Editing Aliceville, Alabama (section)

==History==
[[File:1907.09.01.excitement.at.aliceville.montgomery.advertiser.png|thumb|left|220px|Story from the ''[[Montgomery Advertiser]]'' (September 1, 1907) about a lynching in Aliceville]]
In 1902 the settlement that would become Aliceville was founded with the opening of a single store.<ref name=fertile>{{cite news|title=Aliceville is in Most Fertile Part of Pickens County What Was Once a Swamp Has Now Become a Thriving Little City|work=Montgomery Advertiser|date=April 27, 1916|page=7}}</ref>  The city was named in honor of the wife of John T. Cochrane, founder of the [[Alabama, Tennessee and Northern Railroad]] and moving force behind the construction of the short line from [[Carrollton, Alabama]] to Aliceville.<ref name=story>{{cite news|title=The Story of Aliceville Only Two Years of Age|work=Montgomery Advertiser|date=September 18, 1905|author=Will T. Sheehan|page=5}}</ref>  Within two years of the completion of the short line, Aliceville had grown to what the ''[[Montgomery Advertiser]]'' called in 1905 "a town of considerable pretensions.  There are about a dozen stores, a bank, public buildings and numerous enterprises."<ref name=boom>{{cite news|title=To Boom Aliceville Company is Organized for That Purpose.|work=[[Montgomery Advertiser]]|date=June 2, 1905|page=2}}</ref>

In 1907 an election was scheduled to allow the citizens of Aliceville to decide whether their community should be incorporated.<ref>{{cite news|title=To Incorporate Aliceville. Extension of Railroad to Farfield is Progressing|work=Montgomery Advertiser|date=February 2, 1907|page=2}}</ref>  Incorporation was approved by the voters, and on March 19, 1907, a municipal election was held to choose municipal officers, including a mayor and five aldermen: T.H. Sommerville, J.M. Summerville, A. Hood, J.D. Sanders, W.E. Stringfellow, and J.B. Cunningham, respectively.<ref>{{cite news|title=Aliceville Election. West Alabama Magie Town Selects its First Officers|work=Montgomery Advertiser|date=March 20, 1907|page=8}}</ref>

In August 1907 a black man named Gibson was [[Lynching|lynched]] in Aliceville, which caused civil disturbances in the community.<ref name=excitement>{{cite news|title=Excitement at Aliceville: Mounted Negroes Fired on and One is Hurt|work=Montgomery Advertiser|date=September 1, 1907|page=6}}</ref>  Rumors swirled that "the negroes were arming themselves," and a group of blacks on horseback were fired on in the street.<ref name=excitement/>  Gibson's father was subsequently "ordered to leave the county on account of some impertient (sic) talk."<ref name=excitement/>

By March 1908, municipal officials had decreed that all streets should have ten-foot sidewalks built on both sides.<ref name=progress>{{cite news|title=Progress of Aliceville. Street and Sidewalks Are Being Improved|work=Montgomery Advertiser|page=8|date=March 2, 1908}}</ref>  Property owners were to be responsible for building the sidewalks in front of their parcels.<ref name=progress/>  This work, along with the paving of the streets, was largely completed by June 1910 and the city began considering the installation of water and electricity.<ref>{{cite news|title=News of Aliceville Work of Street Paving in Completed|work=Montgomery Advertiser|page=8|date=June 7, 1910}}</ref>

===Camp Aliceville===
{{main|Camp Aliceville}}
During [[World War II]], a [[Prisoner-of-war camp]] was set up in Aliceville to hold 6,000 [[Nazi Germany|German]] prisoners, most from the [[Afrika Korps]], although the population of the camp rarely exceeded 3,500.<ref name=Cronenberg>{{cite book|last=Cronenberg|first=Allen|title=Forth to the Mighty Conflict: Alabama and World War II|year=2003|publisher=[[University of Alabama Press]]|isbn=0817307370|pages=[https://archive.org/details/forthtomightycon0000cron/page/95 95]–103|url=https://archive.org/details/forthtomightycon0000cron|url-access=registration|quote=world war two prison alabama.}}</ref>  The camp operated between June 2, 1943<ref name=Cronenberg/> and September 30, 1945.<ref name=columbus>{{cite book|author=Rufus Ward|title=Columbus Chronicles: Tales from East Mississippi|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VyZT7Q30xzAC&pg=PA88|year=2012|publisher=The History Press|isbn=978-1-60949-859-7|page=88}}</ref>  Prisoners were brought to the camp via the [[St. Louis – San Francisco Railway]].<ref name=Cronenberg/>

