Students build history of Tuscaloosa through bicentennial expo

For the next few days, the entire history of Tuscaloosa will fit in one room.

In connection with many schools from across the city, the Tuscaloosa 200 Bicentennial Commission is hosting the Bicentennial History Expo at the Bryant Conference Center. Through Friday, students will be taken to the expo to see student-designed exhibits, all detailing the different eras of Tuscaloosa.

“Everyone really took it in their own direction,” said education chair for the commission. “I was thoroughly impressed.”

Darnell Burke, a fourth grader at Martin Luther King, Jr. Elementary School, was one of a couple of students from his school to help put together an exhibit that told the story of Tuscaloosa from 1830 to 1860. Burke was fascinated by the first president’s mansion at the University of Alabama.

“I felt like this was something exciting,” said Burke, whose mother commemorated the special day by shaving an “A” on the side of his head.

Corrina Williams, a third grader from Arcadia Elementary, stood before an exhibit on the city between 2000 and the present. As she talked into a plastic microphone, a tornado made of cotton was behind her, symbolizing the deadly tornado that tore through Tuscaloosa on April 27, 2011.

Williams was only 2 years old when the tornado happened, but said she enjoyed learning more about it.

“I like seeing this and seeing my friends,” Williams said.

Kate Thielen, an art teacher at Westlawn Middle School, helped design the 1860-1880 exhibit, specifically on Shandy Jones, a freed slave who went on to become a member of Alabama’s first class of black legislators. A replica of a plantation and Jones’ first barbershop were on full display.

“For me, I wanted them to be able to experience it physically, so that’s why I wanted them to be able to walk through it,” Thielen said.

There are an estimated 10,000 students who will attend the expo between now and Friday. Between 9 a.m. and noon Saturday, the expo will be open to the public.

Reach Drew Taylor at drew.taylor@tuscaloosanews.com or 205-722-0204.

Bicentennial History Expo