Celebrating BHM in BHAM – Honoring 150 Years of Birmingham’s Black History

“In order to be grateful for what we have, we need to know what we come from,” Dr. Denise Gregory, Associate Provost of Student Success and Diversity and Inclusion and Associate Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Samford University.

Since its founding in 1871, Birmingham, Alabama, has spent its fair share of time in the spotlight. Also referred to as the Magic City, Birmingham is known around the globe as the world’s only place where all three components needed to make iron can be found within a 10-mile radius. The city is home to the oldest professional baseball field in the country and is even credited for founding Veteran’s Day in 1947.

Bham is perhaps more widely renowned though for its rich history relating to the Black community, most notably its connection to the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. Professional athletes and public figures like Willie Mays, Olympic Gold Medalist Vonetta Flowers, and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice are all Magic City natives. Birmingham is home to HBCUs Miles College and Lawson State Community College. And the Magic City is also home to the Carver Performing Arts Theatre, one of the first and few theaters that showed first-run films to black and white spectators during segregation. 

Hibbett | City Gear is true to Birmingham, having called the city home for more than 75 years. From our humble beginnings in 1945, we’ve proudly risen alongside the city that forged us. Join us during Black History Month as we honor the history and culture of African Americans and celebrate the contributions and storied history of Birmingham’s Black community.

To The Past

“Right now in some history book, in some city or state that’s not Birmingham or Alabama… our young people who are learning about history, learning about the Civil Rights Movement – they have a vision in their heads of how Birmingham looks. And in their heads, it’s probably not just black and white from a race standpoint, but they’re probably only thinking in black and white color,” Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin contends, recalling Birmingham’s name and coverage in old black and white newsreels and newsprint.

After all, Birmingham was a major battleground in the fight for racial justice during the 1960s, but the city’s history, and the history of Birmingham’s citizens of color, is much richer than the events of mere decades ago.

The City of Birmingham was founded in a post-Civil War effort to connect the North and South at the crossing of two major rail lines where rich mineral deposits made it possible for the city to build its steel empire. Just two years later, in 1873, the Magic City’s first Colored Baptist Church was founded, followed by the opening of Rev. William Rueben Prettiford’s The Penny Savings Bank, Alabama’s first black-owned and operated financial institution in 1890.

In 1898, the Colored Methodist Episcopal Church founded Miles College, and the state’s first orphanage for African American boys, the Tuggle Institute and School, opened in 1903 — early testaments to a unified commitment to educating and supporting future generations of Birmingham residents. A decade later, in 1914, the Lyric Theatre became one of the first Southern establishments to welcome both black and white audience members to the same films, for the same price, at the same time amid segregation.

In 1920, the Birmingham Black Barons baseball team debuted, setting the stage for league pennant wins in 1943, 1944, and 1948 and providing career starts for famous players like Willie Mays, Leroy “Satchel” Page, and Charley Pride, better known today for his musical career.

By 1925, Birmingham had become the largest cast iron and steel producer in the South. WBRC aired its first radio broadcast that same year, and Magic City classics like the Alabama Theatre, Thomas Jefferson Hotel, and the Vulcan appeared on the Birmingham skyline over the next several years.

The 1930s were brutal for Birmingham’s people and its economy as the need for steel and iron all but halted, but by the start of WWII in 1941, the Magic City was back on the main stage. WAPI-TV and WBRC began television broadcasting in 1949, and in 1951, the Birmingham Museum of Art opened to the public.

In 1954, Birmingham activist and entrepreneur A.G Gaston founded the A.G. Gaston Motel, providing higher-class service to patrons of color.

Two years later, the bombing of minister and Civil Rights leader Fred Shuttlesworth’s home officially brought Birmingham’s civil unrest to a head. 

Following the incident, Shuttlesworth and fellow Black ministers formed the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights (ACMHR), which became a significant player in the Civil Rights Movement in Birmingham in the years that followed. Soon after its creation, the ACMHR invited Rev. Martin Luther King Junior to the Magic City to lead the Birmingham Campaign for Desegregation.

