactful storytelling, lifelong learning, and civic engagement. We believe the humanities can bring our communities together and help us all see each other as fully human. Learn more at alabamahumanities.org.

Celebrating AHA at 50

On December 2, the Alabama Humanities Alliance capped its 50th anniversary with a year-end celebration of the humanities. The Alabama Colloquium in Birmingham highlighted the power of sharing our stories with each other. To underscore the point, AHA bestowed its greatest honor upon two of Alabama finest storytellers, author Rick Bragg and humorist Roy Wood Jr.

 

The evening was a memorable one for many reasons. There was Bragg reciting the visceral and heartbreaking opening page of his memoir, All Over But the Shoutin. Wood Jr. revealing his aim to film a one-man show in Birmingham and illustrate just how much his hometown means to him. A welcome from Mayor Randall Woodfin that highlighted Bragg’s ability to “open hearts and minds” and Wood’s to “use humor not only to entertain but to enlighten the world.”

There were surprise video messages from award-winning author Ron Rash and former Daily Show anchor Trevor Noah. Heartfelt tributes from author Cassandra King, to Bragg, and from educator and literacy advocate Devon Frazier, to Wood. There was even an errant fire alarm that briefly forced an evacuation of the Alys Stephens Center — sending attendees out into the cold and leading many to joke that Birmingham’s erstwhile prankster Roy Wood Jr. might be to blame.

But the highlight of the evening was the hilarious and heartfelt conversation between Bragg and Wood on stage, moderated by journalist Sid Evans. Evans’ first question asked each man what it meant to be honored as an Alabama Humanities Fellow. Tongue firmly in cheek, Bragg responded first: “With all due respect to Roy, I think they just kinda worked their way down to us.” Once the laughter had subsided, Bragg clarified: “You know when someone passes you the popcorn at the movie theatre and all that’s left is seeds and grease?”

Once the laughter died down again, Bragg copped to the truth: “No, you reach a point in your life when these things mean a whole lot more to you. Just think of what it took to put this thing on. Good people and a good organization. This means a lot to me. I’m honored to get to do it.”

Wood agreed: “It’s one thing to be honored. But to have people who know what your life was before this, to be able to come and celebrate you, it’s humbling. I’m trying not to cry. It means a lot.”

To see and hear more from the event:

 

Other highlights
Honorees Guin Robinson (left) and Julian Butler.

 

 

 

 

The Birmingham event was the final in a two-part Alabama Colloquium series for 2024. The first event, held in August in Huntsville, honored a pair of acclaimed songwriters and musicians from North Alabama: Brittany Howard and Jason Isbell. Howard and Isbell also joined in a conversation, followed by a pair of songs. Their conversation, and closing songs, are also available to view online.

The 2024 Alabama Colloquium series was made possible by the support of dozens of sponsors and partners, and by the 2,000-plus folks who attended. Presenting sponsors of the series included Regions Bank, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama, Huntsville Utilities, and the Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham.

 

A (50th) year to remember

Thanks to the support and involvement of Alabamians statewide, the Alabama Colloquium series was just one among many highlights from 2024.

Over the course of its 50th anniversary, the Alabama Humanities Alliance:

Awarded roughly $380,000 in grants to help dozens of nonprofits put on humanities-rich public programming statewide. (Applications now open for 2025 grants)

Turned our Healing History pilot into a long-term initiative to bridge divides and bring Alabamians together through conversation.

Brought a Smithsonian traveling exhibit, Crossroads, to five rural communities statewide, enabling nearly 5,000 Alabamians to share their small-town stories.

Grew AHA’s Alabama History Day program with our first official regional contest, in Mobile, and our first-ever AHD for incarcerated youth, at Mt. Meigs.

Reached nearly 2,500 Alabamians in 20-plus counties through our Road Scholars, who delivered 79 fascinating talks in community libraries, schools, historic sites, and more.

Considered our past, present, and future through a 50th anniversary issue of Mosaic magazine. (Sign up for Mosaic)

Explored the essence of Alabama through the lens of some of our state’s compelling writers, artists, and thinkers. Read our My Alabama Story series.

And there’s much more already scheduled for 2025: Expanded opportunities to engage with Healing History; our next Smithsonian traveling exhibit, Spark!; a new home for our Alabama History Day state contest at Troy University in Montgomery; a weeklong Stony the Road teacher institute exploring Alabama’s civil rights legacy; double the award funding for teachers named 2025 Riley Scholars, and a fall 2025 Alabama Colloquium in Mobile.


