Montgomery County

Literature

Living in the Black Belt was part of Tony Watkins inspiration to write, but listening to “My Madear” (his Grandmother), started his documentation of stories about the Civil Rights Movement, and he said “I remember my great-grandmother told me about her grandmother as a slave.”

Research was started in Lowndes County, Alabama, where he found slave shackles. Living in this area offered Tony a “great opportunity to interview these firsthand accounts and living history.”

Tony’s book, Shackled Again? From Slavery to Civil Rights: A Journey Through Race Told Through the Stories of Unsung Heroes, was recognized during the United Nations International Day of Remembrance of Slavery on March 23, 2014. The book is on display at the Alabama Archives and Union Station in Montgomery, Alabama, the Selma Interpretive Center, Montgomery libraries, and is available on Amazon and Kindle.