1
2A j The Birmingham News Monday, July 6, 2009 SLAVES: Quest seeks unheralded past From Page 1A slaves lived near the iron- works between 1858 and 1865. A recent excavation uncovered their living quar- ters, though not much is known about their lives. Ferrill is now on a mis- sion to memorialize those slaves and would like to erect a memorial at the park. She came up with the idea after attending a June- teenth festival last month in Birmingham. Juneteenth marks the date in 1865 when slaves in Galveston, Texas, learned of their free- dom. Lost history “We’re so busy research- ing and celebrating what happened in other states, and we have our own his- tory right here,” said Ferrill, a former social worker. “I think it is so sad that we really don’t know about our history and don’t take ad- vantage of opportunities to learn about it.” Jack Bergstresser, direc- tor of the Alabama Iron and Steel Museum at Tannehill, has led several excavations of the quarters. Bergstresser said he hopes to make that information a part of the Tannehill educational tour. Excavations began in 2006 and most recently UAB stu- dents taking an anthropol- ogy course have conducted digs. “We’re trying to tell as much of the stories of the slaves and their lives as possible,” Bergstresser said. “There aren’t any books to tell us, so the archaeologi- cal digs are helping us.” Several slaves were brought to work in the blast furnaces at Tannehill, where pig iron was pro- duced. That pig iron was used to make pots, pans, horseshoes and Confeder- ate artillery. Bergstresser said descendants of those slaves may be living in the surrounding area. “We suspect there might be some in West Blocton and Bessemer, but tracking that down is incredibly dif- ficult,” he said. Ferrill, who has partici- pated in some of the digs, treks through Tannehill as often as three times a week, continuing to search for any clues that might piece to- gether the lives of the peo- ple who operated the blast furnace. Ferrill said she is determined to use the past to learn about the future, a concept described in West African languages as “san- kofa.” She has a “sankofa moment,” she said, each time she visits the grounds. The word means “go back and get what was lost” or “learning from the past.” “So much of our history goes undocumented and, it’s just not talked about,” Ferrill said. “I think there’s a lot of resentment and em- barrassment in Alabama. Most people tend not to want to talk about it. But you have to have some knowledge to gain some knowledge.” Every time Ferrill visits, she sings a song, says a prayer and leaves some- thing to remember the slaves’ lives. This time it’s a piece of patterned fabric tied around a tree branch. “If one person remem- bers,” she said, “they’ll never die.” E-MAIL: [email protected] “We’re trying to tell as much of the stories of the slaves and their lives as possible.” Jack Bergstresser Tannehill’s Alabama Iron and Steel Museum director SCENE & HEARD 1.6 million fans wait for Jackson memorial tickets Only 11,000 will get to see service set for Tuesday The Associated Press LOS ANGELES — More than 1.6 million fans waited to learn Sunday whether they were among the lucky few to win access to Mi- chael Jackson’s memorial service at Staples Center on Tuesday. Fans registered online for free in the random drawing of only 8,750 names. Each person selected will receive two tickets. On Sunday evening, fans around the world started posting Twitter messages about receiving tickets. “OMG OMG OMG OMG i got tickets to the Michael Jackson memorial serv- ice!!!” tweeted Deka Daye from San Francisco. Other messages came from users in Scotland and Iran. The odds of getting a ticket were about 1 in 183. The tickets will admit 11,000 people to the Staples Center plus 6,500 in the No- kia Theater overflow sec- tion next door. Jackson died at age 50 on June 25 after going into car- diac arrest in the bedroom of his rented mansion. The cause of Jackson’s death has not been determined. Also Sunday, a judge signed search warrants connected to the investiga- tion of Jackson’s death, Los Angeles County Superior Court spokesman Allan Parachini said. Authorities are investi- gating allegations that Jack- son had been consuming painkillers, sedatives and antidepressants. Jackson’s family was planning a private cere- mony at the Forest Lawn cemetery in the Hollywood Hills, Assistant Police Chief Jim McDonnell said. He did not provide details. The memorial service will be broadcast on five televi- sion networks, after NBC executives changed their minds Sunday and decided to air the service live. NBC joins ABC, CNN, MSNBC and E! Entertainment. AP Luis Benguria sits on Pedro Vicente’s shoulders as he signs a poster Sunday at the Staples Center. BYPASS: Maxine Parker pushed bypass From Page 1A from DOT and the MPO that the project wasn’t shovel-ready. But I just knew — within my heart — that the time was right for the bypass,” she said. So Parker began her quest six months ago. “I just kept talking about the need for the bypass, and I engaged the council. I told them of the need for a resolution because I am going to be asking for money from the stimulus package. That pushed the city engineering depart- ment. I think they thought, ‘Wait a minute — she might be serious.’ ” The council passed a res- olution in December asking that the bypass be funded by stimulus money. At her first meeting with city staff, she said she told them that not getting the bypass was not an option. “I said, ‘You have put all these other projects in front of the bypass. What’s wrong with this?’ ” Since January, Parker has made three trips to Wash- ington, D.C., touting the bypass. A pitch to U.S. Rep. Artur Davis in April resulted in his $10 million commit- ment to the bypass. “It has taken 150 percent of my energy. But think of those people in Collegeville. Nothing has been done for 40 years, and they have been losing lives, and peo- ple in their family have been losing lives. Now there’s excitement when I talk with them about the bypass,” Parker said. In 2000, an elderly couple died inside their burning Collegeville house as a fire truck sat two blocks away, blocked by a train. Schoolchildren can be seen scampering between train cars headed to and from school. There have been at least two incidents where a child lost a limb when a train began to move. “I am truly a fighter. You have got to believe in your- self and know that if it’s for you, you are going to get it,” she said. Frustration Vivian Starks was born in Collegeville, moved away and returned 12 years ago. “It is hard to express how frustrating it is knowing that if something happened to my family, my friends and my neighbors, we might not could get help,” she said. “Once a train comes in, you have got to find a way out. Then you are going out of your way using up gas, and the price of gas is very expensive.” Starks said politicians have promised almost every year to build the Finley by- pass. “Then we read in the pa- per that the Finley bypass money was used for a flyover somewhere else or whatever. They kept putting us off like we were nobody, and it’s really irritating,” she said. “They just think that we should be used to it. You never get used to it.” Starks said Parker told Collegeville residents when she ran for council that she would push for the bypass. “That was one of her main concerns,” Starks said. Finley funding Metropolitan Planning Organization Director Bill Foisy said there are no funding issues to prevent the first phase of the Finley extension being built. That phase will cost $32 million and extend to Fred Shuttlesworth Drive. De- sign and the purchase of right of way could take a couple of years, said Lance Taylor, head of planning for the Birmingham AL- DOT division. Phase I includes a bridge over railroad tracks which will give Collegeville resi- dents another way out and in. Phases two and three will punch the bypass from Shuttlesworth to Alabama 79, said MPO Principal Planner Darrell Howard. When completed, the ex- tension will be about four miles long. Taylor agreed there are no funding issues: “The money is in. We are contin- uing to progress it, and it’s in good shape. We will go to the public and see what the community thinks at this point. Everybody knows the importance of this project,” Taylor said. “Mrs. Parker has been a big influence. She made a big push, and she has done a good job,” Taylor said. E-MAIL: gmacdonald@ bhamnews.com OVER THE YEARS 1968: Preliminary designs were drawn up for a Finley bypass to 26th Street North. 1971: The project was included in a major thoroughfare plan of the Birmingham Urban Area and in the Metropolitan Planning Organization’s transportation plan. 1976: The Federal Highway Administration authorized extension studies. 1978: Feasibility studies began for a freeway extending to East Lake Boulevard at 43rd Street to Carson Road. 1981: A draft environmental impact statement was published and a public hearing held. 1983: Work began on the final environmental document. 1984: A decision was made to combine the Finley extension with the East Lake Boulevard extension into one project. The west end of the Finley extension was moved from I-65 to 26th Street (U.S. 31) in North Birmingham. 1989: Preliminary engineering completed of the combined project. Two events altered it: The Birmingham Airport Authority’s noise abatement buyout plan was made public, which included North East Lake properties. 1997: A kickoff meeting was held for the preliminary design. 1998: All agreements between ALDOT and the city of Birmingham were signed, but the city requested a new alignment along 27th Avenue North because of its industrial redevelopment plan. 1999: Design completed of a less costly route featuring bridges over an abandoned quarry east of 27th Street, over four sets of railroad tracks and over 29th Street; and bridges over the CSX Railroad Crossing at the end of Vanderbilt Road. 2001: Birmingham officials said they were ready to proceed with the project. 