Town. This is the first africanamerican mortuary in the state of alabama. Um, they originally opened in the 1880s and they built this building in the 1900s. But the real story is mrs. Alan. Um, she started a private school directly behind us in the 1880s. It was called Josephine Allen Institute because, again, in the 1800s, before the Emancipation Proclamation, it was against the law for africanamericans to be educated. So, after the Emancipation Proclamation, schools just started opening everywhere. And she opened one to to educate young africanamericans. But this family, actually, came to mobile from virginia. So, they were never slaves. They were free. And they were somewhat elite because they had a big home down near dolphin island. And they had a big home in the city. Well, in the 1880s and 90s, most africanamericans had shotgun homes, unfortunately, but that was the way it was. Well, they had a lot of friends. And some of their friends were people like booker t. Washington. President of Tuskegee University. George washington carver. Um, the principal of ans academy here in mobile. And a. N. Johnson, who was an entrepreneur. And those guys would go fishing and because of that relationship, a lot of her students got to go to Tuskegee University in the 1890s and the 1900s and on. Um, which meant that when they graduated, they became entrepreneurs. They became teachers, businesspeople, doctors, and just very successful throughout the country. So, that relationship was a great um bonding that they had during that time. The Funeral Home closed two years ago when the last sibling of the Allen Family passed, mrs. Gray. And just recently, its been announced that its going to reopen under the owenford mortuary. So, from here, we are going to visit some other entrepreneurs and we will, eventually, end the tour with a gentleman by the name of Wallace Turnich and he was a slave that ran away four times and got caught. And ultimately, he got to mobile. And we will talk about how he, eventually, got his freedom. This is Stone Street Baptist church. And it is the oldestBaptist Church in the state of alabama. Established in 1806, which was 13 years before alabama was even a state. Now, i didnt say oldest africanamerican church. Its the oldest Baptist Church in the state of alabama. And the story goes that the individuals that worshipped here um they would be singing spirituals with so much Conviction And Passion that their owners started having headaches and nightmares. And ultimately, he emancipated them. He set them free. And they were worshipping not too far from here. And they moved to this location. Well, not only was it against the law for africanamericans to be educated in alabama. It was against the law for them to have property deeded in their name. Well, fortunately, this was an integrated parish and the property was deeded in the white parishioners names. And they continued to worship together here, until somewhere around 1860 and they moved the deed to the africanamerican parishioners. They continued to grow the church. And in 1930, they decided that they would build a new church. Well, we all know what was going on in 1930. Its the great depression. But they felt so strong about that faith that they said well start this project and complete it and they did. And its been a thriving church in the community, ever since. Um, you know, the church was one of the few places that, during this period, that africanamericans could really, truly be themselves because they worked hard, all week. A lot of times, they wore uniforms. And on sunday, they could dress up in their best. And then, be themselves in the africanamerican church. And thats the experience that we read about with stone street. That was established in 1806 and its the oldest Baptist Church in the state of alabama. We are now in the heart of the africanamerican community. And during the civil rights days, dr. Martin Luther King um came to mobile, in 1959. And this was the international long shoreman building. And this is where they used to come to find out what jobs they had. They would look in this window and there would there would there would be a big chart in there with what boats or ships were in and which ones they were assigned to. But there is also a auditorium through these red doors. And in 1959, dr. Martin Luther King came to mobile. And this was the only time that he spoke in mobile was in this building in 1959. Ila local 1410. Because of the state docks, we had a lot of longshoremen. You know, prior to all of the equipment, nowadays, that do that work. There is, still, a significant number of longshoremen. But nowhere near what it used to be, before you had the equipment that we have today to do a lot of that work. It was all manual labor. All right. So now, we are approaching the africanamerican archives museum. Unfortunately, it closed two years ago because of a mold problem. Mold. And um, it started in the hvac system. Moved to the walls and the ceiling. They had to close it, and they moved the artifacts down to the History Museum of mobile. And so, they are under Lock And Key there. And the city has committed to, right now, they are making it ada compliant. And they have restored the inside. And then, theyre going to come to the community to see if we want to continue with the africanamerican heritage museum. Or maybe, a cultural museum. So, thats open for discussion. In the future. When i was growing up, this was the public library. This was the only library that africanamericans could go in. Even though weve always been 47 to 50 of the population in mobile, and there were four or five other libraries, this was the only one, regardless of where you lived, if you were black, that you could go in. And so, what we didnt know was when we got new books, they were the old books from the main public library. And so, we made