University of Alabama

The Alabama Public Radio newsroom spent nine months investigating efforts to preserve slave cemeteries in the state. An estimated four hundred thousand captives were held in Alabama before the Civil War. Historians say many of these newly freed people stayed in the state following emancipation in 1863. APR spoke with some of their descendants and heard about problems in locating the burial sites of their ancestors. Today, we present the conclusion of our series titled “No Stone Unturned.” One issue with preserving these cemeteries may be getting people, both black and white, to talk about it.

The rock group Toto won the Grammy for record of the year in 1982 for their hit song Rosanna. That was the same year Alabama Public Radio first went on the air. The APR news team is observing this fortieth anniversary with encore airings of the best of our stories. That includes this one from 2020. It’s college football season. APR student intern Jamie Jefferson examined the economic impact of football on the Tuscaloosa area during the COVID-19 pandemic. Here’s that story from the APR archives.

Part 1— "The 40 unmarked graves"Alabama voters head to the polls next month. One ballot item could end slavery in the state. Alabama’s constitution still allows forced labor, one hundred and fifty seven years after the thirteenth amendment abolished the practice. That’s not the only lasting impact of the slave trade in Alabama. APR spoke with the descendants of some of estimated four hundred thousand people enslaved here around the Civil War. Many say they can’t find the burial sites of their ancestors, due to unmarked graves or bad records kept by their white captors. Alabama Public Radio news spent nine months looking into efforts to find and preserve slave cemeteries in the state. Here's part one of our series we call “No Stone Unturned.”

Alabama Public Radio is diving into our archives as APR observes forty years on the air. The U.S. State Department recently invited APR to address a delegation from Africa on our fourteen month investigation into human trafficking. Part of that talk was on an experimental database that law officers and victims’ advocates could use at the same time. Here’s that story from the APR archives.

Alabama is one of the worst states to have a baby. That’s according to the financial website WalletHub.

NASA is targeting later this month for another launch try for its new Artemis moon rocket. The spacecraft which is managed, designed, and tested at Alabama’s Marshall Space Flight Center has been plagued with hydrogen leaks. Engineers will try to fix the problem at the launch pad.

A court hearing has been postponed in the case against former Alabama Crimson Tide star Henry Ruggs. The former member of the Las Vegas Raiders is accused of causing a fatal crash while driving his sports car drunk at 156 mph last November.

NASA’s Artemis moon rocket may not be able to launch until mid-October. Another hydrogen fuel leak forced mission to cancel a second blastoff attempt over the weekend. NASA says the new problem is deep into the engine compartment of the rocket that’s designed, tested, and managed at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville

An APR news featureCuba has been in the news in recent weeks due to people protesting the government’s response to growing COVID-19 cases. Food, power,…

The University of Alabama is being sued for its rule that requires students to obtain a permit to speak on campus five days in advance. A conservative…