Historical Marker:  Christopher First Johnson House
Courtesy of The Historical Marker Database.  Picture by Mark Hilton, December 10, 2017

Christopher First Johnson House
Courtesy of The Historical Marker Database.  Picture by Mark Hilton, December 10, 2017

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This Historical Marker honors Christopher First Johnson, the founder of  Union Mutual Aid Association, Mobile's first Black-owned insurance company. By 1911, Union Mutual Aid Association had become a million dollar company. Johnson was also an entrepreneur and a Pastor of the St. Louis Street Baptist Church and lived at the home next to the marker which is part of the African American Heritage Trail of Mobile. 

Historical Marker:  Christopher First Johnson House

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This driving tour begins at the site of an African American hospital and includes a variety of landmarks related to African American history in Mobile including churches and other institutions. This tour includes locations that were central to African American religious, business, education, and cultural experiences. Highlights of the tour include the National African-American Archives and Multicultural Museum and historical markers and homes related to topics ranging from slavery to the Civil Rights Movement. The tour concludes in the downtown area with the Mardi Gras Museum, several historical markers, and the History Museum of Mobile.

Mobile's segregated hospital for African Americans began with just five beds &nbsp;in one room for maternity services in 1941. &nbsp;This location was opened in 1950. &nbsp;The history of Saint Martin de Porres Hospital is quite complicated in that it offered services to help an impoverished African American community under Jim Crow laws, but this help was only needed because of the terrible conditions of segregation. &nbsp; Saint Martin de Porres was a Catholic hospital operated by the Sisters of Mercy, an organization of nuns in charge of nearly a hundred hospitals across the United States during the hospital's time. &nbsp;Mother Veronica, Provincial of the Sisters of Mercy, and Bishop Toolen, Bishop of Mobile-Birmingham, began medical work in Mobile in 1941. &nbsp;When they came to Mobile there were only four beds available to any African American maternity patients. &nbsp;They were able to expand this to nine beds quickly, but worked to further expand the medical facilities in Mobile. &nbsp; This location was the second medical facility organized and administered by the Sisters of Mercy in Mobile. &nbsp;About a third of Saint Martin de Porres was paid for by the government, the rest was raised through local African American organizations and Catholic charity. &nbsp;Desperate to improve the facilities which could only afford to service about 34% of Mobile's African American population, Bishop Toolen sought outside help. &nbsp;A radio celebrity of the time named Monsignor Fulton J. Sheen who hosted the Catholic Hour broadcast nationwide in the 1950s, talked about this hospital regularly on his program. &nbsp;He later revealed that he received donations from every state in the union for the hospital. &nbsp; The facility not only improved the health of African Americans in the community but also hired African American physicians at a time when such jobs would not be easy to come by, especially in the South. &nbsp;In fact, Saint Martin de Porres had one of the only bi-racial hospital staffs in the South at the time! &nbsp;The hospital also worked with local African American organizations, placing representatives on an advisory board so that the community could be informed of the hospital's work and the hospital could receive advice on issues in the community.

Saint Martin De Porres Hospital was a segregated Black hospital in Mobile, named for a mixed race Spanish-African American saint born in Lima, Peru in 1597.  The hospital began in 1941 and continued through 1971.  In 1976 it was reopened as the current facility, Allen Memorial Home.  This location stands as a testament to segregation in Jim Crow South.

