Birmingham

In 1870 Birmingham, Alabama, was founded and named after Birmingham, England. Birmingham had a large iron and steel industry and thus was known as the “Pittsburgh of the South.” The city was also the site of violent civil rights action. Martin Luther King Jr. and other civil rights activists arranged peaceful protests in Birmingham to focus attention on the racist policies ruling the South. The protesters were violently subdued with dogs and fire hoses, and many were arrested, including King. After being arrested in April, 1963 King wrote his famous “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” urging activists to use non-violent means of protest. Unfortunately, on September 15, 1963 the violence reached a bloody climax when a bomb was set off at the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church. Four little girls were killed by the explosion, which took place on a Sunday morning. It would take almost forty years for the last bombing suspect, Bobby Frank Cherry, to be tried and convicted. However, the cruelty in Birmingham focused national attention on the Civil Rights Movement.

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