Hall of Fame

(1815-1862)

LaFayette, Chambers County

"It is good to be shifty in a new country." — Adventures of Captain Simon Suggs, late of the Tallapoosa Volunteers

(Illustration courtesy of Alabama Department of Archives and History)

(1835-1909)

Mobile, Mobile County

"We have just left our cottage home, my dear quiet country sanctum— Santorum; my Mecca of rest; and removed to town, for the winter, perhaps for the year." — letter to Rachel Lyons, Columbia, SC, November 15, 1860

(Photo courtesy of Alabama Department of Archives and History)

(1880-1968)

Tuscumbia, Colbert County

“Every fiber within me revolts against circumstances that threaten the minds of handicapped people – or any other group – and narrows their chances of well-being.” — Teacher: Anne Sullivan Macy

(Photo courtesy of Spiritualita.it)

(1891-1960)

Notasulga, Macon County

“I have been in Sorrow's kitchen and licked out all the pots. Then I have stood on the peaky mountain wrapped in rainbows, with a harp and a sword in my hands.” — Dust Tracks on a Road

(Photo courtesy of the U.S. Library of Congress)

(1893-1954)

Mobile, Mobile County

"This book started out to be a record of my own company, but I do not want it to be that, now. I want it to be a record of every company in every army. If its cast and its overtones are American, that is only because the American scene is the one that I know.” — Co. K

(Photo courtesy of University Libraries, Division of Special Collections, The University of Alabama )

(1916-2013)

Nokomis, Escambia County

“My name is also Jack the Rabbit because my home is in the briarpatch.” — Train Whistle Guitar

(Photo by Carol Friedman Photography)

(1916-2013)

Montgomery, Montgomery County

“Their curious feet with webs between each one of the toes, unlike the other birds he knew, were locked like death around the poles. Bizarre they were, and ominous.” — "The Cormorant," Water Into Wine

(Photo courtesy of Robertson Photography)

(b. 1920)

Birmingham, Jefferson County

"It isn't here below that I thrive and belong, / on this mechanized macerated staring sod, / but up in that turbulent / liquid element where everything is changing" — "Red Mountain," Whatever Remembers Us: An Anthology of Alabama Poetry

(Photo by Jerry Siegel )

(b. 1926)

Monroeville, Monroe County

“You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view….until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.” — To Kill a Mockingbird

(Photo ©Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images )

(b. 1934)

Birmingham, Jefferson County

I have come to you from the lynching years, / the exploitation of black men and women by / a country that allowed the swinging of / strange fruits from southern trees….” — “Reflections After the June 12th March for Disarmament,” homegirls & handgrenades

(Photo courtesy of Beacon Press )

(b. 1942)

Birmingham, Jefferson County

“Captain Ahab was neither my first husband nor my last.” – Ahab’s Wife or, The Star-Gazer

(Photo by F. Schildknecht)

(b. 1959)

Piedmont, Calhoun County

"I used to stand and watch the redbirds fight. They would flash and flutter like scraps of burning rags through a sky unbelievably blue, swirling, soaring, plummeting." — All Over But the Shoutin'

(Photo courtesy of the Office of Photography, The University of Alabama )