Saint Martin De Porres Hospital

The Oakleigh Museum House is a project of the Historic Mobile Preservation Society, the oldest preservation group in all of Alabama. &nbsp;The HMPS was founded March 14th, 1935 under the organization of Mrs. E. S. Sledge and a team of volunteers. &nbsp;Their goal is to preserve Mobile's history through home restoration and artifact collection. &nbsp;The Historic Mobile Preservation Society acquired this home, Oakleigh, in 1955 through a contract with the city of Mobile. &nbsp;Oakleigh serves as Mobile's official period house museum. &nbsp;In addition to this historic home, the HMPS has acquired several other facilities in the area&nbsp;including the&nbsp;Cox-Deasy Cottage, the Cook's Home, and a historical research collection known as the&nbsp;Mitchell Archives. The Oakleigh House was originally built in 1833 as a place for James W. Roper to host friends and family. &nbsp;Roper designed the Greek revival style home and built it using slaves and free laborers. &nbsp;He had another strong tie to slavery in the South in that he made his fortune as a cotton broker in Virginia. &nbsp;Roper lost his fortune not long after the home was built, however. &nbsp;After the Bank Panic of 1837 he was only able to live on the property due to the charity of a wealthy brother-in-law. &nbsp;In the 1840s the home came in to new ownership by the Irwin family. &nbsp;Alfred Irwin bought Oakleigh, or "Irwin Place" as the family called it, in 1852 after renting for a short period in the forties. &nbsp;The Irwins owned Oakleigh through Restoration after the Civil War, and supposedly prevented their home from being occupied by Union forces by hanging a British flag on the front gallery. &nbsp; Some historic points to notice in the home today are historic relics, including furnishings from the 1850s. &nbsp;Also keep an eye out for tool marks in the original wood around the home - both the wood and clay bricks used to build Oakleigh were harvested and crafted from the property itself! In 2013 volunteers in Mobile formed a fundraising effort to restore another part of Oakleigh and give voice to an often ignored part of Southern history. &nbsp;The Cook's House now exists that visitors can learn more about the lives of African American servants in Post-Emancipation Mobile. &nbsp;Interestingly, the structure was actually built as a part of the emancipation effort. &nbsp;It was originally built in 1866 as a part of Reconstruction to house laundry facilities and married soldiers as they occupied Mobile during this period of history. &nbsp;It was a part of a 13 building military complex, though the fate of the other buildings are unknown. &nbsp;Cook's House was moved to Oakleigh in 1916 and has sense serves as a&nbsp;garage, domestic staff dwelling, laundry room, storage, office space and gift shop. &nbsp;

The Oakleigh Museum House is one of Mobile's many historic homes.  Original owner James W. Roper built the estate in 1833 outside of city limits.  It is an example of Greek Revival architecture.  The name "Oakleigh" is derived from the property's beautiful oak trees.  In addition to the main property, restoration began on the Cook's House in 2013 to tell the often ignored African American experience during this period of history.  

Oakleigh Museum House

John LeFlore was born May 17th, 1903 in Mobile, Mobile County. &nbsp;He worked to pass the civil service exam and become a postman in 1922, when few African Americans were able to do so due to poor education opportunities and white supremacist threats. &nbsp;He also married Teah Black in 1922 and together they had three children. LeFlore may have had a successful job and some social standing, but he still had to deal with Southern life under Jim Crow. After an incident on a local streetcar LeFlore looked into the NAACP's abilities to improve African American life in Mobile. &nbsp;Mobile's chapter of the NAACP had been stagnant for several years and LeFlore took it upon himself to reorganize the Mobile branch. &nbsp;Within a year LeFlore was the Executive Secretary and had recruited fifty new members to the organization. Later, his highly effective organizational skills would be employed by the NAACP who sent him to other struggling NAACP&nbsp;chapters in the deep south. LeFlore used his position to improve housing, workers' rights, and voting for African Americans in Mobile. &nbsp;He advocated "polite persistence" rather than direct action. &nbsp;In his struggle to improve voting rights worked especially closely with Joseph Langan. Joseph Langan was born March 11th,&nbsp;1912 in Mobile, Mobile County. &nbsp;He was raised Catholic and joined the Alabama National Guard&nbsp;at a young age in 1931. &nbsp;He passed the Alabama bar exam in 1936 and entered politics in 1939, winning a seat in the Alabama House of Representatives at the age of 27.&nbsp; Langan's Catholic belief that God created all men equal, his childhood in a mixed race community, and his time in the military all bolstered his personal support of racial equality. &nbsp;He worked against the Southern Dixiecrats and focused much of his effort on improving voting conditions.&nbsp; Together these two leaders helped create a more peaceful end to segregation than other major Alabama cities could claim. &nbsp;LeFlore increased Black votership with a "pink sheets" campaign in which organizers informed voters which candidates were a positive force for the Black community. &nbsp;Langan campaigned against the proposed "understanding clause," a method to prevent Blacks and poor whites from voting by denying that they understood the Constitution thoroughly. &nbsp;Though they both faced opposition from white supremacists and even from more radical, younger Black organizers in the early seventies, they accomplished a great deal in the battle for civil rights in the South. &nbsp; Mobile created Unity Point Park in 2009 and unveiled this statue in 2010 to commemorate the achievements of these two great leaders.

