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`Welcome to Shoals Black History`

Featured Item

"'Progress' Kills W.C. Handy's Church"

This is a newspaper article about the relocation of W.C. Handy's boyhood church from downtown Florence to West Florence in 1967.

Featured Collection

Sports and Recreation

This collection contains items connected to recreational activities and sports as they relate to African American life in the Shoals.

Featured Exhibit

Work in the Shoals

This exhibit features photographs of people at work in the Shoals.

Recently Added Items

A Merry Chase

A Merry Chase FH Thu Sep 14 1899 p 4.jpg

A Thursday, September 14, 1899 Florence Herald report of African-American prisoner Jim Hoague's escape from the city jail and Florence Police Chief…

Chased a Negro

Chased a Negro FH Thu Mar 16 1899 p 1.jpg

A Thursday, March 6, 1899 Florence Herald report of Florence Police Chief (1987-1901) Samuel Weakley "SW" Lipscomb on his bicycle, chasing…

Recent Survey Shows a Higher Percentage Per Capita of Registered Black Voters than Registered White Voters in Lauderdale County in 1959.

A Recent Survey FH Thu May 21 1959 p 1.jpg

A May 21, 1959 Florence Herald article reporting that "according to a recent survey" in Lauderdale County per capita there is a higher percentage of…