2002: Preliminary engineering agreement signed. 2003: ALDOT approved mapping and Volkert Engineering submitted preliminary alignments. It was discovered that federal high- priority project funding was not authorized requiring a new right of way agreement between the city and the state. 2005: Federal high-priority funding authorized. 2009: Design hearing scheduled for July 23. 2010: Complete preliminary design. 2010-2011: Complete final project plans, buy right of way and relocate utilities. Source: Metropolitan Planning Organization MILESTONES PEOPLE TIGHT BATTLE AT BOX OFFICE Prehistoric creatures and robots were in a photo fin- ish for the Fourth of July box-office crown Sunday, with “Transformers: Re- venge of the Fallen” and “Ice Age: Dawn of the Di- nosaurs” tied with $42.5 million each. Final num- bers today will sort out which movie actually came in first. The crime saga “Public Enemies” debuted at No. 3 with $26.2 million. NEW HOME FOR ‘SLUMDOG’ STAR One of the impoverished child stars from “Slumdog Millionaire” will move from his shanty home in one of Mumbai’s more wretched slums into a new apart- ment next week, his mother said Sun- day from India. “On Friday we got the keys,” said Shameem Ismail, the mother of child star Azha- ruddin Mohammed Is- mail, who played the young Salim in the Oscar-winning hit. The $50,000 apartment was provided by the Jai Ho trust set up by “Slumdog Millionaire” director Danny Boyle and producer Christian Colson. FCC ASKED TO BAN ‘MIDGET’ Little people are calling on the Federal Commu- nications Commission to ban the use of the word “midget” on broadcast TV. The group Little People of America said Sunday the word is just as offensive as racial slurs. The request was prompted by an April episode of NBC’s “Celebrity Apprentice” that the group said was demeaning. In the episode, contestants cre- ated a detergent ad called “Jesse James and the Midg- ets.” The contestants, in- cluding Joan Rivers, sug- gested bathing little people in the detergent and hang- ing them to dry. JON AND KATE CELEBRATE Although divorce papers have been filed, Jon and Kate Gosselin have made good on their pledge to fo- cus on their children, reu- niting for a July 4 picnic with their eight kids, ac- cording to People.com. At their home in Wernersville, Pa., the family played vol- leyball and picked blueber- ries for a cake that Kate was baking, while Jon was seen lighting up a sparkler. The event had been planned, as the stars of TLC’s “Jon & Kate Plus 8” agreed weeks ago to set aside their differ- ences for the holiday. From wire reports Former first lady Nancy Reagan is 88 BIRTHDAYS William Schallert, actor, 87 Ned Beatty, actor, 72 Jeannie Seely, country singer, 69 Burt Ward, actor, 64 George W. Bush, former presi- dent, 63 Sylvester Stallone, actor-di- rector, 63 Fred Dryer, actor, 63 Grant Goodeve, actor, 57 Nanci Griffith, country singer, 56 50 Cent, rapper, 33 Monday, July 6, 2009 Volume 122, Edition 115 Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail Singer-actress Della Reese is 78 TODAY IN HISTORY July 6, 1777 During the American Revolu- tion, British forces captured Fort Ticonderoga in New York. 1885 French scientist Louis Pasteur successfully tested an anti-ra- bies vaccine on a boy who had been bitten by an infected dog. 1928 The first all-talking feature, “Lights of New York,” had its gala premiere in New York. 1944 An estimated 168 people died in a fire that broke out during a performance in the main tent of the Ringling Bros. and Bar- num & Bailey Circus in Hartford, Conn. (Among the survivors was future actor Charles Nel- son Reilly, then age 13.) 1945 President Harry S. Truman signed an order establishing the Medal of Freedom. 1957 Althea Gibson became the first black tennis player to win a Wimbledon singles title, de- feating Darlene Hard 6-3, 6-2. AP Who needs Van Halen? F ormer Van Halen members, singer Sammy Hagar, right, and bassist Michael Anthony, left, of the hard rock band Chickenfoot perform at the 43nd Montreux Jazz Festival in Montreux, Switzerland, late Saturday. LOTTERIES Winning numbers selected Sunday in the Florida, Georgia and Tennessee lotteries: FLORIDA Cash 3 midday: 6-0-8 Cash 3 evening: 7-5-9 Play 4 midday: 1-4-1-5 Play 4 evening: 2-5-1-5 Fantasy 5: not available GEORGIA Cash 3 midday: 3-6-8 Cash 3 evening: 2-4-9 Cash 4 midday: 0-6-6-4 Cash 4 evening: not available Fantasy 5: not available TENNESSEE Cash 3: 3-0-0 Lucky Sum: 3 Cash 4: 6-0-7-7 Lucky Sum: 20 These Saturday results were not in all editions Sunday because of deadlines: POWERBALL (Florida and Tennessee) 4-9-22-41-44 Powerball: 14 No winner. New estimated jackpot is $30 million. FLORIDA Fantasy 5: 3-25-14-31-30 Lotto: 2-6-18-5-37-42 No winner; new estimated jackpot is $11 million. GEORGIA Cash 4 evening: 8-1-1-2 Fantasy 5: 1-18-5-36-21 Win For Life: 1-5-6-7-11-38 Free Ball: 26 On the Net: www.flalottery.com; www.georgialottery.com; www.tnlottery.com. Source: The Associated Press