In 2009 the city of Mobile constructed a monument to Mobile's relatively peaceful African American civil rights movement.  Unity Point Park hosts a statue featuring former mayor Joseph Langan and civil rights leader John LeFlore shaking hands.

Unity Point Park

<div>The Campground District is about 370 acres, extending from Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue to Rylands Street and St.Stephens Roads to Ann Street. The covering acres includes about 166 buildings, ranging from shotgun houses to bungalows, dating as early as the late 19th century to the middle 20th century.</div><div> </div><div>The Campground District has a vital role in the historical development of the predominately Black community of Mobile, Alabama. It received its name from the encampment of Confederate soldiers during the confrontation with advancing Union troops during the Civil War. Outnumbered and facing dwindling supplies, the Confederate army abandoned the area in April 1865.</div><div> </div><div>The area grew larger throughout the 20th century and was home to a&nbsp;working-class neighborhood. While battling discrimination and a degree of informal but still pervasive segregation, prosperous members of the community still achieved a degree of economic autonomy by owning businesses. Today, plans are in place to commemorate and preserve the historic neighborhood.</div>

Placed on the National Register of Historic Places on July 7, 2005, this historically African American Neighborhood was named for the Old Camp Ground, a military encampment that used the area during the Civil War.

Mount Tabor Missionary Baptist Church and the Campground Historic District of Mobile Alabama

The Stone Street Baptist Church has a long history of
expansion beginning in 1843 when the new branch of the church was built for the
African American congregation of the Saint Anthony Street Baptist Church. The
land that the church is built on had to be purchased by white members of the
congregation, and it was not until 25 years later when full ownership of the
land and church was given to the African American congregation. The church has
experienced moves and major renovations throughout its history. The church and
congregation has also had only 16 pastors in its 196 year history. 

The first pastor of the congregation was Richard Fields who
was succeeded by Reverend Benjamin Franklin Burke who pastored the church for
38 years. Under his leadership the church was moved from its original location
to Cleveland Street in 1870. Cleveland Street was changed to Tunstall Street
after another pastor of the church; Dr. Charles A. Tunstall who has been the
longest serving pastor of the church serving for 43 years. 

Something interesting about this church’s history is that in
1859, the church welcomed members to its congregation from the slave ship Clotilde,
which was the last slave ship to arrive in America. This ship arrived in
Mobile, Alabama in 1859 and those onboard settled in a town near Mobile called
Africatown, where many of the descendants still live today. 

The church was rebuilt in 1909 and has been renovated many
times over the years under various leadership. The church has grown to become
the most influential African American churches in Alabama. The current pastor
of the church is Reverend Milton E. Saffold. The church was added to the
National Register of Historic Places on August 28, 1985. &nbsp;

Stone Street Baptist Church is an African American Baptist church located in Mobile, Alabama. The congregation was established before the American Civil War, but the church itself was established in 1843. The African American church was established from the Saint Anthony Baptist Church when white representatives of the church purchased a piece of land for the establishment of a separate African American church.

Stone Street Baptist Church 

Originally designed and built by George B. Rogers in 1930, this building is designed after the classical revival style that was ongoing in the 1920s and 30s. Before its construction, the Mobile Public Library decided that there was a need to give a library to serve the needs of the Black community. Rogers was given $26,000 to construct a small three-room building that would serve as the Davis Avenue Branch of the Mobile Library. In 1961 local architect Harry Inge Johnston was contracted to design an addition to the small library, a simple one-room addition. Not long after segregation was officially ended in 1964, and the branch of the library closed with the opening of the main branch to all residents. With the closing of the branch, the building was repurposed to serve as storage for government documents. In 1983 the building was added to the National Register of Historic Places for significance in Architecture. Starting in 1992, the city council of Mobile leased the library to the National African American Archives which expanded to include a museum.

