Browse Items (190 total)

  • Collection: People

Hart to Messenger Marriage .jpg
Jessie Messenger Hart Thomas was the cook for the Arthur H. Keller family of Tuscumbia, in Colbert County, Alabama; her 1939 obituary notes that "among the many white children nursed by 'Aunt' Jessie was the renowned Miss Helen Keller, native of…

A Negro Boy Killed FG Thu Jul 11 1895 p 3.jpg
A Thursday, July 11, 1895 Florence Gazette report that an unnamed Negro boy had been killed a few miles west of Florence "a few days ago" when a wagon ran over him.

The name of the boy and the precise date of the accident were not recorded by the…

Uncle Jim Cross FG Thu Jun 26 1890 p 3.jpg
A Thursday, June 26, 1890 Florence Gazette biographical sketch of Jim Cross, a former slave of Benjamin Cross. Jim was 81 years old in 1890 and still lived where he had lived with his master, nine miles east of Florence on the Huntsville Road, …

A Narrow Escape FH Wed Oct 2 1889 p 3.jpg
A Wednesday, October 2, 1889 Florence Herald article reporting on how an African-American brakeman on the Memphis & Charleston Railroad named Oscar Jones, by his "bravery" and "great presence of mind," risked his life and narrowly averted disaster…

Negro Loses Leg.jpg
A Friday, June 28, 1935 Muscle Shoals Labor Advocate report that African-American resident of Florence Willis Reeder, a TVA employee, had a leg amputated at Colbert Hospital following an injury on the job at Wheeler Dam last Saturday.

Negro Boy is Hit by Ice Cream Truck.jpg
A Friday, July 27, 1945 Florence Herald accident report, reporting that 10 year-old LB Lambert, Jr, riding his bicycle down Waterloo Road toward Stewart Springs, was hit by an ice truck driven by Mack Standfield the previous Sunday night at 8:30 pm.…

NBandNW1828Aug9p.1.png
This is a newspaper article that describes the murder of Moses Hanser, a "free negro" living in Florence. According to the article, Hanser was in Florence following the "dying business" and may have been staying with a man named Goyne (or Goin). The…

Aleck Foster Obit FT Fri Feb 24 1905 p 1 Short Local Items.jpg
The February 24, 1905 Florence Times death of notice of Florence painter Aleck Foster and December 12, 1912 Alabama death certificate of his wife Callie Handy Foster.

Alexander "Aleck" Foster (ca. 1850-1905), referred to as "one of the landmarks…

Oscar Casey Obituary.jpg
The Florence Herald and Florence Times obituary and death notice of African-American resident of St. Florian (approximately 5 miles NE of Florence), Oscar Casey, who died after he fell into a ditch, said to be intoxicated, and being unable to regain …

Dr. Hicks Admitted into Medical Society.jpg
Dr. Hicks located in Florence in June of 1933. He was one of six African-American MDs in Florence between 1890 and 1940.

In June of 1953 Hicks became the first African-American physician elected to the Lauderdale County Medical Society (by a…
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