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Farming For A Better Future, page 251
local geography, historical development, and laws and regulations that governed specific populations can be useful in determining how to recognize landmarks that identify communities. Besides the communities themselves, the four types of points of interest highlighted in this book were chosen for their probability to signal a larger community.
The location of antebellum plantations signify where the land was most suitable for large-scale cultivation in the early 19th century. After Emancipation, most freedmen and their families stayed where they considered home, setting the foundations for deep rooted communities. Churches were often the first institution established in a community. Faith and community go hand-in-hand. Churches typically require a structure, which might be the main or only community building for some time. Faith-based organizations also provide a great source of history and are integral to the development of a community, town, or city.
Similarly, schools frequently followed right after churches. More often than not, the earliest schools in a rural community were held inside the church, this was particularly true of communities of color. Once a community had enough funds and children outgrew the confines of the church, a separate school might be built. In the 19th century, the school was usually built adjacent to the church. In the early 20th century, foundations, such as the Rosenwald Fund, especially focused on education, separated the school from the church. The location of these schools tended to be more central to the dispersed community but were also limited by the need to purchase or donate land necessary to receive the fund and build the school.
Lastly, cemeteries are a necessity of any community. They speak to those who once called the land home and hold entire families. Even after a community is gone, moved on for one reason or another, the cemetery persists. Cemeteries are unique sources of information in Alabama. Due to the 1901 State Constitution ruling it illegal to bury people of different races in the same cemetery, exclusively African American cemeteries can be found dating from 1901 to 1968. Together, the church, school, and cemetery are positive indications that a sizeable community once took root in an area and perhaps still resides there.
(Top) Photograph of the Princess Theatre in Florence in the 1930s. The Segregated Section for People of Color is the Upper Left Balcony (Jonathan Rosenbaum, jonathanrosenbaum.net) (Below) Sign at Greyhound Bus Station. Rome, Georgia, 1943. (Library of Congress, Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information Black-and-White Negatives Collection, Photographer, Esther Bubley) (Top Right) A Bus Station in Durham, North Carolina, 1940. (Library of Congress, Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information Black-and-White Negatives Collection, Photographer, Jack Delano) (Right) Signs on Main Street, Memphis, Tennessee, 1939. (Library of Congress, Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information Black-and-White Negatives Collection, Photographer, Marion Post Wolcott)
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