This archive and museum is located in the former Davis Avenue Branch of the Mobile Public Library which was established in 1931 and served as a branch library for African American patrons until the 1960s when the library ended its policy of segregation. The library was the result of a campaign led by African American residents who were previously not served by Mobile Public Library. The building was designed by George B. Rogers, a Mobile architect who had previously built the library's main branch. Designed in a period when the city's public buildings featured classical revival architecture, the building cost a total of $26,000 and contained only three rooms when first constructed. After the city library ended its policy of segregation in 1964, the building was re-purposed for the storage of government documents. In 1992, the city council of Mobile leased the library to the National African-American Archives & Multicultural Museum which offers a variety of exhibits that interpret the history of African Americans in Mobile and throughout the United States. 

National African-American Archives & Multicultural Museum

The State Street AME Zion church building that stands on this plot was first built in 1854 for the African American congregation of Mobile that was founded in 1829. Records of the congregation's earlier meeting places are scarce, but it is known that the congregation had a previous structure that was lost in a fire in 1854. At the time of this church's construction, State Street was one of Alabama’s largest Black churches in the antebellum era with 500 full-time members and 50 probationary members. The congregation grew until 1865 when they voted to join the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church. In response, local officials of the Methodist Episcopal Church claimed ownership over the State Street property and challenged the congregation’s right to occupy since they had changed organizational affiliation. Following the Methodist Episcopal Church’s actions, a long struggle over the rightful ownership of the property began. Thanks to the efforts of congregation members and the leadership of Reverend Wilbur G. Strong, the congregation was able to maintain control of the building. Eventually, in 1872, Reverend Strong was able to secure legal ownership of the property for the congregation. The exterior of the building remains mostly unaltered, however, the interior of the church was partially renovated around 1890-1895 to allow for greater support of the roof. The interior ceiling trusses are inspired by Gothic architecture, which was popular in the late-19th century. Other similar features such as arches and molding follow suit, making them likely from the same renovation period. State Street AME Zion Church was added to the National Register of Historic Places on September 6th, 1978, and continues to serve the Mobile community today.

Constructed in 1854, this historic structure is the oldest Methodist church building in Mobile, Alabama. The church is notable not only for its age but also for its size and the success of its members in securing title to the building after they broke from the white-led Methodist church leadership after the Civil War. The congregation dates back to the 1820s and had been utilizing a previous building for its meetings until 1854 when that structure was lost in a fire The congregation was one of two Methodist churches established in Mobile before the Civil War. In 1978, the structure was added to the National Register of Historic Places for architectural and religious significance.

State Street AME Zion Church

The Mobile chapter of the International Longshoreman’s Association (ILA) Hall was established in 1936 to represent African Americans working on the city's docks. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke here on January 1, 1959.

International Longshoreman’s Association (ILA) Hall 

Bettie Hunter was born into slavery in Cahaba, Alabama around 1852. Her younger years involved the standard agricultural work that was forced upon many Black Americans at the time. Bettie Hunter was only 11 when Abraham Lincoln signed the emancipation proclamation and after the Civil War moved with her family to Mobile to seek better opportunities instead of continuing a farming life.In 1876, Bettie and her brother Henry established a Hack and Carriage business that transported goods between the port and the markets of Mobile or the warehouses within the city. After the collapse of the New Orleans port in 1862 during the Civil War, Mobile had swiftly become the major Gulf port for the south. Seeing a business opportunity Bettie cornered the carriage transportation market in Mobile. She partnered with her brother Henry since it was illegal at the time for women to own a business. With her two brothers, Henry and Robert, helping as drivers, she ran the business end to massive success.The marker of her success comes from this home that has survived over 140 years. With the wealth she was able to accumulate, she was able to purchase the piece of land for the home at auction, hire an architect to design the home, and built the home at the age of 27. The home itself is built in the Italianate style of architecture, having elaborate and sensitive decorative detailing. Beyond her beautiful home, however, one of the markers of her wealth is a diamond ring, fashioned in the shape of an H that remains in the family today as a symbol of her success.Unfortunately, Bettie died childless at the age of 27 due to anemia, leaving her home to her family in her will. An obituary for her in the Mobile Daily Register read, “...after a long and painful illness…” Bettie Hunter, “...departed this life, leaving behind… a large circle of acquaintances…” The obituary continued, “She bore her days of suffering with the satisfaction of … having faithfully done her duty to her fellow beings...” This tribute to Hunter, written by “A Friend,” is of enough length and praise that it can be gathered she had gained admiration and influence in Mobile before her untimely death.The home was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1985 for architectural and historical value and is still owned by Bettie Hunter’s descendants. The home was partially damaged by hurricane Frederic in 1979 and the family hopes to restore the home soon for use as an event space or art gallery, returning it to its former glory.

