Michael Hipa, Poarch Creek tribal descendant, participates in Grand Entry, 1988. View more Alabama Local Legacies.

Alabama

The American Folklife Center contains rich and varied materials from Alabama documenting the diversity of the state's traditions. Among its unique recordings are African American spirituals, work songs, and shouts from the 1930s-40s; fiddle music; coal miners' songs; Sacred Harp singing; and the music of blues and gospel artists. The Center's 1982 Ethnic Heritage and Language Schools Project documented a Greek/Lebanese school in Birmingham.

Collections

Finding Aid: View a complete list of our Alabama collections.

Local Legacies: This project provides a "snapshot" of local culture as it was expressed in the year 2000. View Alabama's Local Legacies projects.

Veterans History Project: Browse state collections from the Veterans History Project.

Songs of America: Browse an interactive state map for selected songs from the American Folklife Center’s collections, as well as songs from the Library’s Music Division and Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division.

Online Collection with Alabama content: Southern Mosaic: The John and Ruby Lomax 1939 Southern States Recording Trip

Concert Webcasts

Blind Boys of Alabama: African American gospel music from Alabama. Recorded June 5, 2002. [webcast Part I] [webcast Part II]

Birmingham Sunlights: African American gospel quartet from Alabama. Recorded December 7, 2005. [webcast and event flyer]

Additional Resources

Folklife Resources: Find state folklife-related agencies, societies, archives, higher education programs, and more, in Folklife Sourcebook: A Directory of Folklife Resources in the United States.

Publication: "Lebanese Arabic School at St. Elias Maronite Catholic Church and Greek School at Holy Trinity-Holy Cross Greek Orthodox Cathedral," in Ethnic Heritage and Language Schools in America. [catalog record]

Published Recordings:
Sacred Harp Singing, Recording Laboratory, Library of Congress, AFS L11. [song list and liner notes]

"Jordan and Jubilee: Songs from Livingston, Alabama," The Ballad Hunter, Part IX, Library of Congress, AFS L53. [song list and liner notes]