From April to May 1963, the Campaign facilitated a series of peaceful protests, sit-ins, marches, and boycotts, many of which were met with violent countermeasures by the city’s non-minority citizens. Martin Luther King Junior was arrested for participating in an illegal protest in the city on April 12 and jailed in solitary confinement at the Birmingham Jail. The following month, and on May 3, 1963, Birmingham’s Public Safety Commissioner, Eugene “Bull” Connor led a horrific attack on Black youth and activists near the 16th Street Baptist Church.

“…he used police dogs to attack Black citizens who were exercising their rights to peaceful protest,” recounted Mayor Woodfin. “He used firefighters and made them use hoses to attack peaceful black protestors who were exercising their rights.”

Eight days after the attack, on May 11, the A.G. Gaston Motel was bombed in an assassination attempt on Martin Luther King Jr., who had left the establishment earlier in the day. The bombing occurred during a negotiation meeting between activists and Birmingham’s business leaders, during which the group discussed plans for desegregating the city.

Then on September 15, 1963, Birmingham’s 16th Street Baptist Church was bombed by white supremacists. Four African American girls, ages 11 to 14, were killed. Martin Luther King Jr. returned to Birmingham to read eulogies at the girls’ funerals, putting the tragedy in the front and center of the Civil Rights Movement. Country-wide outrage over the bombing served as a tipping point in the Civil Rights Movement, and the federal government passed the Civil Rights Act just one year later.

To the Present

The fight for equality continued until well after 1964. But, despite an overwhelming resistance to change, change eventually won out in the Magic City.

1966 and 1968 saw the first African American man join the Birmingham Bar Association and the first Black man appointed to the Birmingham City Council. And in 1979, Richard Arrington Jr. became Birmingham’s first African American mayor.

The following year, Oscar Adams Jr. was appointed the first Black Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court. The Birmingham Bar Association seated its first African American President, J. Mason Davis, in 1984, and two years later, Reuben Davis and Chris McNair were elected to serve as the African American County Commissioners in Jefferson County.

The 1990s and early 2000s were marked by the successes of Birmingham’s African American women. Carole Smitherman became Alabama’s first Black female circuit court judge in 1991, Sheila Smoot was elected the first African American woman to serve as Jefferson County Commissioner in 2002. And Helen Shores Lee became the first black female Jefferson County Circuit Court judge the following year.

Three years later, Birmingham native Condoleezza Rice was named U.S. Secretary of State, and in 2009, Carole Smitherman took office as the first African American female Mayor of Birmingham.

In 2015, Birmingham’s Negro Southern League Museum opened, followed by Lynneice Washington becoming the first Black DA in the state and Theo Lawson the first African-American Jefferson County attorney in 2016.

The Birmingham Civil Rights Institute received a National Monument designation in 2017, a historic win for the Magic City, but 2017 was historic for another reason, as well.

On October 3, 2017, 36-year-old African American criminal prosecutor and former Birmingham Board of Education President Randall Woodfin was elected Mayor of Birmingham, the youngest person to hold the post in 120 years.

A lifelong Birmingham resident, Woodfin grew up in a multigenerational household, providing him the unique opportunity to learn about Birmingham’s history through many different voices and decades. With this experience, his adolescent years working in the service industry, and his community involvement in adulthood, the Millennial Mayor developed a deep-rooted passion for helping others.

This “putting people first” mentality became the platform for his first mayoral election campaign and subsequent first term in office. During his administration, the city saw neighborhood revitalization, more than $2 million put toward supporting Birmingham small businesses during the Covid 19 pandemic, and 8,000 new jobs introduced to the market.

Woodfin was re-elected as Mayor of Birmingham in 2021, and for his second term, Woodfin’s sights are on seeing progress together as a city.

“I would say the perception of Birmingham in 2022 is one of a progressive city,” he said. “My hope for the City of Birmingham is that we will always be a beacon for progressive change.”

In 2022 Birmingham will shine as that beacon for change on the global stage once again as the city hosts The World Games 2022 in July. The international sports event is held every four years following the Summer Olympic Games and represents the pinnacle of competition for 3,600 of the world’s best athletes and reaches audiences and in-person spectators from more than 100 countries.