This beautiful two-story Italianate style home was built by a Black businesswoman and ex-slave Bettie Hunter who had moved to Mobile after the Civil War to find her fortune. With the help of her two brothers Henry and Robert, she started and managed a successful hack and carriage business transporting goods from the port to warehouses and the local market. With the fortune she amassed, she was able to purchase the piece of land for her home at auction, commission an architect, and build the home at the age of 26. Hunter died of anemia a year later at the age of 27, leaving her newly built home to her mother, brothers, and other family members. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places on March 7th, 1985. Today the building remains in the Hunter family who hope to restore the home to its former glory.

Bettie Hunter House

The Creole #1 Fire Company was established in 1819 by members of the local Mobile Creole Community, its founding date made it the first volunteer fire company in Mobile and in the state of Alabama. Before the establishment of a professional fire department in Mobile in 1888, the procedure for fire fighting at the time was individual, independent fire fighting companies established by local citizens. Businesses and homes would pay one of the companies and get an emblem to mark their building. When a fire broke out at a building, only the fire company whose symbol was on a building would come to fight the fire and no other fire company. To help the Creole #1 Fire Company serve their community the building located here on North Dearborn Street was built in 1869 and designed by local Mobile architect James H. Hutchisson. At the time of construction and onward, the fire company building served as a center for the local Creole Society. The building served as a business and cultural center, being a venue for over 200 weddings, a host for Mardi Gras gatherings, and was the founding site of the Excelsior band in 1883 when John A. Pope and friends gathered to celebrate the birth of his son. In 1888 the company was absorbed into the city fire department. Prior to the introduction of automotive fire carriages to the fire department, the Creole firehouse used Horse-Drawn equipment and was considered one of the fastest in the city thanks to the company’s preference to buy rejected racehorses for their fire carriages. The Creole fire company used horse-drawn equipment until 1924. The fire company would continue operating at this location until 1926 when the Central Fire station was constructed. Eventually, the company was disbanded in 1970. Today the building is a private residence and has been since the mid-1990s. In addition, the building is also on the Dora Franklin Finley African American Heritage Trail in Mobile.

Constructed in 1869 for the Creole #1 Fire Company, this building was designed by local Mobile architect James H. Hutchisson and served Mobile as a firehouse until it closed in 1926. The Creole #1 Fire Company was established in 1819 as the first volunteer fire company in Mobile by the thriving Creole community at the time. To service the needs of the community, the Creole Firehouse #1 was constructed and served as both a business and cultural center for the community in addition to being a firehouse. The building was a venue for Margi Gras gatherings, over 200 weddings, and was a practice venue for musicians. The Creole Fire company eventually was absorbed into the city fire department in 1888 and was eventually disbanded in 1970. Today the building is on the Dora Franklin Finley African American Heritage Trail in Mobile and has served as a private residence since the mid-1990s.

Historical Marker: Creole Firehouse #1

In 1901, Dr. Roger Williams opened one the first drugstores operated by an African American at this location. He was also the second African American to practice medicine in Mobile. Born on a sugar plantation, Dr. Williams studied medicine at the Meharry Medical School and graduated in 1900. He was a prominent figure in the city, serving in medical and civic associations, and was General Chairman of the Mobile Emancipation Association. The marker was erected by the African-American Heritage Trail of Mobile.     

