Thread by @WarOnDumb

Five people died in the Boston Massacre and it’s in every American history textbook. About twice that many died trying to vote in Eufaula, Alabama. The only thing marking the spot is a fire hydrant.
al.com/news/2022/01/a…

2. Not that these things might be connected, but the Alabama BOE recently delayed an overdue update of history curricula because ... CRT and stuff. al.com/educationlab/2…

3. Recently saw this story from B.B. Comer High School. I couldn't read it without thinking, "I know what that man did." al.com/news/2021/11/f…

4. Barbour County calls itself the "Home of Governors." What's nuts is that Wallace was one of the better ones. Here's a deep dive @lyman_brian took into a lynching that was prosecuted, only for Gov. Willie Jelks to let the murderers go free.

https://twitter.com/lyman_brian/status/1482721155035320322

5. The irony of Eufaula not being able to move its Confederate monument is that you can't get close enough to read its inscriptions without being hit by a truck. I tried. I nearly died. al.com/news/2022/01/a…

6. There is no marker to the those killed or wounded in the 1874 Election Massacre, but there is a memorial in downtown Eufaula for Leroy Brown who, as it turns out, was a fish. al.com/news/2022/01/a…

7. I found the grave of Willie Keils, the son of the election supervisor and the only one murdered that day whose name we know. The names of the Black victims have all been lost. al.com/news/2022/01/a…

8. A few years back, ALDOT widened Eufaula Ave. from two lanes to four and the locals had a fit. Preservationists said it would ruin the town's charm. ALDOT said it would improve traffic. The town is still pretty and the traffic is still awful. al.com/news/2022/01/a…

9. Barbour County has been home to a disproportionate number of Alabama governors. The Shorter Mansion has a "Governors' Parlor" on the second floor with portraits of each of them. al.com/news/2022/01/a…

10. The Barbour County has sometimes claimed Lurleen Wallace as a 6th governor, although she grew up in Tuscaloosa. al.com/news/2022/01/a…

11. But George Wallace might be among the better ones. This is Gov. Willie Jelks, who advocated lynchings as a way to manage Black people and who pardoned some of the few folks convicted of lynching in Alabama. @lyman_brian as the canonical story here: montgomeryadvertiser.com/story/news/201…

12. And this is Gov. Braxton Bragg Comer. A witness identified him as one of the leaders of the militia in Eufaula during the 1874 Election Massacre. He also later served as a U.S. Senator. al.com/news/2022/01/a…

The federal grand jury witness, Hilliard Miles, who ID'd Comer as a leader of the White League militia was quickly charged with perjury by a STATE grand jury. Then a state jury convicted him and he went to state prison never to be heard of again. al.com/news/2022/01/a…

13. There's no marker for the Eufaula massacre, but there is one in Comer, near where Willie Keils was killed. Put there in 1979, it calls his father, Elias Keils, a "scalawag."

14. Recently Eufaual discovered something wrong with its WWI monument. The names of Black service members lost had been left off. In 2018, a granite slab was added to the base, including the names. al.com/news/2022/01/a…

15. The slab comes very close to violating Alabama's monuments bill, which prohibits altering the appearance of monuments. They've tried to skirt the law by not letting the slab touch the base.

13. Eufaula markets its history to tourists and hosts the Eufaula Pilgrimage each year. You can see a promotional video here.

14. But where between 7 and 10 men died trying to vote and another 70 to 80 were wounded, there's nothing. No monument. No marker. Nothing. al.com/news/2022/01/a…

15. One other bit of history I learned to appreciate while reporting this out — U.S. Marshalls during Reconstruction were kinda badasses. I could write a book just on James D. Williford. So much I had to leave out. al.com/news/2022/01/a…