CVHS Program for Sunday, October 19, 2014, at 3 p.m.

Fiddlers, Banjo Players and Strawbeaters: Alabama's First Pop Musicians

Joyce Cauthen is the executive director of the Alabama Folklife Association, a statewide organization that sponsors research, promotion and preservation of Alabama’s folk culture. She is the author of With Fiddle and Well-Rosined Bow: Old-Time Fiddling in Alabama, published in 1989 by the University of Alabama Press, and has served as the producer of numerous recordings of traditional music of Alabama, including “Possum Up a Gum Stump: Home, Commercial and Field Recordings of Alabama Fiddlers.” She served as editor of Benjamin Lloyd’s Hymnbook: A Primitive Baptist Song Tradition and produced the accompanying CD. Her last project was a CD and booklet entitled Bullfrog Jumped, which features recordings made across Alabama of children’s folksongs and games in 1947. She is a graduate of Texas Christian University and has a master’s degree in English from Purdue University.

In her presentation, Cauthen will discuss the early fiddles of Alabama, the musicians who played them and the popularity of this music in their communities. Discussions will also surround the pivotal role played by African Americans in developing the music at the roots of today’s bluegrass and country music. Cauthen will demonstrate use of the banjo, “straws” (a technique in which broom straws or knitting needles were beat on the strings as the fiddler played) and guitar in backing up the fiddle. Her talk will be made especially interesting by the presence of fiddler Jim Cauthen, who will demonstrate fiddle tunes that have been specifically mentioned in historical writings, slave narratives and early newspapers of Alabama. The audience will hear musical styles and tunes that are seldom heard today—and will have the opportunity to ask questions and share their perceptions of the differences in this music and the modern country music that are based upon it.

CVHS Program for Sunday, July 20, 2014, at 3 p.m.

CVHS Program to Examine Slavery

          Civil War historian Murphy Wood will present the third part of his series, Slavery in North America:  Origin, Practice, and Production of Cash Crops at the next meeting of the Chattahoochee Valley Historical Society on July 20, 2014. The quarterly meeting will be held at 3:00 pm ET at the Bradshaw Library in Valley, AL.

            The production of cotton in Alabama and Mississippi fed the insatiable demand of a burgeoning international textile industry that forever linked the old South to cotton and slavery. The early social and economic history of Alabama and Mississippi were defined by cotton production and it is important to understand this time period and the global economic forces that swept it forward.  Having traced the origin of slavery and sugar and rice production in earlier lectures, it is hoped participants will have gained a greater understanding of slavery in its many forms and will not want to miss this last installment that focuses on how slavery practiced here in the Chattahoochee Valley.

            A native of northern Chambers County, Wood teaches AP History at his alma mater, Springwood School in Lanett.  Last summer and again this summer he has been chosen to be part of a select review committee, made up of high school history teachers and university professors from across America, to grade the essay portion of the AP History Exam. Before returning to his roots, he lived and worked in Virginia, where he received a Master’s Degree in Early American History from James Madison University.  He has appeared as guest speaker and has presented research papers at numerous Civil War conferences and lecture series in Virginia and Kentucky.  In addition, he has served as tour guide for several Civil War motor coach tours of the Shenandoah Valley and as a private guide for a variety of tour groups.

              The Bradshaw Library is located on Highway 29 in Valley, Alabama, approximately one mile south of I-85 Exit 79.  The public is invited and encouraged to attend.

             

CVHS Program for Sunday, April 27, 2014, at 3 p.m.

CVHS Program to Examine Slavery

           Civil War historian Murphy Wood will present the second part of his series, Slavery in North America:  Origin, Practice, and Production of Cash Crops at the next meeting of the Chattahoochee Valley Historical Society on April 27, 2014. The quarterly meeting will be held at 3:00 pm ET at the Bradshaw Library in Valley, AL.

            Slavery first emerged in the western hemisphere during the colonial period as a result of the triangular trade between New England, Africa and the Caribbean.  Slaves were brought to the Caribbean islands to work sugar plantations, producing molasses for the New England rum trade. Wood's research compares and contrasts the practice of slavery in North America, from the sugar plantations of the Caribbean, to rice production on the Georgia and South Carolina coast. The southern British colonies in North America performed an important role in the British Empire by providing rice to feed the slaves on the British sugar islands. The final installment of this series, focusing on cotton production in Alabama and Mississippi, will be held at a later date.

            A native of northern Chambers County, Wood teaches AP History at his alma mater, Springwood School in Lanett.  Last summer and again this summer he has been chosen to be part of a select review committee, made up of high school history teachers from across America, to grade the essay portion of the AP History Exam. Before returning to his roots, he lived and worked in Virginia, where he received a Master’s Degree in Early American History from James Madison University.  He has appeared as guest speaker and has presented research papers at numerous Civil War conferences and lecture series in Virginia and Kentucky.  In addition, he has served as tour guide for several Civil War motor coach tours of the Shenandoah Valley and as a private guide for a variety of tour groups.

              The Bradshaw Library is located on Highway 29 in Valley, Alabama, approximately one mile south of I-85 Exit 79.  The public is invited and encouraged to attend.

CVHS Program for Sunday, January 19, 2014, at 3 p.m.

SLAVERY IN NORTH AMERICA: 

ORIGIN, PRACTICE AND PRODUCTION OF CASH CROPS

          Civil War historian Murphy Wood will present  “Slavery in North America:  Origin, Practice,

and Production of Cash Crops” at the next meeting of the Chattahoochee Valley Historical Society on January 19. The quarterly meeting will be held at 3:00 pm ET at the Bradshaw Library in Valley, AL.

            Slavery first emerged in the western hemisphere during the colonial period as a result of the triangular trade between New England and Africa.  Slaves were brought to the Caribbean islands to work sugar plantations, producing molasses for the New England rum trade. Wood's research compares and contrasts the practice of slavery in North America, from the sugar plantations of the Caribbean, to rice production in the Carolinas, to the cotton fields that spread across the South.

            Ultimately a two-part lecture series, Wood's presentation at the upcoming CVHS meeting will focus on the earliest practice of North American slavery, the sugar plantations of the West Indies.  “CVHS is fortunate to have such a scholar as Wood on our board of directors”, says CVHS President Dr. Mac Holderfield.  “We are not only looking forward to his initial presentation, but are excited about his return to the speaker's podium the following January to discuss slavery in the context of rice and cotton production.  We have been working towards developing a special series event for our January program slate, and Murphy Wood is an excellent choice as our first speaker.”

            A native of northern Chambers County, Wood  teaches AP History at his alma mater, Springwood School in Lanett. Wood's students recently partnered with the Cobb Archives in an oral history project.  He also uses his talents as a Civil War re-enactor to create school-wide learning opportunities. Last summer he was chosen to be part of a select review committee, made up of high school history teachers from across America, to grade the essay portion of the AP History Exam.        Before returning to his roots, he lived and worked in Virginia, where he received a master’s degree in Early American History from James Madison University.  He has appeared as guest speaker and has presented research papers at numerous Civil War conferences and lecture series in Virginia and Kentucky.  In addition, he has served as tour guide for several Civil War motor coach tours of the Shenandoah Valley and as a private guide for a variety of tour groups.

              The Bradshaw Library is located on Highway 29 in Valley, Alabama, approximately one mile south of I-85 Exit 79.  The public is invited and encouraged to attend.