Visions of the Black Belt

In Visions of the Black Belts, Robin McDonald and Valerie Pope Burne offer a richly illustrated tour of the Black Belt, the fertile arc that represents the cultural efflorescence of Alabamas heartland. Like knowledgeable friends, McDonald and Burnes guide readers through the Black Belts towns and architecture and introduce the regions great panoply of citizens, farmers, craftspeople, cooks, writers, and musicians. A constellation of Black Belt towns arose during Alabamas territorial decades, communities like Selma, Camden, Eutaw, Tuskegee, Greenville, and many more. Visions of the Black Belts recounts their stories and others, such as Demopoliss founding by exiles from Napoleons France. As an escarpment of clouds scuds across an indigo sky, the ruins of Alabamas lost capital of Cahaba reveal the secrets of its lost squares. Also on this picturesque tour are the Black Belts homes, from artless cabins wreathed in fern to ozymandian manses wrapped by stately columns, such as Kirkwood and Reverie. Among the emblematic houses of worship lovingly photographed in Visions of the Black Belts is Prairievilles St. Andrews Episcopal Church, noted for its carpenter gothic style. Also reflecting the regions history of faith are poignant graveyards such as Greenvilles Pioneer Cemetery with its homespun memorials of seashell-and-concrete and the elegant marbles clad in ebon lichen of Selma's Live Oak Cemetery. In photos and text, McDonald and Burnes bring to life the layers of history that shaped the Black Belts tastes, sounds, and colors. Their gastronomic discoveries include the picant crawfish of the Faunsdale Bar & Grill and GainesRidge Dining Clubs famed Black Bottom pie. They bring the sounds of the Black Belt to life by presenting a wide range of musicians and musical events, from bona fide blues and soul masters to Eutaws Black Belt Roots Festival. Including two maps and more than 370 full-color photographs, Visions of the Black Belts offers a timeless message of faith, determination, and the rich simplicity of living in harmony with the rhythms of the land and nature.