Chapter 1: Bohemians, Socialists, Artists: Fairhope, AL in the 1920s

Beginning with its founding as a single-tax colony in 1894, the small town of Fairhope, Alabama, served as a Southern hub of progressive thinking. The roaring 20s were no exception for the town. As northern transplants flocked to the town, often wintering on its beaches, so did some of the progressive movements that were emerging in more urban areas of the time. Cady Inabinett explains how Fairhope of the 1920s was defined by its free-thinking and vibrant population, including progressive education leaders, card-carrying socialists, artists, writers, and philosophers. However, while forward-thinking, Fairhope’s population and lifestyle was shaped by its largely upper-class and white citizens and seemed to not have any large-scale impact on the political and social climate of Alabama as a whole.