lemonade out of the lemons that we had. When we opened those doors, there was two little ladies that sat behind the desk. They would look at you like they had laser beams in their eyes and they would just burn you up if you made any noise while you were there. It was strictly zero tolerance. Okay . But dora takes us on a real quick, historical trip that in the 1860s, we had the 14th, 15th amendment passed. One abolished slavery. One gave us the right to vote. And one that said we were created equal. Then, africanamericans were in the fast track. We had alabama, mobile representatives in montgomery. In d. C. We had u. S. And local senators. And everything was working like it was supposed to, as far as a democracy. And then, the most profound thing that we remembered that happened was when the guy sat on the bus, the Train Car in new orleans, and said i am going to covington. And they said, oh, no, you Cant Sit here. He was an africanamerican. They said you Cant Sit here. He says, oh yes, i can. Well, that case goes all the way to the supreme court and that was plessy versus ferguson. And the decision was separate but equal. So, at the time, blacks were considered colored and so we are going to put this first Train Car is going to be for whites. This one on the back is going to be for coloreds. So, its separate and equal but you Cant Sit with us. And that started just an enormous amount of of of different disparities. Because right after that, we had the jim crow laws. The jim crow laws, colored entrance, white entrance. Colored restaurant, white restaurant. Um, then we had the Ku Klux klan that intimidated africanamericans from voting. Well, in alabama, most of the men that had weapons were the confederate soldiers, so they become the policemen. And then, they created all of these laws, like loitering. That, if you were just standing on the corner, you could be arrested. And they amended the State Constitution to say that, if you are incarcerated, you could be subcontracted out for labor. Which meant that they would arrest people and put them right back on the plantation. Okay . To work. And then, during this same time, we had all of the lynchings from 1860 to 1950. Over 4,000 lynchings that took place during that time. So, we had all of these things happening, during that period. Right up until 1954, where brown versus board of education, things kind of settled a little. And there was another ten years before the civil Rights Bill was passed. And when that happened, then we could go to any library in the city. Not just this one. And the jim crow laws, finally, were taken the signs were taken down. Um, integration took place. But even the schools were not really integrated or desegregated until 1970. In this area. Um so, this Facility Kind of paints that story for us. Of the things that took place during that time. When you see our brochure, you will see what dora did. She took this building and put it in the front doorsteps of our mainpublic library to show the the the the difference in the size, even though africanamericans were 50 of the population. Um, it was designed by george rogers. He was the Premiere Architect in mobile, during that time. And he designed the mainpublic library, as well. As well as several other buildings. But um, thats the national africanamerican archives museum. Okay . All right. So lets walk down, and im going to talk about, during the 1980s, we had something come through mobile called urban renewal. Well, urban renewal removed a lot of buildings but didnt renew nothing. Okay . As we go down this street, this was the africanamerican Shopping Center of mobile. Mobis Nothing Nothing but black businesses on the street. Anything you need you could purchase on the street. And it was kind of during the jim crow days that even there you are not accepted in the white community, or you are scared to go so businesses opened up in the african american part of the community where you can shop and buy clothes, food, go to the movies, see your physician, your dentist, get your prescription sealed. Whatever you needed, you can purchase on the street. Appliances, the five and dime stores, restaurants, hats, clothing, shoes. I was all on this particular street. Urban renewal came through here, there used to be a two Story Building Right here. It was the franklin building. And on the bottom floor was the drugstore. And this was jurist fathers drugstore, it was called Families Drugstore Number three. Well, dorisfather started the first chain of african american drugstores in the state of alabama. He had five drugstores. My father, john, was his oldest brother and he started Finleys Number one and two. They were both the younger brother, more energy and creative five drugstores. But my uncle, james, was a member of a group of neighbors that started a civil Rights Organization called Neighborhood Organized Workers, and their philosophy was they wanted to increase the living standards of african americans standards in the community and provide racial reconciliation. Well, in the fifties, there was this gentleman by mobile by the name of mr. John , and he was the premier civil rights leader. From the twenties, his whole mission was to register people to vote. You know, i think this is 158 year of the 15th amendment and its the 100th year of allowing ladies to vote. So, Mister Laflore was in this building on the second floor and they had been working with the city trying to get improvements in the neighborhoods, trying to improve racial relations throughout the city. He was president of the naacp. Well, they outlawed the Naacp And Alabama in the 1950s. Mr. Leflore being the astute person that he was, he started another organization called the national protestant voters lead, which did the same thing, just didnt have the national backing. And they continue to work. Well, Neighborhood Organized