Monday, April 28, 2014

Birmingham, Bombingham, "The Magic City"

Monday, April 28

Saturday morning we drove down to Birmingham, Alabama, to join the Edina Community Lutheran Church Civil Rights Tour, led by Mark and Leslie Swiggum.  They flew to Atlanta that morning, stopping for lunch at Anniston, AL, the site of one of the first freedom bus bombings.  First stop was Rickman Field in Birmingham, older than Wrigley Field, where black and white baseball was played on alternate days.  Photos of Willie Mays, Jackie Robinson, Babe Ruth and many others lined the walls, and we heard the story of Harman Killebrew's playing, as well as his return shortly before he died.  Imagine our surprise when we heard that Bull Connor started his career as the announcer for those games, making his name most recognizable on the ballot for Police Commissioner back in the 1960s.  That, of course, is only an introduction to the story.

Myrna Jackson was a "foot soldier" in the movement in the 1960s and shared story after story with us when we arrived downtown from the baseball field.  Jailed for two weeks at the height of the marches, she told of all mattresses removed from the cells when they came, as if there were beds for everyone anyway.  One day the guards brought in huge fans and blasted the cell with cold air which those in the next cell were blasted with hot air from several heaters that were turned on them.  She told of the "mass meetings" held in six different churches to plan for the "C," the nonviolent confrontations to march from 16th Street Baptist.  When it came time for the altar call during those meetings, they were used as opportunities to "commit" to the movement.  Individuals were then led into small groups where their commitment to nonviolence was tested.  If one was deemed to qualify, he/she was sent on to another group for more intense training.  If not able to commit to nonviolence, that individual was not allowed to continue.

Sunday morning we met Myrna in Kelly Ingram Park, kitty-corner from 16th Street Baptist.  As we walked through the park, she gave us more stories of her experiences and her interpretations of how the park had come to be, what was included, and what is yet to come.




Each of these photos speaks for itself, noting the shoes of the second sculpture.  We were told that their shoes became the means of identification of the girls killed in the bombing.  You can see 16th St Baptist in this photo of the three preachers praying prior to one of the marches.
Across the street the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, opened just two years ago, tells the powerful story of the 1960s.  One could clearly spend a half day examining each display, listening to each tape, watching each piece of footage.

Begun by immigrants, Birmingham quickly capitalized on the available labor force to become "The Magic City" of the south, an industrial giant of steel and coal, but as the  industry slowed, the once-thriving city lost population, but the now middle class immigrants and blacks demanded full standing in the city.  The ruling class of whites did not agree and the "Bombingham" title was easily applied.  Not only was 16th Street Baptist bombed, several other churches and parsonages were hit, as was the motel room in which Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was staying, just a block from the church.  Amazingly, the bomb was planted in his room specifically, but he had already left the city.

How to think about all this?   As Myrna Jackson observed, "The more things change, the more they stay the same."


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