Originally named Alabama International Motor Speedway, Talladega Superspeedway was built on the site of a World War II-era Air Force base in the heart of Alabama. NASCAR founder Bill France and his family envisioned a race track that would be faster, larger, and more exciting than any track built to date. Construction began on May 23, 1968, and was completed on September 13, 1969. The end result is the most modern speedway ever built. Often simply referred to as "Dega," the track is 2.66 miles long, its high-banked turns are nearly three stories tall, and race cars have reached speeds over 200 miles per hour. It is so popular that it is said to become one of the largest "temporary" cities in the state every race weekend.
TALLADEGA DAYSRace, Rural Life, and Memories of a Forgotten Legend and KKK Survivor is an intriguing biography of a complex, nineteenth century man who presented at least three faces to the world: a public face of hard-earned competency and at least two private faces of varying degrees of intimacy and supportiveness to what might be characterized as family. The story is set against the background of hard times in an agrarian, segregated South and a countervailing, but quite possibly, equally racist North. Dr. Houston Brummits recounting of the life and times of Dr. William Brummit is interspersed with personal interpretations of historic eventsincluding his Ku Klux Klan assault and abduction. This one, resurrected life gives those of us who wonder about post-racial America time to reflect on the extraordinary spirit of those Americans of color, like William H. Brummit, who, in spite of their own failings and the threats made to their lives and liberties, insisted upon respect despite the devastating cost. CLAUDEWELL S. THOMAS, M.D., MPH Professor Emeritus Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences David Geff en School of Medicine, UCLA Distinguished Life Fellow Drawing on public sources, oral history, and a rich trove of personal correspondence, Brummit revealsthe struggles and triumphs of a family deeply aff ected by the racial hierarchy of the early twentieth century South but not broken by it. Th e life of the authors grandfather, William H. Brummit, reminds us that even during the nadir of American race relations, African Americans vigorously pursued equality, maintaining their dignity and often achieving success in a social environment built upon and structured to preserve a belief in Black inferiority. JACQUELINE AKINS, PH.D. Chair, Department of History, Philosophy and Religion Studies Community College of Philadelphia Houston Brummits genealogy provides a visual storyline of his 1869 patrilineal connection to his grandfather, Dr. William H. Brummit; his slave roots in Talladega, Alabama; and his grandfathers resultant escape to Chicago, Illinois, at the provocation of the Ku Klux Klan in 1924. Captured in monologues rather than literary prose style, TALLADEGA DAYS is valuable in its chronology, oral history, and cinematic currency. Not since Alex Haleys Roots has an author given voice to an ancestry that records a familys scope of humanity on the American landscape from both sides of the social and color spectrum. Not only does Brummit lay a framework for a screenplay that balances the scales on entertainments view of American black life, but also, his ancestral voices provide a paradigmatic shift from what the industry has come to accept as traditional events in black life. And in this shift, we find a biography that is accessible to a universal audience. TY COLLINS, BA, MFA Independent producer/director, South Carolina Film Commission Member of the Charleston Jazz Initiative/Avery InstituteCollege of Charleston
Talladega, Alabama, best known for its popular speedway, is also a town of enchanting old homes, historic institutions, and fascinating people. In this pictorial review, the reader travels over diverse paths-from winding Indian trails to the fastest racetrack on earth-into the rich and colorful heritage of a landmark Southern community. Talladega: Pathways to the Past invites both longtime residents and newcomers alike to watch a Native American ballgame, experience an Indian battle, peer into Old South plantation life, step into a notorious saloon, behold a feast at a world-famous hotel, and thrill at the speed of race cars. The rambler views quaint nineteenth-century storefronts, sees the state's oldest courthouse still in use, strolls through the historic Silk Stocking District, discovers the Alabama Institute for the Deaf and Blind, greets youngsters at the Presbyterian Home for Children, tours one of the nation's oldest historically black colleges, and relaxes at Shocco Springs. Vintage photographs within these pages bring truly extraordinary people to life, including the "Father of Radio," the only Alabama nurse to give her life during World War I, a noted author of popular plantation tales, a world-renowned sculptor, the founder of one of the nation's largest tourist agencies, and the first Alabamian inducted in Statuary Hall in the National Capitol. Perhaps more importantly, this volume showcases everyday folks doing everyday things, thus preserving numerous slices of daily life in small-town Alabama.
