COLLINSVILLE, Ala. – With its thriving Hispanic community and traditional values, it is no surprise that in this Alabama hill country town there’s both Friday night football and Sunday afternoon soccer.

What is remarkable is that some people are doing both.

“Coming To A Crossroads,” a new documentary that airs at 7 p.m., Sept. 23, on Alabama Public Television, and again at 10 p.m., Sept. 24, shows how people from Mexico and other Central American countries are seeking opportunity and security in DeKalb County. The documentary, produced through The University of Alabama Center for Public Television and Radio, also shows why many people who have lived on Sand Mountain for generations are making the newcomers welcome.

“I grew up in a culture that was all white, but the whole country has changed since then,” says Collinsville Mayor Ernest Willingham.

“Coming To A Crossroads” shows how Salomon Morales came to Collinsville in 1989. When he retired from the Mexican military he found his country’s economy in collapse. He left Mexico so he could support his family and found work at a poultry processing plant in DeKalb County.

Meanwhile, a local farmer, Sam Roberts, hired him as a laborer. Impressed with his work ethic and grateful for his friendship, Roberts offered Morales land to live on. One by one, Morales gathered the family he had left in Mexico. In 1999, after studying English and U.S. history, he became an American citizen.

“I am 100 percent better,” says Morales. “Not only in an economic sense, but I am seeing every day my children and my grandchildren. So now we are all together and we have each other.”

Morales was among the first wave of immigrants who brought new life to this small Alabama town. The downtown was full of boarded-up storefronts, but as more Hispanics took jobs in poultry processing plants or in hosiery mills and nursing homes, buildings were turned into the shops and restaurants that serve them.

“Coming To A Crossroads” also shows that when Juana Hernandez arrived in Collinsville, at the age of 13, she spoke no English. By the end of her first year in school, she won an award for the highest math grade in her class. By graduation she had earned a college scholarship. When she was denied the scholarship because she is not a U.S. citizen, the white and Hispanic communities rallied behind her.

Walter Ventura was 7 when his family, refugees from El Salvador, arrived in Collinsville. His third grade teacher, Patricia Edwards, now specializes in helping Hispanic students, who make up half of the enrollment at the elementary school.

Her husband, Johnnie Mack Edwards, is a high school teacher and coached Ventura on the football team. In his senior year, Ventura was the leading tackler in DeKalb County. He earned all-area, all-region, and all-state honors.

“If there’s ever anyone who wanted to become assimilated and American, it’s him,” says Johnnie Mack Edwards.

“Coming To A Crossroads” shows white and Hispanic students at the high school playing on the same teams, working together in classes, and dating one another.

“As more kids came in contact with each other, it became more acceptable. When kids accept each other, the mommas and daddies begin to fall in line,” says Edwards, the coach.

“Coming To A Crossroads” shows how other immigrants have found new life in Collinsville. It also explores how these new immigrants affect the long-standing African-American community.

“I strongly believe Collinsville will become one of the most integrated communities in Alabama, and it will probably be a laboratory for other communities,” says Hernan Prado, an Ecuadorian-born architect who is an activist for Alabama’s burgeoning Hispanic community. “What we learn in Collinsville will help us prepare for a better future for the United States.”

“Coming to A Crossroads” was produced by Michael Letcher for The University of Alabama Center for Public Television and Radio.