Untold Stories of the Civil Rights Movement: March 5, 2026
Professor John M. Giggie will discuss his book “Bloody Tuesday: The Untold Story of the Struggle for Civil Rights in Tuscaloosa”
In Tuscaloosa, a city that was the national headquarters for the Ku Klux Klan, Black activists braved police brutality and white mobs as they sought their rights as Americans. Police and firefighters reinforced by deputized Klansmen attacked Black demonstrators in violence similar to Birmingham or Selma, but little reported. In 1964 marchers coming out of First African Baptist Church were beaten and arrested, then firefighters knocked out the church windows with high-pressure hoses so that teargas could be fired in. After about an hour, most of the police and the white mob left the area because “There was no one left to beat.”
In Tuscaloosa, a city that was the national headquarters for the Ku Klux Klan, Black activists braved police brutality and white mobs as they sought their rights as Americans. Police and firefighters reinforced by deputized Klansmen attacked Black demonstrators in violence similar to Birmingham or Selma, but little reported. In 1964 marchers coming out of First African Baptist Church were beaten and arrested, then firefighters knocked out the church windows with high-pressure hoses so that teargas could be fired in. After about an hour, most of the police and the white mob left the area because “There was no one left to beat.”
AUTHOR
Dr. John Giggie is Professor of History and Director of the Summersell Center for the Study of the South at the University of Alabama. He is the author or editor of six books, most recently Bloody Tuesday: The Untold Story of the Battle for Civil Rights in Tuscaloosa (Oxford University Press, 2024). Dr. Giggie is the founder of Alabama Memory, a national initiative dedicated to recovering and memorializing the more than 800 lives lost to lynching in Alabama, and Queer History South, an oral history project preserving the experiences of LGBTQ+ Alabamians. He also created History of Us, a civil rights education program for Alabama public schools, and in 2019 launched the first daily Black history course offered in the state’s public school system. A widely sought-after speaker on southern history, civil rights, and public memory, Dr. Giggie has served as a commentator for National Public Radio, CNN, C-SPAN, Time, The Washington Post, USA Today, and The Christian Science Monitor.
MODERATOR
Barbara Harris Combs, J.D., Ph.D. is Professor of Sociology at Kennesaw State University. Combs is a humanist and interdisciplinary scholar who received her Ph.D. in Sociology with a concentration in race and urban studies from Georgia State University in 2010. She also holds a Juris Doctorate degree from The Ohio State University and an MA in English from Xavier University (Ohio). She brings this interdisciplinary background to her study of society. Dr. Combs is the author of From Selma to Montgomery: The Long March to Freedom (Routledge, 2013) and Bodies Out of Place Theorizing Anti Blackness is U.S. Society (University of Georgia Press, 2022). A third book project, Finding Home: Black Places and Spaces of Political Empowerment, with co-authors Todd C. Shaw and Kirk Foster is under contract with Oxford University Press. She is working on a fourth book project (under contract with Polity Press) that examines the legacy of the 2023 Alabama Riverboat Brawl. Her awards include winning the Ida B. Wells-Barnett Book Award, Georgia Sociologist of the Year, Kimberlé Crenshaw Best Article Award, and finalist for the Georgia Author of the Year Award. She has published in a variety of academic outlets including, Critical Sociology, Sociological Spectrum, American Behavioral Scientist, Sociology of Race and Ethnicity, and The Conversation. She loves people and books, and she is committed to racial/social equity.
Register now!
All programs will be held on Zoom at 4:30 pm PT, 5:30 MT, 6:30 CT, and 7:30 ET. These webinars are free and open to the public, but registration is required. Donations are appreciated to support our ongoing educational efforts.
All programs will be held on Zoom at 4:30 pm PT, 5:30 MT, 6:30 CT, and 7:30 ET. These webinars are free and open to the public, but registration is required. Donations are appreciated to support our ongoing educational efforts.
Please note that program dates are subject to change. Registered participants will be notified of any changes. Recordings of the webinars will be available for on-demand viewing for those unable to attend live.