None of this is possible without the support of Alabamians across the state. Thank you for helping us share our collective stories. The stories of our hometowns, our neighbors, ourselves. The stories that help us understand where we come from and who we are. And bring us ever closer toward one another.

If you’d like to support AHA’s next 50 years, consider making a year-end gift

About the Alabama Humanities Alliance
Founded in 1974, the nonprofit Alabama Humanities Alliance serves as a state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Through our grantmaking and public programming, we connect Alabamians to impactful storytelling, lifelong learning, and civic engagement. We believe the humanities can bring our communities together and help us all see each other as fully human. Learn more at alabamahumanities.org.

History Day at Mt. Meigs

“Alabama History Day has given me light in this dark part of my life. It gave me an example of how throughout history, people have made a way in spite of hard times.” 
—G.M., a student at L.B. Wallace School for adjudicated youth, Mt. Meigs, Alabama 

 

G.M. was one of 30 students at the L.B. Wallace School who participated in a first-of-its-kind Alabama History Day program. Students had the chance to research topics of their own choosing — and then creatively share their findings — just as all other Alabama students do at school, regional, and statewide History Day contests each year.

This barrier-breaking program for adjudicated youth at Mt. Meigs — an Alabama Department of Youth Services (DYS) campus mostly comprised of 16-to-19-year-old boys — was the result of a collaboration between the Alabama Humanities Alliance, the Alabama Writers’ Forum, and DYS.

Over a 10-week program this school year, students at Mt. Meigs participated in a Writing Our Histories program, led by Susan R. DuBose, Ph.D., a leading historian and educator in Alabama. Dr. DuBose and the school’s teachers helped students learn the core principles of primary research and how to develop speaking skills to present their research to a panel of judges.

“The dedicated DYS teachers and staff, along with Dr. DuBose, created an environment where our students could connect with history and learn in ways they had never experienced before this program,” says Tracy Smitherman, Ed.D., superintendent of the Alabama DYS School District. “The students enjoyed it, the exceptional teachers and staff loved it, and as the superintendent, I love that this program inspired them to love learning.”

The Alabama Humanities Alliance and Alabama Writers’ Forum collaboratively developed the Writing Our Histories curriculum — building on the AWF’s well-established Writing Our Stories program, which also takes place on DYS youth campuses. Over the program’s first 25 years, 63 anthologies and 19 chapbooks have been published, showcasing the work of approximately 1,500 students.

The 10-week Writing Our Histories pilot program culminated in an Alabama History Day contest on October 4, on the Mt. Meigs campus. Students presented their research as exhibits that colorfully highlighted what they’d learned on topics ranging from World War II and the Civil War to Alabama athletes and the civil rights movement. Students confidently and enthusiastically talked about what they’d learned, answering questions from Alabama History Day judges who work professionally as educators, historians, and authors. Teachers from other DYS campuses also attended to observe and bring the experience back to their own classrooms.

“Alabama History Day has brought me to the perception to always move forward and to keep your focus on the right opportunity,” one student, K.M., shared. “As Franklin D. Roosevelt said, ’The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.’ These words hold true through all times, for there have been occasions when good things during hard times have been accomplished through perseverance and hope. I want to thank everyone for providing me with a chance to advance my growth as an independent individual.”

Alabama History Day will “move forward” at Mt. Meigs, too. The pilot program had such a significant and positive impact on participating youth this fall that an agreement is already in place to carry Alabama History Day into 2025 and beyond with the Alabama Department of Youth Services.

Idrissa N. Snider, Ph.D., at the Awards Ceremony for Alabama History Day 2024 at Mt. Meigs.

“We take great joy in offering programs that empower all Alabamians to be storytellers and humanities champions, at every stage in life,” says Idrissa N. Snider, Ph.D., Alabama History Day coordinator at the Alabama Humanities Alliance. “We want every child to succeed, no matter their circumstances, and we have seen firsthand how empowering and transformational the History Day program can be to students from different backgrounds and parts of our state.”

Alabama History Day is the state contest of National History Day, a history competition that engages middle school and high school students in robust and creative historical research. To learn more about History Day — and how your school, classroom, or student can participate, visit alabamahumanities.org/alabama-history-day.

Learn more about the partnering organizations for Alabama History Day at Mt. Meigs:

AHA to honor Rick Bragg, Roy Wood Jr.

