June 26, 1934

Carl Carmer’s book “Stars Fell on Alabama” was published on this day. The book is about Carmer’s travels through the state, traditions such as sacred harp singing and the local myths and superstitions of Alabama. It later inspired the jazz standard “Stars Fell on Alabama” by Frank Perkins and Michael Parish. The title refers to the Leonid meteor shower of 1833, also known as “the night the stars fell.” The Florence Gazette said of the event, “(T)housands of luminous bodies shooting across the firmament in every direction. There was a little wind and not a trace of clouds, and the meteors succeeded each other in quick succession.” The book was widely lauded by critics and became Carmer’s signature book.

Learn more at the Encyclopedia of Alabama. 

Portrait of Carl Carmer. (Image courtesy of the Alabama Literary Map, Caroline Marshall Draughon Center for the Arts & Humanities)

Carl Carmer (center), author of “Stars Fell On Alabama,” visits with renowned photographers Edward Steichen (left) and Charles Sheeler (right) at his home in New York in 1963. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution)

For more on Alabama’s Bicentennial, visit Alabama 200.