Cradle of Freedom: Alabama and the Movement which Changed America with Author Frye Gaillard and Professor Wilson Fallin February 28 at 4:00 p.m., Carmichael Library

The Montevallo Branch of AAUW and 

Carmichael Library

Invite you to attend the Black History Month Event

Cradle of Freedom:

Alabama and the Movement which Changed America

with Author Frye Gaillard and Professor Wilson Fallin

February 28 at 4:00 p.m., Carmichael Library

Frye Gaillard will discuss his book Cradle of Freedom

 Professor Wilson Fallin will serve as respondent

Refreshments and discussion to follow the presentations

Frye Gaillard is a native of Mobile, Alabama and a graduate of Vanderbilt University. Gaillard began his career as a reporter for daily newspapers in the late 1960s, writing about the Civil Rights Movement as it unfolded across the South. “As a reporter, and later editor for The Charlotte Observer, he covered the integration of that North Carolina city’s schools by busing. He has been editor of Race Relations Reporter and southern editor of the Charlotte Observer.... In Cradle of Freedom, Gaillard puts a human face on the story of the black American struggle for equality in Alabama during the 1960s. While exceptional leaders such as Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks, Fred Shuttlesworth, Ralph Abernathy, John Lewis, and others rose up from the ranks and carved their places in history, the burden of the movement was not carried by them alone. It was fueled by the commitment and hard work of thousands of everyday people who decided that the time had come to take a stand.” Gaillard focuses on the contributions of these foot soldiers as well as on well known leaders. (Adapted from Amazon.com reviews).

Professor Wilson Fallin has written numerous works about African American experience, and he participated in the Civil Rights Movement which Gaillard covered as a journalist. Dr. Fallin is a minister in the Baptist Church and a highly regarded member of the History Department at the University of Montevallo. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Alabama and teaches courses in African-American, Southern, and African studies. His works include Uplifting the People: Three Centuries of Black Baptists in Alabama (Religion & American Culture; Aug 17, 2007) and The African American Church in Birmingham, Alabama, 1815-1963: A Shelter in the Storm (Studies in African American History and Culture; Jul 1, 1997). The public is cordially invited to attend and to participate in the discussion.