On December 2 in Birmingham, the Alabama Humanities Alliance (AHA) will recognize writer Rick Bragg and humorist Roy Wood Jr. as 2024 Alabama Humanities Fellows — the highest humanities honor in the state.

The two will be honored during a ticketed event at UAB’s Alys Stephens Center. The evening will feature an in-depth conversation between Bragg and Wood Jr., two of Alabama’s finest, and funniest, writers and storytellers. The event will also see additional individuals receive awards for supporting the humanities in Alabama, as well as a celebration of AHA’s 50th anniversary.

Additional special guests include:

 

EVENT DETAILS:

Note: Copies of Rick Bragg’s books will be available for sale in the Alys Stephens Center lobby, thanks to our friends at Thank You Books.

 

ABOUT THE HONOREES:

While they utilize different mediums and styles, Bragg and Wood Jr. share something at their core: They are insightful storytellers who challenge us all to think, to empathize, and to explore what it means to be human.

Rick Bragg has long been lauded as one of the most distinct, illustrative storytellers in American literature. He’s authored more than a dozen books, but it’s his first, All Over but the Shoutin’, that became a sort of anthem for the people of the mountain South — and it is that regard, more than any award he has won, that Bragg holds most dear.

Still, the native of Possum Trot, Alabama, has won awards aplenty, including a Pulitzer Prize for reporting, as well as a James Beard Award, the Harper Lee Award for Alabama’s Distinguished Writer, and the Fitzgerald Literary Prize. For the past two decades, Bragg has also served as the Clarence Cason Professor of Writing at the University of Alabama

In an essay for AHA’s Mosaic magazine, the author Cassandra King — and Alabama Humanities Fellow herself — had this to say about Rick Bragg:

Rick’s works aren’t just important, they’re the essence of why we need the bond of storytelling today more than ever.

King also noted something that applies as much to Wood Jr. as it does to Bragg: “There is a commonality in our stories,” King wrote, “in the way the past has formed who we are and how we got here. No Southern storyteller can truly tell the tales of his or her life without delving into the past.”

 

Roy Wood Jr. mines both past and present for his material as a comedian, writer, and producer. The Birmingham native got his feet wet at 95.7 JAMZ-WBHJ before launching a career as a stand-up comic. He has released three specials, with a fourth due out in 2025, and became a nationally known satirist thanks to his eight-year-run on the Emmy-winning “The Daily Show.”

Wood Jr.’s father was the renowned civil rights journalist, Roy Wood Sr., and it’s no surprise the son’s humor intersects often with history, news, and civic engagement.

In 2021, Wood Jr. produced the Emmy-nominated documentary, The Neutral Ground. In 2023, he headlined the White House Correspondents Dinner. And just this fall, he has begun hosting a new show on CNN, “Have I Got News For You.”

Wood Jr. has also returned often for projects in his beloved Alabama, including: filming a TV project in Birmingham; narrating Alabama Public Television’s Alabama at 200 documentary; serving as an ambassador and correspondent for the MLB at Rickwood game in 2024, and hosting the “Road to Rickwood” podcast on the field’s baseball and civil rights history.

In an essay for AHA’s Mosaic magazine, the UA American Studies professor Jeffrey Melton, Ph.D., noted that Wood Jr.’s work covers a lot of the same terrain his father did, albeit with humor:

Wood Jr.’s method is clear: ‘If I can get you to laugh at it, then I can get you to listen.’

 

For more info: alabamahumanities.org/honors-bhm

For tickets: my.alysstephens.org/3382

This event is offered as part of AHA’s Alabama Colloquium series. Earlier this year, the Alabama Humanities Alliance honored musicians Brittany Howard and Jason Isbell in a similar event in Huntsville.

The Alabama Colloquium series is made possible due to the support of presenting sponsors Regions Bank, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama, Huntsville Utilities, and the Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham. All proceeds from the series support AHA programming that helps Alabamians connect with each other, our shared history, and the vibrant, complex communities we call home. 

 

About the Alabama Humanities Alliance
Founded 50 years ago, in 1974, the nonprofit and nonpartisan Alabama Humanities Alliance serves as a state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. AHA promotes impactful storytelling, lifelong learning and civic engagement. Through our programs and grantmaking, we provide Alabamians with opportunities to connect with each other, with our shared history, and with the vibrant and complex communities we call home. Learn more at alabamahumanities.org.

