Sohpie G.H. Law to present July 16 Food for Thought Lecture at Alabama Archives

Montgomery, AL (07/07/2026) - The Alabama Department of Archives & History (ADAH) will continue its monthly Food for Thought lunchtime lecture series on Thursday, July 16, 2026, at 12:00pm CT. Senior Archivist Sophie G.H. Law will present "We Are All Co-Equal Heirs": Milo B. Howard Jr. and the 1976 U.S. Bicentennial in Alabama. The program will be held in the Archives' Joseph M. Farley Alabama Power Auditorium in Montgomery. It will also be livestreamed on the ADAH's Facebook page and YouTube channel. The program is FREE and open to the public.

Days after the apex of America's Semiquincentennial celebrations, Law's presentation will take the audience backwards in time to 1976, the U.S. Bicentennial year. Milo B. Howard Jr. was heavily involved in coordinating America's 200th birthday party and, unsurprisingly for an archivist, he left behind excellent documentation of how the Alabama Department of Archives and History - and the state as a whole - marked the occasion. Law will offer a brief overview of Howard's life and achievements before discussing the historian's participation in U.S. Bicentennial observances. Howard's words will underscore what the U.S. Bicentennial meant to both Alabamians and Americans in 1976, granting attendees valuable insights that remain relevant fifty years later.

Sophie G.H. Law is a Senior Archivist at the Alabama Department of Archives and History, where she has worked in the Records Management Section since 2017. In her career, Law collaborates with state and local government officials across Alabama to develop records management policies and promote responsible information governance.

For additional information, contact Alex Colvin at [email protected] or (334) 353-4689. A complete schedule of our 2026 lunchtime lecture series is available at archives.alabama.gov. Food for Thought 2026 is sponsored by the Friends of the Alabama Archives.