Rodger Smitherman Remembers: “A little history so the young people understand”
State Senator Rodger Smitherman shares memories of growing up in Montevallo, Alabama, back in the Jim Crow days. These remarks -- “a little history so the young people understand” -- were recorded October 19, 2025, at a memory-sharing session at Pilgrim Rest Church in Almont. An audio recording of his testimony, along with a transcript, follows.
“We live through all of that. We live through all of that. Right here, right here, yeah, right here.”
We came through a turbulent time, here, and many of you all were like me. Our generation, we were the people who really integrated.
Dari-Delite in Montevallo in 1968. Photo courtesy of Clayton M. Nordan.
When I was in the 10th grade, if you went to the Dairy DeLite, they had one window say colored, one window. Y'all remember the one window? And it was two windows that said white. And then, of course, we couldn't go inside. It didn't matter if it was a tornado out there, if you want “to go,” you had to stand on a little thing about this wide [illustrating with a hand gesture].
Y'all remember that. So that was during my 10th grade year. That year Jim Crow was legal. And when I was in the 11th grade, Jim Crow was not legal. We see the difference. We were the ones who went to Montevallo High School for the first time.
Now I have to go back to that time, just so I'm giving a little history so the young people understand.
Y'all remember the road going to Wilton to where the cemetery was? There was a service station, some Pure service station, or something like that, on the right. Well, who can tell me what was happening across that field at least once a week?
That when the Ku Klux were burning that cross, do y’all remember that? Right across, we're in that field and the rallies and everything right there. We will be standing over there.
I'm gonna tell y'all a funny story about that.
One time they were having one rally, and I saw this little guy there with a little Ku Klux uniform on. Several of us, we kind of ease across the street, and we stood on the other side. He came over and talked to us, and I found out that he played second base when I played on the baseball team at Montevallo. He was second base on the team with me, you know. But, yeah. It was very interesting.
The other thing was when we used to come home from baseball practice. Everybody who walked home from practice had a certain situation.
Y’all remember where the archery range was, and the tall weeds back there behind that archery range. We would be walking home, and you remember when they would come out of there after us, and we take off and run, and we get over to the lake, and when we hit that dam, going across that moss, and they hit the dam, and they go down the dam, and we would be on the other side. “Come on. Come get us. Come get us.”
We live through all of that. We live through all of that. Right here, right here, yeah, right here.
So, you know, there was a community that just bonded together. We would never travel alone. We traveled in twos and threes and fours and fives. We made sure that everybody was taken care of.
You know, we had the cafe down the hill. You remember? Anybody got shot down there, they would make it up to our house, because mama [Mary Smitherman] was going to take them to the hospital. And she would tell me, ride with her in the back, in the front seat, the back seat, wherever she told me. She was that kind of person, caring for everybody. Anybody needed some food, anything, they would come by our house all time of the evening, or night. I used to tell her all the time, mama, you care more about them then you do me. She would say, “Boy, be quiet.”
But we had some good times.
Photos by Tonia Eden Mayton. Our great thanks to Senator Smitherman for sharing stories about Jim Crow days in Montevallo, Alabama. Do you have stories that you want to see preserved? We’d love to hear from you. Contact us at Montevallolegacy@gmail.com. Submitted by Kathy King and James Salter.