At sites related to Birmingham’s black heritage, it is a time for reflection, and a time to look forward.
Birmingham recalls its role in the Civil Rights movement with a world-class multi-media facility. It also honors the accomplishments of its African American sons and daughters with museums, music, historic sites, and special events. From the Civil Rights historic district downtown to the legendary Tuxedo Junction in the western part of town, it’s rich in history and heritage.
The Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, on the corner of Sixth Avenue North and 16th Street, traces the history of the Civil Rights movement with exhibits of photos, films, personal interviews, and vignettes. It includes significant events not only in Birmingham but also in places such as Albany, Georgia; Greensboro, North Carolina; Greenville, Mississippi; Nashville, Tennessee; and Rock Hill, South Carolina.
In one gallery, while watching a video of Dr. King as he delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., on August 28, 1963, I am overcome with emotion. It is one of history’s most powerful speeches, followed less than a month later by one of our country’s darkest moments. On September 15, 1963, I was at my own church four blocks away when a deadly bomb ripped through the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church and thrust Birmingham into world news. I remember the rattling of my Sunday school walls, the crowds gathering in the street, and the quick prickling of alarm that rises with the unknown. But I recall little else, and years later had to depend on news accounts to fill in the details of a time that shock and fear erased from memory.
Seeing the exhibits at the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute fills in even more of the gaps. Across Sixth Avenue North sits the renovated Sixteenth Street Baptist Church (worship services at 11 a.m. on Sunday). Both are places everyone should visit. Cross 16th Street from the Institute and you can stroll the paths of Freedom Walk in Kelly Ingram Park.
Boogie on Down to Carver Theatre
Birmingham speaks the universal language of music. It always has. Some of the world’s greatest musicians and performers got their start in the city’s clubs and theaters. The Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame, in the historic Carver Theatre at Fourth Avenue North and 17th Street, pays tribute to them.
Alabama musicians highlighted in the museum include Erskine Hawkins, trumpet player and big band leader best remembered for composing the Jazz favorite “Tuxedo Junction,” and Herman “Sonny” Blount, better known as Sun Ra, the first to use the electric piano and electric bass in a jazz recording. Another is Cleveland Eaton, who has worked with and recorded with music legends Henry Mancini, Frank Sinatra, and Ella Fitzgerald, and who today works with the Count Basie Band. Others include Nat King Cole, W.C. Handy, self-taught diva Mary Alice Marable, and local music educator Dr. Frank Adams.
Frank Adams learned to play the clarinet from his father, Oscar Adams, Sr., who played trombone with W.C. Handy at Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical University in Huntsville. Frank played in local bands, as well as his own, and for a number of years was the Program Specialist for Music Instruction for the Birmingham Public School System. When you can take a guided tour (offered Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday), Dr. Adams is your guide.
Listen to the Jazz
Ona’s Music Room: 423 20th Street South; (205) 322-4662. Owner Ona Watson was, in 1986, the youngest person ever to be inducted into the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame. Open Wednesday-Saturday, with an emphasis on Jazz. Check appearance dates for Night Flight Big Band, a favorite among Jazz enthusiasts.
Carver Theatre: Fourth Avenue North on 17th Street. Jazz Jam Fest features a different Jazz band in concert every fourth Saturday (January 24, 2010).
SuperJazz Big Band: Some of the best musicians in the area come together for four concerts a year at the Brock Recital Hall on the Samford University campus, 800 Lakeshore Drive. Upcoming concerts are at 3 p.m. on February 21 and May 9; for more, [email protected].
Jazz Marker at the Junction
“Tuxedo Junction” was the name of a popular Jazz tune composed in 1939 by Birmingham native Erskine Hawkins. It’s about a dance hall, popular in the 1920s and 1930s, located along a streetcar crossing in the Tuxedo Park neighborhood, near where Hawkins grew up.
The empty building, which bears a historic marker, is now named the Nixon Building. It stands at 1728 20th Street in Ensley, just off I-59 at the 20th Street exit.
Birmingham Black Barons
Although Jackie Robinson wasn’t the first black American to play major league baseball, he was the first in the twentieth century to break into the all-white major leagues. Before that, black Americans played in the Negro Leagues. The Birmingham Black Barons was one of the teams.
Stop in at the Smithfield branch of the Birmingham Public Library, at 1 Eighth Avenue West, and you’ll find a small exhibit about the Birmingham Black Barons. You’ll learn about Lorenzo “Piper” Davis, who played baseball for the Barons during the summer, then headed north in the winter to play basketball with the Harlem Globetrotters. And about Lloyd “Pepper” Bassett, who played parts of some games while seated in a rocking chair behind home plate.
Read the Book
For a more detailed look at the history of the Black Barons and the Negro Leagues, pick up a copy of Dr. Larry Powell’s new book, Black Barons of Birmingham (McFarland & Company, Inc.). It is available at local bookstores, and at Amazon.com.