Historical Marker: Dr. H. Roger Williams (1869-1929)

The museum began in 2005, but it celebrates a much longer history and offers fourteen rooms filled with memorabilia from Mobile's rich history of Mardi Gras celebrations. Especially impressive are the elaborate costumes which were once worn in Mobile's parades.Mobile is home to French settlers' first Mardi Gras celebration in the New World in 1707. Micheal Kraft then started the city's first society, "Cowbellion de Rakin Society," in 1831. Their hi-jinx and escapades (including waking the mayor with cowbells on New Year's Eve) continued into today's celebration of good-natured frivolity surrounding Mardi Gras.In 1938, the Colored Carnival Association, now the Mobile Area Mardi Gras Association (MAMGA,) became the first African American organization recognized and officially included in the event. Dr. Wilborne Russell began the MAMGA to provide a positive outlet for the city's Black youth. Russell was a dentist who aimed to improve his community. He wrote a proclamation that is read every year and worked to support MAMGA's mission statement to:  “promote knowledge, arts, sciences: to create and cultivate interest in the celebration of carnival activities at Mardi Gras and to encourage its members to participate in all events that will enhance our civic and national betterment.” The organization also acknowledges the involvement of Mrs. Frederica Evans, who worked to sustain this community involvement until her death in 1967. Evans is now known as "The Mother of the Colored Carnival."In 1980 the celebration's first gay order began with the Order of Osiris and has since been joined by the Order of Pan and the Krewe of Phoenix, two more LGBTQ organizations. Osiris is well known today for its elaborate costumed balls, adding an extra layer of inclusivity to Mobile's Mardi Gras celebrations.

The Mobile Carnival Museum opened in 2005 and features a collection dedicated to sharing the story of Mobile's Mardi Gras traditions. The museum is located in the historic Bernstein-Bush house and is operated by the Mobile Carnival Association and a team of volunteers. The collection has been donated by "Monarchs" and local mystic organizations of Mobile. Mardi Gras celebrations in Mobile represent tradition and diversity within the city.

Mobile Carnival Museum

Wallace was born in Snowhill, North Carolina, in 1847. His slave mother was 15 years old but his father was the white owner (around a quarter of a million slaves were born to white fathers). He was sold to Hector Davis of Richmond, Virginia, in 1860. Hector owned a slave auction house and netted a fortune from the business. Wallace was then sold to James Chalmers from Alabama in 1863. That same year, Wallace once again was sold, this time to Collier. Each time he tried to escape during these years, he was beaten and whipped severely.When he walked out of Mobile on that July day, he began his three-week journey southward along the western shore of Mobile Bay (he tried to return to North Carolina on his previous attempt). Through alligator-infested swamps, terrible weather, and the prying eyes of Confederate troops and slave catchers, he walked for 25 miles undiscovered. At the bay, he managed to find a rowboat which he then used to try to row to Fort Gaines (which he could see from the bay; he also heard the sounds from the Battle of Mobile Bay, which resulted in a Union victory led by Admiral Farragut), over which flew the Union flag. As he was rowing a squall appeared and nearly sunk his boat before seeing another boat carrying Union soldiers. They brought Wallace to Fort Gaines, where he provided the Union with important information about Mobile. He was then given a choice to join a Black regiment or become a cook for a white officer. Wallace chose the latter and eventually entered Mobile with Union troops. After the war, he was able to go to North Carolina and gather his mother and half-siblings; they then settled in New York. He worked as a poor general laborer for the rest of his life but nevertheless died a free man thanks to his sheer willpower.

This marker commemorates the remarkable story of Wallace Turner, an enslaved African American who managed to escape to freedom in July-early August 1864. At this location once stood the home of Collier Minge, Wallace's last owner. Wallace tried to escape slavery four times before being successful on the fifth. He was driving his owner's carriage home when a harness broke, flipping the carriage over on its side. Wallace was nearly killed by a passing carriage. When he arrived at the home, Collier's wife scolded him. Wallace replied aggressively, and then ran off. He was discovered a week later, taken to a "whipping house" and whipped 95 times by Collier, who then told Wallace to walk home. However, Wallace did not and began his long journey to freedom. Eventually, he made his way to Fort Gaines, which was recently captured by Union forces, where he finally obtained his freedom.

