This presentation describes how the Alabama homefront responded to mobilization in World War I and how that response changed the state and its people’s institutions. It recounts Alabama’s military contributions to the war effort, then examines the economic and social impact of the federal government’s spending on four military camps, Wilson Dam and the Nitrate Plants at Muscle Shoals, and the shipbuilding industry of Mobile. Next it treats how citizens responded to the war through mobilization agencies and through their own institutions.
The presentation pays particular attention to the African-American response to the war, the public face of which was hyper-patriotic that masked deep fears within the white community concerning black patriotism and within the black community concerning white oppression. The presentation covers the war’s impact on furthering Progressive government in the state. Indeed, the experience of mobilization led to the election of Governor Thomas Kilby and the implementation of belated reforms to improve the lives of the people and the economy of the state through governmental actions. Lastly, it examines how commemoration of the war resulted in the erection in 1940 of the current headquarters of the Alabama Department of Archives and History.
Projection screen extension cord needed; microphone needed for large venues.