Workers, their acronym was now. And in the sixties, shooting started to move a little faster. And they were one in results. They were like, we want things to happen now. And one of the most profound legal things that happened was mobile was set up with three districts. None which had a majority of african americans. So, there was never an african american City Commissioner and because african americans who have 45 to 60 of the population, the community never felt that they were getting their fair return as far as streets being paved, sidewalks, community centers, but they were never at the table when the money was being allocated. So they had no idea. So, ultimately, the city was sued. And the case was called bolden versus the city. The goes all the way to the supreme court, supreme court looked at it, church to it, not sure we want to act on this. The senate of the lower court, lower courts and it back to mobile and it went to the capital as the myriad act. And ultimately, it came back for the citizens to vote on it and the citizens voted on it and it was approved and when it was approved, they split the city up into seven districts, three of them which were majority african americans, so weve had an african american representative at the table since 1984. Weve also had an african american mayor. So now, those individuals represent that district and each district currently getting 3 million dollars per district. And if they dont spend that money like their constituents, obviously they vote somebody else in. But, at least were sitting at the table now and when decisions are made, and when the money is allocated, which means that it can be spent, in their communities as opposed to other areas of the city, so its probably one of the most profound decisions ever made in the city, it took that Case Something like ten years to get through the system. And the judge that finally made the decision, judge pitchman, there were articles in our press, they wanted him to leave the country. He was not well received after that. But, things have moved, and moving forward in the city aired still a lot of work to be done. But that was probably one of the greatest milestones for the africanamerican community to benefit from during that time. As a result of neighborhood in most cases, one in urban renewal comes into a community, not only do they bother business, but then they have a design for the renewal with financial plans to start those new businesses. You know, obviously if im living in a 250,000 Dollar Home and that ive built 20 years ago, and i want to replace it to build the equivalent, its going to cost me probably four, hundred 500,000 dollars today. And, so a lot of these businesses, yes they purchased them but they had no plan to restore them. And as a result, this community has been in this state ever since then. So were at most pure heart of mary church, which was established in 1989, originally a san antonio. St. Anthonys the scene of hope, so that was relevant during that period of time. African americans definitely needed help. And somebody made an anonymous donation for the change the name of the church and that was done. And it was initially established for the creoles and the african americans of the mobile community. Its been a thriving church in their community ever since. It has a parochial school here that has a first through the eighth grade. There was a high school, the twostorey building, and a high school closed in 1968. We had a national figure, alexis she became a secretary of labor under bill clintons administration. She attended school, this is where she graduated from. Some of the reasons that its on the trail is that during the civil rights days, Neighborhood Organized Workers had to have a place to meet. And ultimately, the School Cafeteria was the only place in the city that would allow them to meet to, strategize on how they were going to approach the problems that existed in the african american community and trying to resolve them with the city. The nuns and the priests here, because this street was the main thoroughfare through the africanamerican community, during the civil rights days, all of the marches would come down the street. And when those marches took place, these nuns and priests would be on the frontline. In fact, i remember during sharing stories with me and she wasnt but 15 at the time. The junior miss pageant was here, today it is called the distinguished women of america. And then theres 50 young ladies from all over the country. So quickly they said, artist would be a good time to march because we could get word out to the rest of the country on the problems that we had in mobile. Because there will be reporters from all over the country. So they established a march and they marched down to the auditorium, a place that was frequently visited and supported by the african american community, but there were no african americans that work there or on the board to make these decisions. And as soon as they got there, they addressed them, they took them to jail in the pathway. Well, on that particular occasion, mr. Leflore was on the sidewalk standing up and he was not part of the march, and obviously a part of the demonstration. He was just basically observing what was going on. They arrested him as a famous picture around town with him on the sand handcuffs on and they took him to jail. Well the nuns were just standing on the sidewalk. They put them in the paddywagon and took them to jail as well. And this Police Officer comes downstairs and he says, where these ladies . Somebody says, those are nuns from most pure heart of mary. He says, we cant have any nuns over. Here he comes back opens the software and the nuns look at him and said, were not going until everybody goes. Thats how committed they were to the community and how much they support it and how much