The only remaining trace of the camp is an old stone chimney.<ref name=columbus/>  However, there is a German POW collection at the Aliceville Museum and Cultural Arts Center<ref>{{cite book|author=Arnold Krammer|author-link=Arnold Krammer|title=Prisoners of War: A Reference Handbook|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iOxW0gy-rkkC&pg=PP9|year=2008|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-275-99300-9|page=9}}</ref> which retains documentation from the camp including maps, photographs, camp publications, letters, and artwork.<ref name=tusca>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=5DQdAAAAIBAJ&sjid=qKUEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6769%2C2798583|title=Aliceville|work=The Tuscaloosa News|date=July 11, 1993}}</ref>
[[File:1937.06.02.Ingleside.house.aliceville.alabama.by.alex.bush.jpg|left|thumb|Ingleside house in Aliceville, June 1937]]

===Civil rights movement===

====1960====
During the [[civil rights movement]], organizing in small communities such as Aliceville was often more dangerous for activists than it was in larger cities because of their isolation.<ref name=jordan>{{cite book|author=Samuel S. Hill|title=On Jordan's Stormy Banks: Religion in the South : a Southern Exposure Profile|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7SvIR8X9jO8C&pg=PA23|year=1983|publisher=Mercer University Press|isbn=978-0-86554-035-4|pages=23–5}}</ref>  As late as 1965, according to James Corder, a [[Primitive Baptists|Primitive Baptist]] minister from Aliceville, Pickens County had not yet experienced any civil unrest related to the movement.<ref name=jordan/>  Jordan was inspired by the [[Selma to Montgomery marches]] in March of that year to organize a civil rights group in Aliceville, which he called the "Rural Farm and Development Council" in order to avoid scrutiny.<ref name=jordan/>  The group organized protests at the Aliceville city hall to oppose officially sanctioned racism in the city.<ref name=jordan/>

In September 1969 black students held protests against the principal of an all-black school in Aliceville, prompting governor [[Albert Brewer]] to send [[National Guard of the United States|National Guard]] troops into the city.<ref name=wallace>{{cite news|title=Wallace Backed on School Stand: Alabama Legislature Urges Defiance of Integration&mdash;Classes Begin Calmly|date=September 5, 1969|page=1|work=New York Times|author=James T. Wooten}}</ref>  Two of the city's all-black schools were closed on September 4 due to the demonstrations, and they reopened the next day under National Guard supervision.<ref>{{cite news|title=Troops at Alabama Schools|work=New York Times|page=16}}</ref>

====1970s and 1980s====
In 1982, Aliceville native Maggie Bozeman testified at [[U.S. House of Representatives|Congressional]] hearings held in [[Montgomery, Alabama]], concerning proposed amendments to the [[Voting Rights Act of 1965]].<ref name=enforcing>{{cite book|author=Marsha Darling|title=Enforcing and Challenging the Voting Rights Act: Race, Voting, and Redistricting|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yajpAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT346|date=February 24, 2014|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-1-135-73045-1|page=346}}</ref>  She testified that as late as 1980 in Aliceville and Pickens County voting took place in the open rather than in private booths and that white police officers were stationed in polling places, taking photographs of people who assisted black voters.<ref>{{cite book|author=Lani Guinier|title=Lift Every Voice: Turning a Civil Rights Setback Into a New Vision of Social Justice|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bUEt9KwNWmAC&pg=PA77|date=March 7, 2003|publisher=Simon and Schuster|isbn=978-0-7432-5351-2|page=77}}</ref>  This revelation outraged Republican congressman [[Henry Hyde]], who had previously been unconvinced of the necessity of amending the law.<ref name=enforcing/>

