downtown Tuscaloosa field trip was amazing

The students listen to my digital lecture during our recent field trip.

The students and I had a good time visiting downtown Tuscaloosa this past Wednesday. We gathered footage for our music video featuring the sounds of local folk band Bible Study. The  "world premiere" of the  video will be held at 5:30 pm December 3 at Jemison Mansion in Tuscaloosa.

Also, on November 3, four students enrolled in this course this semester and one student enrolled last fall will accompany me and Dr. John Beeler to the Tuscaloosa County's Preservation Society's Annual Awards Banquet at Christ Episcopal Church (this church was featured in "Tuscaloosa: The Nineteenth Century City," the final student project from last fall).

On Wednesday, we did a tour that featured this church among other sites (I recorded my lecture-tour on how signs of emerging urban life manifest in present-day Tuscaloosa the night before and uploaded it to Vimeo.com. Doing as much allowed the students to hear me while they walked, permitting me to capture footage of them along the way).

One aside: I just curated a couple of dozen photographs that the students have taken in and outside of Tuscaloosa. These images bring to mind some of the ideas and topics we have been discussing about emerging urban life. Some of these photographs will be on display at the December 3 event. For now, we thank Ian Crawford and Tim Higgins of Jemison  (and Bible Study) well as Katherine Richter, Director of the Tuscaloosa County Preservation Society, and finally, music critic/author  Ann Powers for their role in helping us document Tuscaloosa's starring role in nineteenth century urban history this fall! Roll Tide!

Next week, we turn to our final course reading. We will learn about the ways in which the experiences of  nineteenth century geologist Clarence King epitomize the across time tensions between urban life and the frontier. What new things can King's disdain for New York City and love for mapping the West for the U.S. government teach us? How do the Civil War, Gilded Age and rising Jim Crow practices expand our knowledge of urban life? Finally, how do race, gender and class aid our ability to find meaning in an industrializing America?

PS Music by the Junkyard Kings, another local band, was also considered for the video. We are desperately trying to help them get access to our university's new recording studio on the old Bryce Hospital property so they can make a demo. Their song "Roses" is as wonderful as Bible Study's "Druid City." Thank you, Louise Manos, for introducing us to this band.