Episode 79 -- Dr. Isabela Morales On The 2024 AHA Sulzby Award

Dr. Isabela Morales, author of the multi-award winning book Happy
Dreams of Liberty: An American Family in Slavery and Freedom
(Oxford, 2022), discusses the Townsend family of Madison County,
Alabama, particularly the 45 manumitted children and nieces of
Samuel Townsend who will them their freedom and his fortune.
Morales speaks about the Townsends’ diaspora and how “race, place,
and money” affected their experience of freedom between the Civil
War and the Jim Crow Era. Links mentioned in the episode: Dr. R.
Isabela Morales: http://www.risabelamorales.com/ Alabama Historical
Association: https://www.alabamahistory.net/ James F. Sulzby Award:
https://www.alabamahistory.net/james-f-sulzby-book-award Happy
Dreams of Liberty: An American Family in Slavery and Freedom:
https://global.oup.com/academic/product/happy-dreams-of-liberty-9780197531792?cc=ca&lang=en&
Hoole Special Collections Library, Univ. of Alabama:
https://www.lib.ua.edu/libraries/hoole/ Septimus D. Cabaniss
Papers, Estate of Samuel Townsend (Hoole Lib):
https://archives.lib.ua.edu/repositories/3/archival_objects/73817
Wilberforce University: https://wilberforce.edu/ Leavenworth, KS:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leavenworth,_Kansas Jim Crow in
Alabama:
https://encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/segregation-jim-crow/
Stoutsburg Sourland African American Museum:
https://www.ssaamuseum.org/ Elizabeth Dale, the “Black Widow of
Hazel Green”:
https://huntsvillehistorycollection.org/hhc/browse-person.php?a=person&pe=Elizabeth%20Evans%20Hall%20Dale
Rather read? Here's a link to the transcript:
https://tinyurl.com/5afmd542 *Just a heads up – the provided
transcript is likely to be less than 100% accurate. The Alabama
History Podcast's producer is Marty Olliff and its associate
producer is Laura Murray. Founded in 1947, the Alabama Historical
Association is the oldest statewide historical society in Alabama.
The AHA provides opportunities for meaningful engagement with the
past through publications, meetings, historical markers, and other
programs. See the website www.alabamahistory.net.