“The World Games is a once in a generational lifetime opportunity for the city of Birmingham to show the globe and world who we are,” said Woodfin. “There’s a rare moment for any American city to actually add a chapter in its book of who it is… but we have that opportunity… We get to showcase who we are as people, and I think people will fall in love with Birmingham.”

To the Future

According to CondéNast Traveler magazine, Mayor Woodfin isn’t alone in this thinking. In December 2021, the magazine named the Magic City among its top 22 places to go in the new year thanks in part to its world-renowned food scene, CityWalk BHAM, and multiple mix-use developments like Urban Supply and Pepper Place.

National and international travelers will undoubtedly help stimulate Birmingham’s economy immediately, and the economic impact of The World Games 2022 is estimated to reach $256 million alone. But after Closing Ceremonies and summer vacations, how will Birmingham ensure it stays on a trajectory for continued growth and prosperity? By investing in the next generation of Birmingham’s thought leaders, educators, and changemakers through organizations like the Birmingham Promise.

The Birmingham Promise is part of a very intentional plan for reinvesting in Birmingham’s next generation. Through the program, Birmingham City School graduates are provided apprenticeship opportunities and scholarships to in-state colleges to ensure their “economic security, mobility, and prosperity,” according to the organization’s mission statement.

“I think it’s important that we invest our time and efforts to our youth because when you consider any community, you have to make the necessary investments in the next generation for that community to continue to grow,” explained Woodfin. “When you have a city like Birmingham, probably the fourth blackest city in America, and you have this concentration of poverty, a program like the Birmingham Promise… it is an intentional design effort for workforce development. My hope for the next generation is quite simple: that we’ve laid out a platform for them that their quality of life is better than ours.”

Getting the city’s youth prepared for the workforce or into college only half-fulfills that hope, though. The responsibility for fulfilling the other half lies with the educators and mentors, like Dr. Denise J. Gregory of Birmingham’s Samford University, who guide those students through their post-secondary education.

Like Woodfin, Dr. Gregory has always had a servant’s heart. Whether teaching Biochemistry and Chemistry in the classroom, nurturing and supervising female students as a sorority faculty advisor or in her current post as the Associate Provost for Student Success and Diversity and Inclusion, she finds fulfillment in helping others find success and their place in the world.

Dr. Gregory helped start Samford’s Office of Diversity nearly a decade ago in response to a need on campus for an office or organization focused on promoting curricular and co-curricular learning about different cultures and environments.

One way Dr. Gregory and her team do this is by connecting students with the school’s Student Government Association, Diversity Ambassadors, student recruitment, and honors programs, as well as through “Inspiring Minorities to Pursue Academics and Community Together” or IMPACT, a mentoring organization for students of color on campus. The program and others like it strive to increase the academic, career, and social success of minority students by helping develop a sense of community.

In addition to providing these support services, the Office of Diversity encourages students to engage with the Birmingham community through hosting events like the Minority Youth Science Academy. This three-day program offers college prep and guidance to minority high schoolers who want to pursue careers in science.

Dr. Gregory leads the Minority Youth Science Academy.

“…I’m still also teaching chemistry as well,” Gregory said. “I think it’s important for me to stay in the classroom… for a visual representation of what a chemist can be… I think it’s impactful for students of color to see myself in a non-traditional role that you wouldn’t expect a Black woman to be in.”

The fact that her position as a Black woman in leadership and education was made possible by the efforts of her ancestors and people, like Birmingham’s Civil Rights leaders, isn’t lost on Gregory.

“My ancestors paid a price for me to serve in this capacity as a university administrator. Remembering is important and necessary. The next generation is watching and learning from us,” she said.

Mayor Woodfin agrees. “As we enter Black History Month, some of the few words I have for the Black community, and the community as a whole in Birmingham, is to remember our history,” he said. “Acknowledge the fight that took place here. Acknowledge that that change eventually won out. And when we acknowledge, and respect and appreciate that history… we are now obligated to make sure that we can continue to make this community better.”