About the Alabama Colloquium
Each year, the Alabama Humanities Alliance presents the Alabama Colloquium to celebrate how the humanities lift up our state and bring Alabamians together. We also bestow the title of Alabama Humanities Fellow on individuals whose outstanding work in the humanities has positively impacted our state, nation, and world. Honorees include the likes of Harper Lee, Bryan Stevenson, E.O. Wilson, Odessa Woolfolk, W. Kamau Bell, Wayne Flynt, and more. alabamahumanities.org/honors

Meet AHA’s 55 grantees from 2023

Birmingham / April 22, 2024: Curious what kind of public humanities projects the Alabama Humanities Alliance funds through its grant program? Take a look at AHA’s final list of 2023 grant recipients.

In 2023, AHA awarded 55 grants totaling more than $342,000 to support public humanities programs across the state. Collectively, this funding helps to promote a greater appreciation and understanding of our history, literature, philosophy, culture, civics, and more.

AHA offers Mini Grants (up to $2,500), Major Grants (up to $10,000), and Media Grants (up to $15,000) to nonprofit organizations and educational institutions statewide. Awarded projects take many shapes but each, in some way, helps connect Alabamians to our past, to the world around us and, ultimately, to each other.

Interested in applying for an Alabama Public Humanities Grant in 2024? Visit AHA’s grants page to learn more and consider talking with our grants director about project eligibility.

The most important elements for any potential grant project include:

1. Public participation
2. Strong humanities content
3. Direct involvement of humanities scholars.

For example, AHA often funds the following types of projects:

  • Lectures and panel discussions
  • Conferences, symposia, and festivals
  • Community history projects
  • Book or reading discussions
  • Teacher workshops
  • Temporary and traveling exhibitions
  • Oral history projects
  • Documentary films or series
  • Podcasts, apps, digital media

 

MEET OUR 2023 AHA GRANTEES 

Note that all Major Grants and Media Grants are evaluated by an independent review panel of humanities scholars and practitioners. Learn more about AHA’s 2024 Grants Review Panel.

Photo at top: A story quilt presented as part of Project Threadways’ oral history project and symposium (Florence, 2023 grantee). 

 

About the Alabama Humanities Alliance
Founded 50 years ago, in 1974, the nonprofit and nonpartisan Alabama Humanities Alliance serves as a state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. AHA promotes impactful storytelling, lifelong learning and civic engagement. Through our programs and grantmaking, we provide Alabamians with opportunities to connect with each other, with our shared history, and with the vibrant and complex communities we call home. Learn more at alabamahumanities.org.

Brittany Howard, Jason Isbell: AL Humanities Fellows

Huntsville / April 18, 2024 — Grammy-winning musicians and north Alabama natives Brittany Howard and Jason Isbell will soon receive the highest humanities honor bestowed in their home state.

On August 26 in Huntsville, the Alabama Humanities Alliance (AHA) will recognize Howard and Isbell as Alabama Humanities Fellows. This ticketed event at the Von Braun Center will feature an in-depth conversation between the duo, and each honoree will perform a song for the occasion. Proceeds benefit AHA’s public humanities programming statewide.

Tickets are now on sale via the Von Braun Center (in person) and Ticketmaster (online). You can also learn more about the event at alabamahumanities.org/honors.

 

About the honorees

Howard and Isbell share deep roots in north Alabama — Howard in Athens, Isbell in Green Hill and Muscle Shoals. And the two are among the most acclaimed artists of their generation, with a combined 11 Grammy Awards between them.

They’ll be joining good company as Alabama Humanities Fellows. Past honorees include the likes of Imani Perry, Bryan Stevenson, Howell Raines, Fred Gray, E.O. Wilson, Harper Lee, Kathryn Tucker Windham, W. Kamau Bell, and Wayne Flynt.

While Howard and Isbell are, of course, impeccable musicians, it is their great talent as songwriters and storytellers that makes them Alabama Humanities Fellows. They adroitly weave key elements of the humanities — history, literature, and philosophy — into their songs.

“Brittany Howard and Jason Isbell use their lyrics and their lives to examine what it means to be human — and they challenge all of us to see the humanity in each other,” says Chuck Holmes, executive director of the Alabama Humanities Alliance, “Their lyrics require us to think, and to bring the same level of curiosity and empathy to our own lives.”

The August 26 event honoring Howard and Isbell is part of the Alabama Colloquium series and presented by the Alabama Humanities Alliance, which is celebrating 50 years of storytelling in 2024. All proceeds from the event support AHA programming that helps Alabamians connect with each other, our shared history, and the vibrant, complex communities we call home. 

