Anniston Stories | A City within a City 

Watching this in October 2022. What a group of Classy Folks! I learned so much from y'all! I'm from Canada 🇨🇦 and things are more the same than they are different here. And 1 more thing - that handsome fellow cannot possibly be 80 years old!

Thank you for making this video and recording their stories and perspectives throughout their lives as a local Anniston resident, it’s invaluable. From a fellow young white resident (27), I want this stigma to change too. Monsanto did us all wrong. We have to scrape together the broken pieces and come together and make this city beautiful again for the sake of all of us.

Does anybody know Mrs. Rush that taught at Alexandria Elementary? She was my Kindergarden teacher and one HECK of a woman.

Amen sir we are all one and I think we all can appreciate the struggles, hardships, and triumph of the past as a rich history that's now the past. We do have to find the new path now and try to help fix our problems by empowering and educating the young ones now. The kids are the future of Anniston and I think the sooner they Know how much all of us the whole area I think of it as three cities because Hobson city is too special to just be part of oxford and I'm so proud oxford made the choice to retain that history while reuniting the area. But we all care about all of us period it isn't about anyone's race and really if you dive into the details of the past here beyond the horrific events of the freedom riders being attacked here and ask around for people's stories I haven't met a single person who wasn't deviated knowing that happened to PEOPLE here. I think that resulted in a lot of locals saying these fools are done with this. I Know my parents both remember that and their parents crying trying to tell them what was going on until my grandfather took my dad to the store and just showed him and crying he said this is evil this isn't who we are and we're all gods children it's gotta stop. Then the events that followed and the towns response was one of a community finding the will to say we're not afraid anymore it's not ok. When we put up 20,000 dollars and a list of names from the city to find the k k k idiot who killed a man just sitting in his car that said look here we are and then he got convinced and it was an all white jury that's a town saying no you can't control our town or anyone based on color or fear here anymore. Then the coul team Anniston really has an incredible history. No one likes the past it's hard to even believe people can do or think any if things people did but it happened and I once asked my grandfather the same one that took my dad to see that bus why would God allow slavery? I was a kid learning history and I was absolutely appalled and thought well people are evil but why would God allow that practice you know why. He said I can't understand it either but ... Whenever I've prayed to God on that subject and on the past and fixing things now I get this thought placed in my mind that God always has a plan and what if slavery never happened. What is the future of all of us here. That tells me that God wanted part of the African race here maybe war or some other thing would have killed groups of people if they hadn't come here and I think of now and life in Africa now there's a lot of the country in really dangerous situations and the government's aren't helping a lot of people. Maybe it was about the future about love about a culture being born out of a time when hate classes by race and evil ruled but the love of humanity saves us all in the end. Ill never forget him explaining to me what God had placed on his heart about the past because I think we're living at a point now where it's just so shocking to even think that all of that is even possible. Thank God we have come as far as we have and we continue to move forward. I pray that we can find a way to really unite the people in the area because we're all together and the kids all need a strong community behind them saying whatever your dreams are the people and the city all want to help you get there you are worth every bit of focus and effort. I also pray to see real acknowledgement and some sort of direct help to the people in the area from the contamination of the fort and if Monsanto because that really broke us in many more ways than just money you know. I take my daughter to Angela Martin who I also went to growing up and my daughter has a rare brain malformation she is trying to work with people on the contamination issues and she told me that my daughter's condition is much more prevalent in the area to children who's mother's grew up here and that's my case. Tenth street mom's house then west end dad's house and he had a machine shop on 23 then I lived in blue mountain for a few years before I had my daughter so its sad to know the generations coming up are still going to be facing that it's terrible and they won't even just acknowledge it. Anyway I've written a complete novel here but this was wonderful to watch thank y'all for talking about the history it's always fascinating to Know about our little area of the world.