Historical Marker: Wallace Turnage

The economy of Mobile from the late 1700s to the civil war was almost entirely dependent on slave labor. &nbsp;This is because Mobile was one of many cities in which "cotton was king." &nbsp;On average, plantation owners in this area had between 10-20 slaves, but many larger plantations had over fifty slaves. This began in Mobile in 1721 with the slave ship&nbsp;The Africane. &nbsp;This ship carried 240 kidnapped persons from Guinea and horrifyingly arrived with only 120 left alive. &nbsp;The first horror Africans experienced in coming to America was indeed the journey which was dangerous, unsanitary, and cruel. &nbsp;Generally slave ships would first go to the Caribbean where slaves would be "seasoned." &nbsp;This process involved being even more cruel to slaves than they may later experience. &nbsp;Slavers tried to break Africans of their free will while forcing them to do back breaking labor. &nbsp;The majority of slave insurrections happened while being put on slave ships, on the journey to the Americas, and in the Carribbean. There are actually no documented cases of insurrections in Mobile and only one documented in all of Alabama, but of course historical records on slavery are imperfect. &nbsp;&nbsp; Mobile's history of slavery is particularly interesting because it lasted for so long. &nbsp;The last slave ship to carry Africans to the United States landed in Mobile Bay. &nbsp;The Clotilde&nbsp;transported 116 Prisoners of War and kidnapped persons from Dahomey&nbsp;as slaves to Alabama in 1859.&nbsp; Supposedly&nbsp;Captain Timothy Meaher undertook this venture on a bet that he could sneak slaves in to the bay under federal supervision. &nbsp;The U.S. government had outlawed the import of slaves from outside the nation for several decades, though selling slaves between states and of course owning slaves was still legal. &nbsp;Meaher succeeded, but lost the 30 slaves he kept from the&nbsp;Clotilde&nbsp;only a few years later with the emancipation following the Civil War. &nbsp;These Africans have taught historians a great deal about the history of the slave trade because they actually managed to preserve a great deal of their home culture in the community they formed and named Africatown. &nbsp; Though the history of slavery in Mobile is of course tragic, the&nbsp;perseverance&nbsp;of those enslaved through emancipation, reconstruction, Jim Crow laws, the Civil Rights struggle, and African American's continued fight for equality today is an awe inspiring historical fact to be admired by all.

This marker serves to remind citizens of Mobile of the history of slavery in the city.  Plantations in mobile had slaves from roughly 1721 up to the Civil War and even imported more kidnapped Africans just before war broke out.  In an 1860 census it was reported that 435,080 slaves lived in Mobile.  The history of slavery in Mobile is horrific, this marker serves as a testament to the people who overcame this struggle and to those who died in bondage.

Slave Market Marker

Before Old City Hall was constructed on the site, Mobile already had an open-air municipal market present. It existed from 1823 to 1842, serving the community with farmers and game sellers displaying their wares. The market’s legal existence ended in 1842 when an order from the Supreme Court ruled that all open-air markets removed. It wasn’t until ten years later in 1852 that the market was shut down after the order was filed in chancery court. Shortly after, $44,000 worth of bonds were issued to finance the construction of a new building. Completed under the term of Mayor Jones M. Withers in 1858, the building from its inception was designed to be a combination city hall and marketplace. Before its construction, a resolution was passed by the city in 1855 to erect a building for the city market and various departments of the city government. Construction began and occurred between 1855 and 1857 and served its purpose as a mayor’s office early during its construction due to a fire destroying the previous offices. The building had many purposes over the course of its lifetime. Beyond being an indoor market, the building was utilized as headquarters for local militia units, most notably the Mobile Cadets. Founded during the Mexican War in 1848, the Mobile Cadets served during the Civil War and used the City Hall as their headquarters. The militia held training and marching practices here as well as formal dances well into the late 1800s. Over time the building would see less and less use. The market eventually would atrophy towards inactivity until shutting its doors in 1942. The municipal government would also eventually move into other buildings in Mobile, converting the building into standard offices for government officials. After a point, the building was converted into the History Museum of Mobile. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places on December 3rd, 1969.

This historic Greek Revival building was once home to Mobile's City Hall and now serves as the History Museum of Mobile which includes artifacts and exhibits that share the early history of the city. The museum's collection has grown to over 90,000 artifacts that represent the long and diverse history of the city of Mobile. The building was constructed between 1855 and 1857 to serve as both an indoor marketplace for Mobile and to hold offices for the city government. The building replaced an open-air market on the site after an Alabama Supreme Court ruling restricted open-air markets. The building also served the headquarters for local militia units, a role that became increasingly prominent during the Civil War. On December 13th, 1969, the building was added to the National Register of Historic Places.


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Driving Tour of African American History in Mobile Alabama

Historical Marker: Christopher First Johnson House

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