Birmingham, AL (October 20) — Three days of events will give the public the opportunity to pay tribute to the late Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth, the civil rights leader historians credited with leading the movement in this city that helped changed the nation.
Rev. Shuttlesworth passed away after a long illness in Birmingham on October 5. Many of his civil rights colleagues, ministers and elected officials are expected to come to Birmingham to participate in events. Continue reading →
I first met the Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth at Sixteenth Street Baptist Church during the 30-year anniversary of the church bombing, when NBC’s Brian Williams (before he was an anchor) and his television crews broadcast a live, national town-hall meeting from its sanctuary.
I was one of The Birmingham News reporters covering the event, and I was directed to interview him. At that time I only knew Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in terms of the Civil Rights Movement. So Rev. Shuttlesworth’s story fascinated me.
He recounted surviving the first bomb attack on his home. A blast that should have killed him instead inspired him because he knew that God spared him to lead the Movement in Birmingham. Emerging from the ruins of his wrecked home virtually unscathed, he was from then on the fiercest foe of segregation, he said, because he was never again afraid. Continue reading →
When Birmingham’s Artwalk began 10 years ago to draw people to the downtown Loft District and celebrate art there, there wasn’t a whole lot of “there” there. What a difference a decade makes.
Can lightning strike twice in the same place? Forces of nature are hard to contain, especially when it comes to the power of music.
At last year’s inaugural launch of the BAAM Festival, co-founder Sharrif Simmons and his band played “Beautiful Day,” where the superb bass player lays down this hard-thumpin,’ blood-pumpin,’ signature funk rhythm that makes you wanna jump, jump, up and down. And so the crowd at Stillwater Pub went wild. As much as I wanted to do the same, I couldn’t because I was holding my little video camera. Continue reading →
I’m under no illusions: Birmingham is not Hollywood. Heck, it’s not even Atlanta when it comes to the business of filmmaking and video creation. But I believe it can be.
It has everything a moviemaker could want: historic old buildings, gritty urban alleys, antebellum homes, rolling hills, and suburban oases. And if we expand our vision to the state at large, we have waterways and lakes, picturesque towns, sandy white beaches, not to mention places of historical significance for the Civil War to Civil Rights. (We wrote about this topic years ago in our article, “Birmingham Rolls Out the Red Carpet for Hollywood.)
Yes, Alabama is far behind the curve among states that offer tax and other incentives (like Michigan and Louisiana) to draw location scouts to consider Birmingham and other parts of Alabama. But we are getting there. Continue reading →
I mentioned last week that The Birmingham News would host a roundtable discussion about leadership in Birmingham with local leaders and the community.
Well, that discussion is taking place today at The News, where seating is limited. It will be streamed live from AL.com. But those who want to join the discussion can take part via the online chat with columnist Eddie Lard. The event is from 12:15 p.m. to 2 p.m. Continue reading →
The May 14, 1961, picture of Klansmen savagely beating non-violent Freedom Riders upon their arrival at the Birmingham Trailways bus station helped change the city’s course toward a destiny it has yet to achieve. Continue reading →
I’ve dreamt of tornadoes before. But none of my dreams was ever like the one I had about two weeks ago. In it, the tornado funnels seemed to fall out of a blustery sky toward the ground, one after another, several at a time, two or three funnels in a swirling mass of dark gray clouds.
Another scene in this dream sequence that’s too ghastly for me to repeat here. It was terrible enough to make me wake up. I shoved those scenes deep into a mental corner as I would any bad dream and tried to forget them.
I wish I could wake up from the living nightmare that struck our state last week.To my great discomfort and sorrow, it was not a dream. Continue reading →