they supported the african community during the civil rights days. And so, as a result of that, theyve the school is always been involved with the disparities that took place in the community doing during that time. Thats the most pure heart of mary church. We had a three movie theaters on history. There were three african american grocery stores. This is one of the few buildings that were preserved, yorks yorks barbershop. Im not really sure why they didnt destroy this building but its an original. Next to it was a grocery store. There was a nightclub so you had, you know, businesses, clubs, any and everything that you needed to buy. Of course there were service stations, you know. For gas and repairs. Mechanic shops, all of these vacant lots had businesses on them. There was only a boat ten houses on this whole street. Those are new. All of these vacant lots have businesses on them. So, were now at the home of dave. Dave paton had a wagon called a jerk around mobile. He became one of the richest realtors in the city. And this was in the 18 eighties, all right . And 18 nineties, he pulled all of the dirt out of the tunnel. Thats the tunnel that takes us to the eastern shore, he laid the foundation for most of the streets in mobile, he lay the foundation for the Alabama State docks and one of the largest schools, hospitals that we have here which is murphy hospital. He initially wanted to build this house on government street, well Government Streak is our main street. If youve been down government, theres a lot of antigovernment homes over there that are on this side, which were talking about, 1500 square feet, but because he was black, they wouldnt let him build that house over on government street. And were talking, this was in the early 1900s meant to be honest with you, most blacks were living in shotguns during the time. This was a huge house when you look at it. And was built by the Premier Architect in the city which was george during that time. I know that he had to have cash because my dad told me when he built his store in 1950, he had to have money. Not because he had bad credit, because they just didnt loan Blacks Credit for businesses or homes. So i know for him to have george rogers as the architect and to build this house, he had to had a lot of cash during that time. Unfortunately, he died at a very young age from pneumonia, so you really never had a chance. This church will not street behind us, and eventually, they bought this vacant lot and placed a church here. Constructed the church and then the purchased a home and it is now the for their pastor. This entire area, they called the campground. And the recently, its been called the campground because during a confederate war, they were like over 10,000 confederate soldiers that lived in this area. And when the confederates lost the civil war, the union soldiers moved into restore some stability and it took him about five years to restore stability. So growing up, we used to call this the avenue but the name was davis avenue. Well today it is dr. Martin Luther King. So we didnt know until they change the name that it was named after just jefferson davis, the president of the confederacy, right through the heart of the african american community. But, in reality, i guess it made sense because african americans didnt come into the community until after the war, because it was close to the other parts of the town where they were working and they could walk to work and walk back home. We are at the franklin primary Health Care Center. The Name Sake for dr. James franklin. Doctor franklin, actually grew up in tennessee. He went to school at lincoln university. Then he went to the university of michigan in 1909. And upon arrival he had to sleep in the boiler room. And he took his trunk, and that was his desk with a night lamp, and he slept on top of it for four years. He came in second in his medical class. Doctor franklin was my maternal grandfather. He comes back to alabama and starts practicing medicine, and if i had known ive been doing this, i wouldve asking hate him a lot of questions. I had no idea would be doing this trail today. And first of all he want to know why evergreen, or muskegee, or birmingham, or mobile. Because this is such a small community. But that is where he started practicing that isnt. And there was an outbreak, what a Flu Attack and this gentleman and he said came to him and said Doctor Franklin my wife is dying, come help me, and he did. When he found out was that they would keep the house closed up which meant that they would keep all the germs inside, so he had them open the windows, and continue to work with the patient, and you know there had been a lot of people dying in the community, and basically she end up well. So when people started seeing her again, they were asking the husband, oh my goodness how did she survive . And he said dr. Franklin came out to see her. They said Doctor Franklin . You mean the black doctor . And he said yes. And they said oh no, a black man cannot touch a white woman. And they were going to lynch him. And the husband, tried to control them, but he could not. So he ultimately, got dr. Franklin on a train, and at the time he had two children, and they came self. And got off in Africa Town. And that is how he got to mobile. And theres some stories in the mobile register, but once he got here he started practicing. A lot of the patients from the Clotilda War his patients. Because he was here in 1914. He continued to practice, ultimately he will just practice down on the other end of dr. Martin Luther King boulevard one and had an enormous practice and he passed when he was 84 years old so when urban renewal took out his building, he built a little three room office. Right in the Parking Lot behind us. And continued to practice medicine and 84 years old, he was still making