Press Release - For Immediate Release

Media Contact: Mary Amelia Taylor

maryamelia.taylor@archives.alabama.gov or (334) 353-4692

Montgomery, AL (05/08/2024) – The Alabama Department of Archives & History (ADAH) will continue its 2024 Food for Thought lunchtime lecture series on Thursday, May 16th, at 12:00pm CT. Dr. Layton Revel will present Birmingham and Black Baseball. The program will be held in the ADAH’s Joseph M. Farley Alabama Power Auditorium in Montgomery. It will also be livestreamed on the ADAH’s Facebook page and YouTube channel. Admission is FREE.

Historian Layton Revel will discuss the projects of the Center for Negro League Baseball Research, as well as the work of the Negro Southern League Museum in Birmingham. Revel is the founder of the Center for Negro League Baseball Research, which partnered with the City of Birmingham to open the Negro Southern League Museum in 2015. In addition to the exhibits at the museum located adjacent to Regions Field in Birmingham, the museum also maintains an extensive website on the history of Black baseball in the South.

The Negro Southern League was formed in 1920 by a group of African-American businessmen and baseball enthusiasts. The Birmingham Black Barons were among the first teams organized in the league. The Negro Southern League served as a feeder route for many players who found success in the Negro American League and Negro National League. Many stars began their careers on Negro Southern League teams, including Leroy “Satchel” Paige, Willie Mays, Hilton Smith, Norman “Turkey” Stearnes, and George “Mule” Suttles. Formalized play for the League ended in 1951, but some teams, including the Black Barons, continued as barnstorming teams until the early 1960s.

Note: May's previously-scheduled Food for Thought program, Slavery in Indian Country, has been rescheduled for June 20. 

For additional information, contact Alex Colvin at alex.colvin@archives.alabama.gov or (334) 353-4689. A complete schedule of our 2024 lunchtime lecture series is available at archives.alabama.gov. Food for Thought 2024 is sponsored by the Alabama Humanities Alliance and the Friends of the Alabama Archives.

The Alabama Department of Archives and History is the state’s government-records repository, a special-collections library and research facility, and home to the Museum of Alabama, the state history museum. It is located in downtown Montgomery, directly across Washington Avenue from the State Capitol. The Museum of Alabama is open Monday through Saturday from 8:30 to 4:30. The EBSCO Research Room is open Tuesday through Saturday from 8:30 to 4:30. To learn more, visit www.archives.alabama.gov or call (334) 242-4364.