 

Event details: 

The highlight of the event will feature an in-depth conversation between Howard and Isbell, moderated by NPR music critic Ann Powers. The honorees will receive their awards from another legendary north Alabama musician-songwriter, Muscle Shoals native Patterson Hood, co-founder of the Drive-By Truckers.

Hood has personal connections with each honoree. In the early 2000s, Isbell was a member of the Drive-By Truckers. In 2011, Hood heard Howard and her original band, the Alabama Shakes, play at a bar in Florence, Alabama; Hood invited them to open a series of shows for the Drive-By Truckers, helping to introduce Howard and the Alabama Shakes to a larger audience.

 

About the Alabama Humanities Alliance
Founded 50 years ago, in 1974, the nonprofit and nonpartisan Alabama Humanities Alliance serves as a state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. AHA promotes impactful storytelling, lifelong learning and civic engagement. Through our programs and grantmaking, we provide Alabamians with opportunities to connect with each other, with our shared history, and with the vibrant and complex communities we call home. Learn more at alabamahumanities.org.

About the Alabama Colloquium
Each year, the Alabama Humanities Alliance presents the Alabama Colloquium to celebrate how the humanities lift up our state and bring Alabamians together. We also bestow the title of Alabama Humanities Fellow on individuals whose outstanding work in the humanities has positively impacted our state, nation, and world. In 2024, AHA will present two Colloquium events. The first, in Huntsville on August 26, will honor Brittany Howard and Jason Isbell. The second, in Birmingham, will take place December 2 and honor author Rick Bragg and humorist Roy Wood Jr.

Alabama History Day 2024 winners announced

BIRMINGHAM / March 18, 2024 — This month, the Alabama Humanities Alliance presented its annual Alabama History Day contest, an accessible, statewide history research competition for middle and high school students. A total of 167 students traveled from schools across the state to compete at Auburn University at Montgomery’s campus on March 8, 2024. Eligible first- and second-place winners will represent Alabama at National History Day in Maryland and Washington, D.C., scheduled for June 9-13, 2024.

Throughout the 2023-2024 academic school year, Alabama teachers incorporated History Day as a project-learning tool in their classrooms. Students conducted primary research on topics of their own choosing related to this year’s History Day theme: Turning Points in History.

At the March 8 state contest, students creatively presented their research to judges — in the form of documentaries, exhibits, papers, performances, or websites. The Freedom Rides Museum and Rosa Parks Museum enriched students’ experience by providing guided tours full of told and untold Alabama stories.

Alabama History Day continues to grow statewide
In 2024, the state’s first-ever regional contest was held in South Alabama. Idrissa N. Snider, Ph.D., serves as AHA’s History Day coordinator and has worked persistently to develop the program. Dr. Snider, and a pair of teacher ambassadors designated to serve North and South Alabama, provide virtual and in-person assistance to educators and administrators interested in offering History Day to their students.

“A program like Alabama History Day provides an invaluable opportunity for students from diverse backgrounds to delve into a history topic of their choice,” expressed Dr. Idrissa N. Snider, Ph.D., Coordinator of Alabama History Day. “Through this process, we aim to cultivate more informed and responsible citizens who understand the complexities of history and its relevance to contemporary society.”

The Alabama Humanities Alliance invites teachers, judges, and students from across the state to participate in Alabama History Day 2025. Next year’s date and theme will be announced this summer. Teachers use Alabama History Day as a project-based learning tool, and to spark creativity, camaraderie, and healthy competition in the classroom. AHD staff offer “Alabama History Day & Donuts” in-person introductions, as well as more immersive teacher workshops, student summer camps, and virtual Q&As for judges and teachers.

Alabama History Day is made possible thanks to AHA’s partnership with National History Day. Support for the program comes from the National Endowment for the Humanities’ “A More Perfect Union” initiative and from Alabama Power. The Alabama Humanities Alliance also awarded 2024 special topic prizes of excellence thanks to partnerships with the Alabama Department of Archives and History, Alabama Historical Association, Alabama Public Television, David Mathews Center for Civic Life, Interstate Character Council, National Maritime Historical Society, and Sons of the American Revolution.

Learn more at alabamahumanities.org/alabama-history-day.

About the Alabama Humanities Alliance
Founded in 1974, the nonprofit Alabama Humanities Alliance serves as a state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. AHA promotes impactful storytelling, lifelong learning and civic engagement. We provide Alabamians with opportunities to connect with our shared cultures and to see each other as fully human. Through our grantmaking, we help scholars, communities and cultural nonprofits create humanities-rich projects that are accessible to all Alabamians — from literary festivals and documentary films to museum exhibitions and research collections. Learn more at alabamahumanities.org.