house calls. He just enjoyed practicing medicine. So he had a heart attack, and when they closed the school, the pure heart of mary, there wasnt none by the name of Sister Marilyn. And she and most of the nuns, were admirers of him. And he was a member of the most pure heart of mary church. And she was 37 years old this none and she said im going to mid school. And she goes out here, and the students are like what are you going to do . Youre gonna be 40 something when you finish. And she says i am going to open up a medical clinic on the North Side of town. Because the one hospital we had in this area was moving west. She said i grew up in this community, i have been here since i was 21, and i love the people. They love me. And thats what i want to do. So she did. She finished mid school. She came over and started practicing in his office, because he had such a large patient base. And ultimately, she convinced her senior class, and they came over along with some of the other local doctors, and started rotating through to see his patients. But the family eventually, i guess you could say donated the facility to the clinic for a dollar. And ultimately, Sister Marilyn writes the proposal, a grant and she started the franklin primary Health Care Center in his name. And today you can go in here, and you could see a medical doctor, an ob gyn, and you could see a dentist, and an optometrist, cardiologist, im that you can have money or no money, insurance no insurance, and there is now 23 of these clinics in this area. All from the dream of Sister Marilyn, and the philosophy of dr. James franklin. He was an Elevator Operator in 1884, and you know that the lehman brothers started in mobile . And the reason was is that cotton was the cash crop. It was the moneymaker. It was really the moneymaker in the u. S. So the sky, used to operate the elevator. And he would hear the brokers talking, in between the floors. So he said i want to do something more with my life, and he started an insurance company. Would he would do is he would sell policies for people to provide a respectable burial for their relatives. He started an insurance company, right around the time that johnson and alan opened. And he hired six other guys, and they sold over 10 million Dollars Worth of insurance in the early 1900s. And you put that in the calculator today, that would be about 100 million dollars. So he was very wealthy. That was in the 19 hundreds. It paid out over 3 million Dollars Worth of insurance, so heres where we try to inspire children, we do not live in the past on this trail, we tell the past, to help us try to reconcile where we are today. And when we tell stories of this man, here is someone that had basically no one encouraging him to do anything, he was an Elevator Operator. So this is where we say find your passion. And this is where you will get up running in the morning, and this is how you become successful. And that is what this guy did. That was back in the 1890s. He started his own company, called insurance company. He made a lot of money. And this is where he initially lived in this home. So we are in the part of the town, that is somewhat. And there are some programs that have been recently approved for individuals, to bring their houses up to code. There are several grants that are available. And there is a big push, in the community to have basically get local government to make that happen. Because again, this area is the area that again the confederate soldiers were in back in the 18th on the 18 hundreds and there are a lot of Shotgun Houses in here. A shock on house, that is just a colloquial term, that if you open the front door, and the back door is open, you could shoot straight through, and it goes through the back. Thats a hotshot gun house. Over here to the right, are some original confederate barracks. See this blue and green back there, they have been back there since the 18 fifties. Somewhat renovated, but those are original barracks from that period of time. So this is a Shotgun House right here. And so it is one of those, usually they are straight and narrow. They go straight back. So this is the, its Vivian Malone Jones marker. Her sisters came to our board and said, you know our sister accomplished a lot. But there is nothing in mobile to recognize what she did. And they said we would like to put a historical marker. We said thats a great idea where would you like to put it . Anne she said we would like to put it in front of where our homestead was. This is where we grew up. So from this bloc to the next block, there were nothing but homes behind this. Now over to the left, that is the mobile county health department. So ultimately they bought this property, and made a Parking Lot. And they move these homes to other areas of the city. But they said this is where we grew up, and where we would like to have it. And miss malone, i tended the university of alabama. That was when George Wallace stood at the door and said, Segregation Today Tomorrow and forever. Robert kennedy was the attorney general, sent in the national guard, and he stepped out the way, and she entered the school. And she graduated. And from stories with the sister, she did not have any difficult times while she was there. And she was not the first african american to attend the school there, but she was the first african american to graduate. So when she graduated, no one in alabama would provide her with a job. I guess they were still upset that she had gone to that school. So ultimately she gets a job with the department of justice in washington d. C. , and the school did ask her to come back, to do the commencement address. And she did. And to make a long story short, the theme of her commencement address, was that you must always be prepared, because you never know Whats Door you may have to walk through. And that