Birmingham’s Rebirth
Bridging the Color Lines of Redevelopment
Amelia Muller (MUP ’20)
Most people know Birmingham, Alabama, for the prominent role that the city and its residents played in the Civil Rights Movement. Even today, mentioning Birmingham conjures images of bombings and boycotts, police dogs and fire hoses. However, the city’s history of racial terrorism and nonviolent resistance are only part of Birmingham’s story. Like many U.S. cities, Birmingham’s physical and socioeconomic landscapes are marked by the steady rise of the steel industry and its abrupt decline. Today, as the city grapples with structural racism and de-industrialization, it must navigate how to redevelop without fortifying persistent color lines that generations have fought to overcome.
A 17-year-old civil rights demonstrator is attacked by a police dog on May 3, 1963,
Birmingham, Alabama. Photo: Bill Hudson, Associated Press.
Birmingham was founded after the Civil War as a steel town, built on the iron ore discovered in the mountains that surrounded the city. Birmingham’s nickname, “The Magic City,” stems from the speed with which the city developed around the steel industry. At Birmingham’s production peak, this “Pittsburgh of the South” produced millions of tons of steel annually. When firms like U.S. Steel shuttered their ironworks in the 1970s, Birmingham lost tens of thousands of jobs virtually overnight.
Postcard of Birmingham’s iconic “Magic City” sign, featuring the since demolished
Terminal Station in the background. Photo: Birmingham Public Library Postcard Collection.
After the steel industry collapsed, the city experienced decades of disinvestment and population loss, exacerbated by white flight to surrounding incorporated suburbs. A city that was built for 500,000 people is now home to around 210,000 residents, 72% of whom are African American. 30% of all Birmingham residents and 42% of women and children live in poverty. Unemployment rates are rising and 58% of jobs in Birmingham could be automated in the next 10 years. Previously thriving neighborhoods across the city are still struggling to revitalize today.
Southeastern view down 19th Street in Ensley, former home to U.S. Steel’s Ensley Works,
which closed in the 1970s. Photo: Amelia Muller.
Despite its many struggles, successes of the last two decades signal that Birmingham is a city on the rise. Ironically, the decades-long disinvestment in the urban core means that many of the city’s iconic historic buildings remain intact, albeit sorely in need of conservation. While gems like the Terminal Station were caught in the crosshairs of disrepair and urban renewal, recent projects like the redevelopment of the Pizitz department store signal that developers, civic and government leaders, and residents recognize the value of their historic assets.
Exterior (L) and interior (R) of the Pizitz building. The project combines residential, co-working, and food hall spaces. Photos: The Pizitz.
Leveraging the architectural icons of Birmingham’s industrial heyday – re-imagined for today’s uses – may be the city’s smartest strategy for attracting people back to the urban core. The challenge is how to distribute redevelopment equitably so that predominantly African American neighborhoods further from the core reap the benefits, too.
1930s redlining map of Birmingham. Red and gray zones were labeled “Hazardous” and “Negro Concentrations” by the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation, signaling that banks should not lend in these areas. Photo: The National Archives via WBHM.
Adaptive reuse projects like The Pizitz and Pepper Place (a former Dr. Pepper soda factory) and catalytic projects like Regions Field and Railroad Park are rightly celebrated as new urban assets, but these projects have absorbed public and private attention and dollars while iconic African American structures and neighborhoods have languished. For example, the Masonic Temple and A.G. Gaston Motel are seminal sites of the Civil Rights Movement, yet they have only recently begun to receive investment. At a larger scale, predominantly African American neighborhoods are fighting for basic services amidst significant municipal fiscal constraints. Inadequate public transportation means that residents without a car remain 99 times more likely to be unemployed. Though a planned bus rapid transit line and a new pilot with Via are attempting to bridge the mobility gap, the harsh economic realities many African American residents face remain ever present.
Birmingham’s challenges in realizing equitable development are not distinct from other cities, but Birmingham’s approach to shaping its future can and should be specific to its past. While the city’s historic architecture – built on a grid – offers an urbanistic rigor and character that many Southern cities lack, Birmingham’s people remain its greatest asset. They showed the world what collective power looks like before, and their voices remain essential to shaping Birmingham’s vision for change. We would all be smart to listen.
Bibliography:
“Birmingham Public Library Digital Collections: Item Viewer.” Accessed October 31, 2019. https://server16044.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=%2Fp4017coll6&CISOPTR=82&DMSCALE=100&DMWIDTH=600&DMHEIGHT=600&DMMODE=viewer&DMFULL=0&DMX=103&DMY=0&DMTEXT=&DMTHUMB=1&REC=1&DMROTATE=0&x=304&y=263.
“Bus Rapid Transit - The Official Website for the City of Birmingham, Alabama.” Accessed October 31, 2019. https://www.birminghamal.gov/brt.
WBHM 90.3. “Commentary: Not Easy to Find ‘Home’ with Birmingham’s Redlining History.” Accessed October 31, 2019. https://wbhm.org/feature/2016/randi-commentary/.
NPR.org. “How The Civil Rights Movement Was Covered In Birmingham.” Accessed October 31, 2019. https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2013/06/18/193128475/how-the-civil-rights-movement-was-covered-in-birmingham.
“The Pizitz Food Hall.” Accessed October 31, 2019. http://www.thepizitz.com/food-hall.
The Randall L. Woodfin Transition Team. “The Woodfin Way: A Citizen Led Transition for Progress in Birmingham,” March 15, 2018.