students to visit downtown tuscaloosa

DePalma's was once a bank and Adrian's, a department store.

Tuscaloosa's Kress 5-10-25 Cent store opened in 1937.

The students and I will travel to downtown Tuscaloosa tomorrow and reflect on what we have learned about emerging life in America. Our attention to this subject has pushed us to think about a variety of topics including the arrival of department stores, leisure time and women in public spaces. We might think deeply about these developments as we insert Tuscaloosa into this narrative. The city was founded in 1819 and served as the state capital from 1826 to 1846. Its gradual rise as an important city in West Alabama coincides with the life of Cincinnati-based hairdresser Eliza Potter who traveled widely. Some of her travels took her as far as Europe, but also to New Orleans (although if memory serves, following her uncle's advice, this woman of mixed race  never entered Alabama). But what if she had? Given that she styled the hair of wealthy whites on both sides of the Atlantic, which occasions would have presented her an opportunity to do as much? How easily would Potter have walked around our downtown area, which has grown considerably over the years after some decades of decline when shoppers turned to McFarland Mall. It is worth it to think about such things as we walk by many buildings including the Bama Theatre, which opened in 1938. Though it is safely outside the window of emerging urban life (1820s to 1910, give or take a decade, according to historian Gunther Barth), this theatre allows us to see yet another example of how an increasingly modern world found people not only working, but also enjoying leisure moments first in vaudeville houses and later, motion picture theatres. One aside: while we are downtown, we will gather footage for our class project: a music video with Tuscaloosa in the starring role. Along the way, we will stop by Edelweiss, a German coffee shop.