You’re invited to join BHS Trustee, Barbara Shores, on February 8th at 7:00PM as Alabama Public Television shares the story of her father, Arthur Shores, who served an instrumental part in Birmingham’s civil rights history.
From left: Autherine Lucy, Thurgood Marshall, and Arthur Shores exit the federal courthouse in Birmingham, Alabama, in February 1956, following Lucy’s reinstatement as the first black person to be admitted to the University of Alabama. Photo courtesy of The Birmingham News
The premier screening will be one of the first events at the newly renovated historic Carver Theater, which also houses the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame. For a full list of events, please click HERE.
Tickets for the movie screening are FREE but for guaranteed entry, please register HERE and pick up tickets at the theater’s box office Wednesday to Friday from 11AM to 2PM
Alabama governors have had their share of controversy over the years, but no one can forget “Big Jim Folsom”. A huge man, at 6’ 8” and weighing 250 pounds, he was hard to miss in a crowd, and his larger than life personality matched his size. A notorious ladies man, as a recently widowed governor, he once organized an event where young women lined up to kiss him, earning him the title of ‘Kissin’ Jim’.
He was a populist, grew up very poor in Elba, Alabama, and often traveled with a hillbilly band, the Strawberry Pickers, along with a mop and a bucket to ‘clean up’ politics where he also collected donations. He was loved by the people he supported, but ultimately ruined his career due to his alcoholism and bawdiness.
Sunday, October 29, 3:00 p.m. at 2827 Highland Avenue Signed books will be available for $19.95 – or available now on AMAZON.com
His grandson, Jamie, has written a book about Big Jim’s relationship with his grandmother Christine Putman, who met Folsom when she was a cashier at the Tutwiler Hotel. Although the relationship lasted several years, over multiple cities, and resulted in a son, Big Jim kept the relationship hidden from the general public during his political campaign. Despite multiple marriage promises to Christine, and even after the birth of their son, he never married her. Years later, he publicly acknowledged paternity, and made a financial settlement. However in the interim, to her heartbreak, he had married another woman. His political opponents capitalized on this with songs like the one below:
Written and performed by his political opponents, this was one of several songs focusing on Big Jim’s foibles.
She was poor but she was honest, honest, honest No victim of a rich man’s whim Till she met that Southern gentleman, Big Jim Folsom And she had a child by him. It’s the rich what gets the glory; It’s the poor what gets the blame; It’s the same the whole world over, over, over; It’s a dirty gosh-darn shame. Now he sits in Governor’s Mansion Makin’ laws for all mankind While she walks the streets of Cullman, Alabama Selling grapes from her grapevine So, young ladies, take a warning And don’t ever take a ride With Alabama’s Christian gentleman Big Jim Folsom And you’ll be a virgin bride. (to chorus)
Jamie Putman’s father, James Douglas Putman, Sr. authorized this version of his mother’s story written by Alabama author, William Bradford Huie. Published in 1977, it’s the story of the rebirth of the illegitimate son of one of the most powerful men in American politics.
(Clockwise left to right: “Kissin’Jim” – Alabama Department of Archives; Strawberry Pickers – Burgin Mathews; James E Folsom, Sr. – Encylopedia of Alabama; Christine and Big Jim – AL.com; James E Folsom, Sr. – Encyclopedia of Alabama; Big Jim at the Governor’s Conference – Public Domain)
Birmingham Historical Society 