Bozeman's testimony followed her 1979<ref name=flare>{{cite news|title=Pickens County Flare-Up: The Story of 2 Blacks Found Guilty|newspaper=Washington Post|date=February 6, 1982|author=Art Harris|page=A6|url=http://www.lexisnexis.com/lnacui2api/results/docview/docview.do?docLinkInd=true&risb=21_T19440316873&format=GNBFI&sort=DATE,A,H&startDocNo=1&resultsUrlKey=29_T19440297699&cisb=22_T19440316882&treeMax=true&treeWidth=0&selRCNodeID=64&nodeStateId=411en_US,1&docsInCategory=313&csi=8075&docNo=3}}{{subscription required}}</ref> arrest, conviction, and sentencing for vote fraud.<ref name=march>{{cite news|title=March Is Begun in Alabama To Back Voting Rights Law|author=Reginald Stuart|date=February 7, 1982|page=24|work=New York Times}}</ref>  Bozeman and fellow political activist Julia Wilder of [[Olney, Alabama]] were given "the sternest sentences for a vote fraud conviction in recent Alabama history": five years for Wilder and four for Bozeman.<ref name=march/>  The sentences were upheld on appeal, prompting the formation of an organization, the [[National Coalition to Free Julia Wilder and Maggie Bozeman and Save the Voting Rights Act]], and a march through Aliceville from [[Carrollton, Alabama]], to Montgomery to publicize their cause.<ref name=march/>

The [[United States Department of Justice]] sent eight [[poll-watcher]]s to Aliceville to observe the 1984 [[Partisan primary|primary election]] runoffs following reports from observers of the July 1984 main primaries.<ref>{{cite news|title=Justice Dept. to Send Poll-Watchers to South|work=New York Times|page=A14|date=July 31, 1984}}</ref>

===And after===
In November 2013 three tanker cars carrying [[crude oil]] exploded when an [[Alabama and Gulf Coast Railway]] train derailed near Aliceville.<ref>{{cite news|title=Crude Oil Train Derails; Explodes|work=Wall Street Journal|date=November 9, 2013|author1=Betsy Morris|author2=Cameron McWhirter|url=http://www.lexisnexis.com/lnacui2api/results/docview/docview.do?docLinkInd=true&risb=21_T19440297694&format=GNBFI&sort=BOOLEAN&startDocNo=26&resultsUrlKey=29_T19440297699&cisb=22_T19440297698&treeMax=true&treeWidth=0&csi=8142&docNo=26}}{{subscription required}}</ref> As of March 2014, the cleanup of the spilt oil was still not complete, despite four months of work.<ref>{{Cite news
 |last=Reeves 
 |first=Jay 
 |title=Oil mars Ala. swamp months after crude train crash 
 |work=Missoulian 
 |access-date=March 15, 2014 
 |date=March 15, 2014 
 |url=http://missoulian.com/news/national/oil-mars-ala-swamp-months-after-crude-train-crash/article_b4e12d82-809a-5388-ba93-65b5218e7ae2.html
|archive-url=https://archive.today/20140315131924/http://missoulian.com/news/national/oil-mars-ala-swamp-months-after-crude-train-crash/article_b4e12d82-809a-5388-ba93-65b5218e7ae2.html
|url-status=dead
|archive-date=March 15, 2014
}}</ref> About 750,000 gallons of [[Bakken formation|Bakken crude]] was released.<ref>{{Cite web
| last = Robbins
| first = Michael W
| title = Why Do These Tank Cars Carrying Oil Keep Blowing Up?
| work = [[Mother Jones (magazine)|Mother Jones]]
| access-date = July 1, 2014
| date = May 27, 2014
| url = https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2014/05/oil-tank-trains-bakken-crude-accidents
}}</ref>