 

PRESS CONTACT: Phillip Jordan | 205.558.3998 | [email protected]

AHA announces new board members

BIRMINGHAM / January 23, 2023 — The Alabama Humanities Alliance (AHA) has appointed Clay Lofton and Ansley Quiros as new members of AHA’s board of directors. The two will help support AHA’s efforts as it enters its 50th anniversary in 2024.

“We’re excited to have Ansley and Clay join us,” says AHA Executive Director Chuck Holmes. “They each bring unique experiences and perspectives to AHA that will strengthen the organization and keep us leaning forward. Plus, simply put, they are two of the nicest and smartest people you’ll ever meet.”

Learn more about AHA’s newest board members:

Clay Loftin, government relations manager for Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama (BCBS), where he works with the Alabama Legislature, executive branch, and Alabama’s congressional delegation. He is responsible for legislative advocacy and healthcare policy efforts to ensure access to quality, affordable healthcare for more than 2 million Alabamians. Loftin’s passion for his home state has also led him to serve as a board member for the Girl Scouts of Southern Alabama (’17-’20) and on the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts Jr. Executive Board (‘21-’23). He’s also in the current Alabama Leadership Initiative Class VI.

Ansley Quiros, Ph.D., is an associate professor of history at the University of North Alabama and co-directs the Civil Rights Struggle in the Shoals Project. She earned her M.A. and Ph.D. in History from Vanderbilt, and she studies twentieth-century United States, focusing on race, politics, and religion. Quiros’ work has been publicized in The Washington Post, North Alabama Historical Review, and Atlanta Studies. Her debut novel, God With Us: Lived Theology and the Black Freedom Struggle in Americus, Georgia, 1942-1976, was published by the University of North Carolina Press. She is currently working on a biography of civil rights activists Charles and Shirley Sherrod.

The Alabama Humanities Alliance also extends its thanks to departing board member, Joseph Aistrup, Ph.D., From 2021-2022, Aistrup served as chair of AHA’s board. He is a professor in Auburn University’s Department of Political Science; he previously served as dean of the College of Liberal Arts at Auburn University from 2013-2021.

The Alabama Humanities Alliance’s board of directors represents communities and perspectives from across the state. To learn more, meet our full board.

About the Alabama Humanities Alliance
Founded in 1974, the nonprofit Alabama Humanities Alliance serves as a state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Through our grantmaking and public programming, we connect Alabamians to impactful storytelling, lifelong learning, and civic engagement. We believe the humanities can bring our communities together and help us all see each other as fully human. Learn more at alabamahumanities.org.

$200K for humanities projects in 2023

Birmingham / September 1, 2023  — Through the first half of 2023, the Alabama Humanities Alliance has awarded 29 grants, contributing $206,996 in funding to humanities-rich public projects. Grantee programs cover the state — from a Kudzu Soliloquy series of conversations at Dothan’s Wiregrass Museum of Art to an exploration of Asian American culture at the Florence-Lauderdale Public Library (youth panel pictured above).

Through June 2023, AHA’s statewide support includes: 12 Mini Grants (up to $2,500 each); 11 Major Grants (up to $10,000 each); and 6 Media Grants (up to $15,000).

Meet AHA’s newest grantees, awarded January-June 2023

The Alabama Humanities Alliance is the primary source of grants for public humanities projects in the state. AHA offers monthly Mini Grants; quarterly Major Grants; and annual Media Grants for documentaries, podcasts, and other digital projects.

In 2022, AHA awarded 51 grants in total, contributing $301,320 for humanities-rich public programming statewide. Those projects — steeped in history, literature, civics, culture, and more — reached nearly 214,000 Alabamians. Programming included festivals, book talks, teacher workshops, oral history projects, storytelling events, art panels, podcast series, and much more.

Support for AHA’s grants comes from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Learn more about current offerings and guidelines: alabamahumanities.org/grants.

Remaining grant deadlines for 2023 include:

 

About the Alabama Humanities Alliance
Founded in 1974, the nonprofit Alabama Humanities Alliance serves as a state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Through our grantmaking and public programming, we connect Alabamians to impactful storytelling, lifelong learning, and civic engagement. We believe the humanities can bring our communities together and help us all see each other as fully human. Learn more at alabamahumanities.org.