Virginia Martin, Author at BirminghamWatch - Page 229 of 480
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Virginia Martin

Birmingham Library Exec Returns to Work After One-Month Suspension

Birmingham Public Library Executive Director Floyd Council was back at work Friday after one month of being suspended without pay. Council was suspended by the BPL board of trustees last month for undisclosed reasons. As with most details regarding Council’s employment, the board refused to provide details about the decision to the public. The board did not discuss Council during its regular meeting Nov. 10. Multiple BPL employees confirmed Council’s return to the library Friday, though under condition of anonymity. Read more.

by Sam Prickett

Concerns Raised About COVID at Horizon Church Polling Place After Worker Tests Positive

Voters who cast their ballots last week at Horizon Church had to endure some very long lines. Now they’ll have to endure concern about possible exposure to COVID-19. A press release from the office of Jefferson County county manager Tony Petelos says there is a chance persons who voted at Precinct 5120, otherwise known as Horizon Church in Vestavia Hills, on Election Day may have been exposed to the novel coronavirus. Coincidentally, that is the polling place of Jefferson County Presiding Probate Judge James P. Naftel II, who fielded an Election Day call from his wife about her waiting in the line or returning later. Read more.

by Solomon Crenshaw Jr.

Rapid Rise of Alabama, National COVID-19 Numbers Worries UAB Doctor

Dr. Jeanne Marrazzo has been taking a close look at the recent data in the ongoing COVID-19 battle, and they have her worried. “(They are) astonishing numbers that I hope people do not become numb to,” Marrazzo, the director of the Division of Infectious Diseases for UAB Medicine, said as she opened an online press conference Wednesday morning. The numbers have been increasing steadily over the past few weeks, with new cases across the nation surpassing 140,000 Tuesday and deaths coming in at roughly 1,500. Alabama has followed suit, with 2,070 new cases and 81 new deaths reported Wednesday. However, as many as half of the deaths were reported at an earlier time and were added to the count after being investigated, an Alabama Department of Public Health official said in an email. Additionally, the number of patients hospitalized because of COVID-19 has increased significantly, both in the state and nationwide. Read more.

by Robert Carter

History of Us Course Introduces Students to Their Ancestors and the Role of Race in America’s History

“Those who have no record of what their forebears have accomplished lose the inspiration which comes from the teaching of biography and history.” – Carter G. Woodson Eighteen-year-old Delphia McGraw of Tuscaloosa says she loves history. But, growing up, she received little instruction on the history of people who looked like her. “I went to a private school during my middle school years, and I didn’t have any Black history taught to me,” McGraw said. She said she knew she wanted in when her teacher at Tuscaloosa’s Central High School told her about an elective course at Central the following year. Its teacher was University of Alabama professor John Giggie, Ph.D. He directs UA’s Summersell Center for the Study of the South. He taught a year-long Black history course called History of Us with UA graduate student Margaret Lawson. History of Us is touted as the first Black history course of its kind taught in the Tuscaloosa public school system. The course asks students to be historians by researching major themes in Black history and framing those themes locally, to Tuscaloosa County. Students are asked to examine how their own voices, their families and their communities fit in the progress of history, Giggie said. “We chose the name History of Us because we wanted students to think about several things,” he said. “First of all, there’s always been a tendency in educational circles to separate African-American from American history, and we wanted to show them that, actually, we have to integrate those vigorously to show the ways in which each of them informs the other.” “But more importantly, (we) wanted to demonstrate that the most important themes in Black history are also the most important themes in American history. And, the History of Us is also meant to be personal. It’s about all of us in history trying to find our place, our narratives, our stories.” Read more.

by Gail Allyn Short
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