Africatown Heritage House is hosting its October 2025 Heritage Lecture Series event, a collection of speeches designed to touch on topics related to the Black experience, on Thursday, October 16, 2025 at 5:30pm.
The October lecture will feature Dr. Major Joe Womack. His lecture is entitled "The Africatown Story from 1810 to Today."
Dr. Major Joe Womack, born in historic Africatown, Alabama, graduated from Mobile County Training School in 1968 (the first training school for blacks in the state of Alabama). After earning a degree in Business Administration from Saint Paul's College, Dr. Major Womack served 20 years in the United States Marine Corps Reserves, leading operations in Japan, Korea, Pensacola, FL and New Orleans, LA. In addition to working 16 years at Shell/Dupont and being the first black professional to be promoted at that chemical facility, Dr. Major Womack has initiated many locally led efforts in Mobile, some include: Mobile County Training School Alumni Association, Africatown Community Development Corporation, Mobile County African American Summit, Black Military Workers of America, Inc., Mobile County Environmental Justice Action Coalition and the Africatown Heritage & Preservation Foundation. Dr. Major Womack is an inspiring leader in promoting positive and sustainable change and currently leads a non-profit organization called C.H.E.S.S. or Clean, Healthy, Educated, Safe & Sustainable Community, Inc.
Dr. Major Womack earned his Honorary Doctors Degree from Oberlin College in 2023 because of the outdoor classroom teachings he has provided for Oberlin's Environmental Studies students over the past seven years and the dedication he has shown that has led to the worldwide efforts to save the historic Africatown Community, the place where the last shipment of enslaved people landed in the United States.
ABOUT THE LECTURE:
Take a journey through a century of Africatown’s story. Joe Womack, Executive Director of Africatown C.H.E.S.S, is set to give an inspiring speech on the community’s emergence, flourishing and revitalization.
The History Museum of Mobile and Africatown Heritage House invite the public to attend this FREE Heritage Lecture Series event. Capacity is limited and guests are required to RSVP to attend by calling (251) 206-5268.
For more information on the Heritage Lecture Series, contact Jessica Fairley, Africatown Heritage House Manager, by email at
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