Demopolis natives open Trailfest 2013
The Southern Literary Trail, the nation’s only tri-state literary trail that connects Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi, opens its biennial “Trailfest” celebration in Demopolis on Feb. 15, with a program of shared reflections by two renowned educators who recall high school experiences during segregation.
The son of Demopolis City Schools superintendent “Bully” Hitchcock, Bert Hitchcock graduated from Demopolis High School in 1959 two years after Cecelia Arrington graduated from U.S. Jones High School in 1957.
Though both excelled academically, particularly in writing and literature, Arrington and Hitchcock never knew each other as high school students, since they attended racially separated schools.
They meet at last on Friday, Feb. 15. at the Marengo County History and Archives Museum at 6 p.m., 101 North Walnut Street, Demopolis, for a program entitled “Writing from a Time of Separation.”
The program is free and will be sponsored by the Marengo County History and Archives Museum, the Southern Literary Trail, and the Marengo County Historical Society.
The event is co-sponsored by the Alabama Humanities Foundation, a state program of the National Endowment for the Humanities. A champagne reception at the conclusion of the talk honors the speakers.
After graduation from U.S. Jones and receiving her M.A. in Education at San Francisco State University and Ph.D. at Western Colorado University, Cecelia Arrington served as the Department Chairperson of Ethnic Studies at Merritt College in Oakland, California, for almost twenty-five years.
Her autobiographical book, The Life and Confessions of A Black Studies Teacher, (Bye Publishing Company, 2002), opens poignantly with a chapter about her childhood in the era of Jim Crow and with the line: “Demopolis, Demopolis, I have always loved this city.” Arrington’s family members were active at Morning Star Baptist Church where a Sunday school room is named for her mother Stella Collins Arrington.
Bert Hitchcock began his career at Auburn University in 1966 as an instructor of English. For thirteen years, he was head of Auburn’s English Department from which he retired in 2008 as Professor Emeritus and as the Hargis Professor of American Literature.
He is the recipient of the prestigious Alabama Humanities Award from the Alabama Humanities Foundation.
His publications include a contribution to the book of essays about Mobile native and writer Albert Murray entitled Albert Murray and the Aesthetic Imagination of A Nation (University of Alabama Press, 2010).
Murray is one of the writers honored by the Southern Literary Trail.
Preceding the evening program on February 15, Dr. Arrington and Dr. Hitchcock will speak to students of John Essex High School and Demopolis High School.
The Museum program at 6 p.m. is open to the entire community. For information about forthcoming Southern Literary Trail programs in Demopolis and throughout its three member states, visit www.southernliterarytrail.org.
A limited number of Dr. Arrington’s book will be available for purchase and her signing after the evening program at the Marengo County History and Archives Museum.