Alvin York
Alvin York?: ?Mon G?n?ral, ce n?est pas d?ordre humain. C?est une puissance sup?rieure ? celle des hommes qui m?a guid? et prot?g? et qui m?a dit ce qu?il fallait faire.?1
Alvin Cullum York was born in rural Pall Mall, Tennessee on December 13, 1887. Raised in the rural mountains, he learned to shoot guns when he was just a boy, becoming an expert with both a pistol and rifle before his teens.2
The boys of the family, all grew up with guns in their hands, because the “York family eked out a hardscrabble existence of subsistence farming, supplemented by hunting.”(2) Children of the York family were hardy. Alvin was rough and rowdy, often getting in to fist fights.3
In the early 1915, Alvin York went through a religious awakening at a revival meeting. His battalion conducted an attack on 8th October, 1918, which earned him Medal of Honour.4
Alvin Ailey and a group of young black modern dancers first performed at New York’s 92nd Street Young Men’s Hebrew Association, under the name Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, in March of 1958. Following this performance, the company traveled on what were known as the “station wagon tours”; in 1960, the AAADT became a resident company of the 51st Street YWCA’s Clark Center for the Performing Arts.5
The impressive statue of Alvin York in front of Nashville’s Tennessee State Capitol building attests to his enduring importance in Tennessee history. His return from France was honored throughout the state of Tennessee and he became an influential state and national figure for the remainder of his life.6