BIRMINGHAM, Alabama — Sixty years ago, within the walls of the low-slung brick facade of the AG Gaston Motel, one of the greatest threats to ordinary American life was brewing. Serving as a base camp for many civil rights groups, the simple idea of restoring dignity to black people in the public space was ready to upend society.
In April 1963, Martin Luther King Jr., who had been imprisoned for “marching without a permit” in a march against segregation in Birmingham, was placed in solitary confinement. From there he wrote the now famous “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”. Less than a month later, that hotel was bombed after white business leaders in the city agreed to incorporate lunch counters and hire blacks. Less than a week later, former Brooklyn Dodgers player Jack Roosevelt Robinson showed up and spent the night there.
“I don’t think you realize here in Birmingham what you mean to us over there in New York. And I don’t think white Americans understand what Birmingham means to all of us in this country,” Robinson told a crowd of a few thousand people at Sixth Avenue Baptist Church. “I think America’s conscience is beginning to awaken. I think the first steps that have been taken here by the Birmingham business community, Dr. King and the other leaders here are an indication that perhaps the conscience of Birmingham is beginning to awaken. The only thing we demand is that we be allowed to move forward like any other American city.”
The newsreels and pictures that brought living, breathing images to the place not-so-kindly nicknamed “Bombingham” were enough to bring the man who broke the MLB color line to town. Robinson was by no means alone in his efforts, but his presence meant that the eyes of the baseball world nationally had reason to turn to the South.
There were riots, children were put behind bars, and there is a wealth of scholarship and entire academic disciplines obviously devoted to this era in America, particularly in this place. It is a stench that many natives have tried to get rid of, but with great difficulty.
“Birmingham has great people and great opportunities. I had a successful career of almost 38 years in corporate America here in Birmingham,” Bobbie Knight, historic president of Black Miles College, said of her hometown. “I ended up going to graduate school as a second career. But the first career was incredible. Now, I’m not going to tell you that it hasn’t been without its problems – and sometimes racial tensions. But for the most part, Birmingham has been great to me. You look at Birmingham when you look at me and my success story. I’ve done it all in the city of Birmingham.
Miles College will play its home games at Rickwood Field next season. But the interweaving of racial tensions was not limited to a single city or even a single Alabama stadium. In Magic City, it was one man: arguably the most famous white supremacist of his era – Theophilus Eugene “Bull” Connor.
Once a broadcaster to Birmingham’s “white” barons, his fanatical reign as Birmingham’s public safety commissioner and chairman of the Alabama Civil Service Commission, with his resume of brutal opposition to segregation, made him would have a unanimous vote in the first round of the Racism Hall. of glory. The first time the city was seen in close-up?
It was Connor who turned on the garden hoses and set dogs on people. It was he who worked with the Ku Klux Klan to enable them to defeat the Freedom Riders, who were traveling through the South to protest segregation, before the police intervened when they arrived in town. In American terms: he was your favorite racist’s favorite racist.
A decade earlier, when Robinson showed up to support the Children’s Crusade, he planned an all-star game featuring black and white players at Rickwood Field. Ten days before this happened, Connor canceled the event, citing a city ordinance that prohibited mixed athletic events. Robinson put all of his white teammates on the bench and continued the game. This time, Birmingham is much better prepared for the spotlight. And with MLB honoring the Negro Leagues on the very field where it once separated, Connor would be rolling in his grave.
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The Birmingham Barons now play at Regions Field, home to the Southern Negro League Museum, a few blocks away. It’s an interesting existence, considering the history of the franchise as a whole. Michael’s Restaurant, owned and operated by a sister named Bernadine Birdsong, is next to the museum.
As the official steakhouse of the UAB Blazers, they attract a lot of people, completely unrelated to hardball. Birdsong is from the city and just young enough to have discovered most of the concerns people still have through generational knowledge, to some extent. It doesn’t shape who she is, but it’s certainly influenced her world for some time.
“My mother, she knew a lot about (the Negro Leagues), because a lot of people that she knew, like they went to high school together, you know, lived in the neighborhood,” she said. “I was like, oh, my God, I can’t believe this happened here, you know?”
It will be fascinating to see what corners of the city known as the Magic City MLB can bring out. It’s not just a baseball game coming to town, it’s a week full of experiences and events that will bring more attention to this place than we’ve seen since Connor was beating the niggers like hot cakes, to quote an old phrase from comedian Dave Chappelle. You ask people in town and their interest lies somewhere between laser-focused and bemused.
MLB coming here? Play in a century-old park? What’s the point ?
This kind of honesty from real people is a stark reminder that Alabama is still Alabama. The days of segregationist Governor George Wallace and the National Guard are by no means ancient history.
“I think it’s evolved. I think when people come to Birmingham and experience it, they are pleasantly surprised. It’s not what you think,” Birdsong pointed out on a hot summer day when the Barons were on the road. “Before, I traveled a lot for work. And I was in Australia. And there was something important on the news about Birmingham, halfway around the world. And they were having this big discussion about the golf course, there was a private golf course here that didn’t let black people in. I mean, it was 2000. And they were having this big discussion about it in Australia, and I’m here. And they say how do you live in this place. I was like, “You know, you live there and you don’t even really think about it. “So it’s not blatantly in your face until something like this happens.
It wasn’t just the stadiums that were separated. We’re talking swimming pools, golf courses, everything. Today, we often think of segregation as a kind of gentle process, or a more socialized norm, rather than a strict law that separates people based on the color of their skin. But this is an effect that takes generations to change. MLB is not about to repair the generational trauma of segregation, not at all.
“It’s still very prevalent. And you can see, like when I got an incentive to move my restaurant here, from where I was, I was inside, in a loft hotel in Homewood, which is not too far from ‘here,’” Birdsong said. “So I was the very first black restaurant to receive any assistance in moving a restaurant (from the city). Four or five years ago it was very controversial. There were people who fought against it and didn’t want me to have it. “Why did she get it?” Why didn’t anyone else understand this? It was like a big controversy, a little embarrassing because we’ve had black mayors since the 70s. But as for business ownership, less than 1%. We are 72% black (in terms of population), but very few black-owned businesses.
Al Holt had a unique relationship with the Black Barons. His uncle was the manager for years. A bit like in the movie The All-Stars and Engine Kings of Long Traveling Bingo, he was responsible for the safe. In other words, he held the money, when he was young, until he was old enough to gamble. His reminder of the foundations of segregation is clear.
“Well, you know, there are some things you could do and some things you couldn’t do. And, when you wanted to go see the white barons, you paid your money at the door, went around and came to the right side,” Holt explained as he showed me around the museum. “I had the opportunity to see these people without experiencing all that. »
By the time he started playing for the Black Barons, it was everything he thought it would be and more. His photo is still on display at the museum, along with a newspaper article about one of his great games. He now uses a wheelchair, but his pride is still strong.
“Baseball was the main thing. They look at you differently, they treat you differently, you are a celebrity,” he said with a smile. “In other words, you were like the major league baseball player. You know, you come home and people flock to you.
With a flock of foreigners coming to town to watch the St. Louis Cardinals and San Francisco Giants play exactly one baseball game, the memories of this city will exist far beyond just the glory.