is the story of miss Vivian Malone Jones. Who opened a lot of doors. The city made this honourary Vivian Malone Jones way. To basically its for the historical marker being placed toward the homestead used to be. So the city recognized it. Doctor h. Roger williams grew up in louisiana on a sugar plantation. Decide he wants to be a pharmacist. He goes to pharmacist school. He comes to mobile and opens up the drugstore right here. Well 1896, he decides he wants to be a physician. He goes to medical school in nashville tennessee, he becomes a doctor, and opens up his doctors office upstairs. Drugstore downstairs, dr. Office upstairs. So his home, was over in this Parking Lot across the street. Forces so they come to him, and they said doctor Williams Identity said that but they told him, he need to put a sign up here that said colored. Because this was during the jim crow days. Well he being the smart independent person he was, he found a picture of himself, and blew it up about the Size Or Half size of that poster, and put it in the window. And he said you think now theyll know im colored. And that is doctor roger williams, he was very involved throughout the community three different medical. Societies, and pharmaceutical associations. This is in the heart of the community, and it was on the edge of the city during that time. Because remember, thought the city was about two miles from here. So we are on the outskirts at that time, and this area was very heavily populated, by creole. So this is the Volunteer Creole Fire station. That was established in 1819. And this was constructed in 1869 this building. So in order to work here, you have to be a creole and you had to be authenticated by one of the original creole families. And a lot of them live in the community today. And those families, those members they volunteered at this fire department. You can see that, thats where the Horse And Buggy would come out with the water on it. They would put out fires for everybody. And but you would have to be creole if there was a fire. So upstairs, was like a great room. And it was a poll, that would bring you down to the first floor. And right now, this is the home of a private individual. And he left the front of it, like it is or like it was to honor and to preserve the story of the creole Fire Station. But back in the 18 eighties, they used to have community parties. Like a great room. And there was this guy having a party, in 1882, by the name of john a polk. So somebody else goes home and gets the drums and cymbals and clarinet, and they have Gems Action going on. That was the beginning of a band, that we have called the excel see us banned. And they have played in every prayed since 1882. They will it be in the parade tonight. They will be the lead banned. This is where they started. They are the league band. So if you were creole you could be educated, you could own your own property, business, you had all the rights and freedom of a white person, except you could not vote. That was the only thing. So it created a disparity for many years, between african americans and creole. Because you have a decision to make, during that time, so if you were creole you had all those freedoms, but if not you are going to be working on Somebodys Kitchen in some of these kitchen or on their plantation. That changed in 1964 with the passage of the civil Rights Bill. So this is the creole Fire Station. And it just celebrated, 200 years. This year. In the establishment, of this Fire Stations. There is one family, that has had a Family Member in this Fire Station since 1869. And there are three which of them which are still members of the mobile fire department. Its amazing that their great grandfather, and grandfather, and their dad, and now the children are still firemen in the fire department. Here we are, at it takes a village. And this marker was done in conjunction with mobile united leadership. We have selected some hidden figures, kind of similar to the movie about the ladies that work for nasa. And the first person that we see, is a lady by the name of dr. Regina benjamin. She grew up not far from here, near the church, and she goes to xavier university, and becomes a Surgeon General of the united states. During President Barack obamas administration. Right here from mobile. She has a clinic, out in the western section of the city. An area that we call. So she is still giving back to the community all the time. The next gentleman, was a gentleman that went to one of the local high schools here, and he used to blow up things in the chemistry lab. Hed set his Moms Kitchen on fire. Ultimately he goes to to university, and becomes a ph. D. Engineer. And works on the b two bomber. Then he invents the super soak. The Water Gun on. And hes sold over a billion Dollars Worth. Well and recently, he returned to mobile about eight months ago, and he presented a check to the mobile county school system, for 7. 5 million dollars to start a robotic school. And the same high school he attended, it finished third in the overall presentations of robotics at the state contests. That was a couple of years ago. So he is giving back and he is giving back all the time. And his labs are in atlanta georgia, and the third gentlemen we have here, is major general gary cooper. He attended royal school. He finished, and entered notre dame. And when he graduated he decided, he would volunteer and join the marines. Upon entry, they wanted to make him a supply officer, and he said well, i think i will see if i could maybe find a way into another avenue in the military. Ultimately, he becomes an infantry commander. The first african american ever to be an infantry commander. Which could be up to managing 10,000 men. And he was on the front line during the vietnam conflict. He did two stints. He returned to mobile. And the Air Force called