Ethel Alexander to present Food for Thought Lecture at Alabama Archives 06/18

Montgomery, AL (06/11/2026) - The Alabama Department of Archives & History (ADAH) will continue its monthly Food for Thought lunchtime lecture series on Thursday, June 18, 2026, at 12:00pm CT. Ethel Alexander will present Colony, Alabama: The Story of An African American Settlement . The program will be held in the Archives' Joseph M. Farley Alabama Power Auditorium in Montgomery. It will also be livestreamed on the ADAH's Facebook page and YouTube channel. The program is FREE and open to the public.

Ethel Alexander will discuss the history of Colony, Alabama, a little-known settlement for African Americans in present-day Cullman County. Based on her research from the Blount, Walker, and Cullman County archives, Alexander has compiled the history of this settlement from the 1870s to its official incorporation in 1981. After the end of the Civil War, formerly enslaved African Americans in the area received undesirable land in what is now southern Cullman County. This kept them close to, but separate from, white communities that they would continue to serve as maids, houseworkers, and laborers. Despite Colony's challenges, Black families built a thriving community there. Alexander's presentation will explore Colony's complex relationship with white communities in Cullman County and its identity as a place of new beginnings for African Americans in Alabama.

Ethel L. Alexander serves as councilwoman for the Town of Colony and is past president of the Birmingham African American Genealogy Group, Inc., a representative for the Black Heritage Council, and a historian, author, genealogist, and creative writer. She is a retired special education teacher who holds a Master of Education from Alabama A&M University and a Bachelor of Technical Studies from Alabama A&M University. She also holds a certification in African American Studies from the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

For additional information, contact Alex Colvin at [email protected] or (334) 353-4689. A complete schedule of 2026 lunchtime lectures is available at archives.alabama.gov. Food for Thought 2026 is sponsored by the Friends of the Alabama Archives.

The Alabama Department of Archives and History is the state's government-records repository, a special-collections library and research facility, and home to the Museum of Alabama, the state history museum. It is located in downtown Montgomery, directly across Washington Avenue from the State Capitol. The Museum of Alabama is open Monday through Saturday from 8:30 to 4:30. The EBSCO Research Room is open Tuesday through Saturday from 8:30 to 4:30. To learn more, visit www.archives.alabama.gov.

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