him back, and he goes back to the Air Force for a couple of years, and they point him ambassador to jamaica. For several years. He returns back home, and he was appointed head of the department of human resources in montgomery alabama. He becomes a District Representative back home, for the area he lived in. Here in mobile. And he returned back to mobile, as ceo, and president of commonwealth national bank. He recently retired, and now he just manages his family funeral business. So those are our hidden figures, and those are just a few. There are many many more in the city. So it is pretty busy here in mobile tonight why is that . This is Mardi Gras. But the saying, let the good times roll. So this is kind of synchronized, one with the catholic year. We have parades from 12 days after christmas, right up until that tuesday. And of course Mardi Gras means fat tuesday in french. And its a combination of the year. Usually its about five weeks, which is always the tuesday before ash wednesday. Which is 40 days before easter. Then we start the process all over again. And the celebration was brought to mobile, by the founders of mobile. The Le Moyne brothers. John baptiste, and pierre Le Moyne. And we like to say that mobile is the birthplace of Mardi Gras. And they found it in 1702. And pierre Le Moyne founded it in new orleans in 1718. So that was later. So they brought that celebration here, and then they took it to new orleans. So that is our stake to the birthplace of Mardi Gras. And its a fun time, its in the air, youll see everybody is excited and having fun. Tonight is the first parade of the year. It is really the first parade of the year. Wallace was a slave in mississippi, and he tried to run away and he would get caught, and they would bring him back, and they would beat him unmercifully. In fact during that time, you can get jobs beating slaves by the number of lashes or by the hour. So unbelievably, his owner became sympathetic, and brought him to mobile, and auctioned him off right there at the Slave Market on the street. The guy that approached him before this building was here. He purchased wallace, and what he wanted him to do was walk his horses. And wallace was walking one of his horses one day, and something spoke the horse and he took off. And he could not catch him. He had to come home and tell them that the horse took off, and he could not catch him. And she said wallace you go downstairs, because somebody is gonna want to talk to you when he get home. So he ran off again, and basically he didnt run north he run south. So he ran for a day and a half, to the end of the county. And he could see the union soldiers, but he couldnt figure out how to get there. Because the water was 40 or 50 feet deep. He saw these confederate soldiers, every day they had this look out booth, and they were looking out to sea with the union soldiers were doing. At night they would leave. So he is running through alligators, snakes, mosquitoes and bugs and everything. So he would go up into a place to keep himself from the bugs, and he would leave before the soldiers would get back. And ultimately he finds this eight foot boat, he jumps in gets two branches off a tree, and he is rolling and trying to get over there. And this Union Boat comes along and sees him, they think theyre hallucinating. They bring him aboard to take him over to the fort, so they said well take you over but we need one of two things for you. We need you to go back to mobile, and tell us what you know. So wallace was smart enough, to say im going to tell you i know because i want to get out of here. And he did, and they got him to north carolina, where he met his Mother And Sister who had not seen him in 20 years. He ended up in New York city, with his niece. He had a regular life, irregular job, working hotels and things of that nature, and then he passed from a kidney infection. Years later, his niece finds a manuscript, and people did not know, that he could read and write. And he had kept notes on his life, in mississippi, his life in mobile, and she provided that to an author, by the name of doctor david blight. And he wrote the story a slave no more. As a result of that, the national Park Service came to mobile a few years ago, and dorissister, did research, and found the original home that was on the site, along with his family lineage, and then it was presented to the national Park Service, and as a result this site, is now on the underground railroad. He is a slave no more. And that is the tour. So we saw where they illegally kidnapped people, were sold, we went to Africa Town where they lived, we saw entrepreneurs throughout the city and then we end here, with wallace a slave no more. And this history is not in history books, so there are multiple purposes for this, one is that as our founder said, you have to know where youve been, in order to know where youre going. So we talk about the past, to help us understand why some things are the way they are today. And maybe it will help us reconcile, with the reasons that these things exist, or will help us with racial reconciliation by understanding what place in the past. The other thing is that, what it is a motivation, and an inspiration for young adults. Because when we talk about, what these individuals have accomplished, 15 and 20 years after the Emancipation Proclamation with no mentors and today we have mentors and we have different resources and it is just creating a desire for them to accomplish, and to exceed what was done 100 or 200 years ago. Jeez we can go back to 1619. So that is our mission, with the trail and was telling the story, and it will help with racial reconciliation, and also for Inspiration And Motivation for young adults. This is a day set aside to commemorate the clotilda. There were festivals, that started in the eighties from the original foun