Excerpted from The Forge, published in 2007 by the Birmingham Regional Chamber of Commerce
How did we live through these times? Through the prism of history, they seem impossibly difficult—a baptism of fire never quenched. And yet Birminghamians— black and white—survived and through the pain and sorrow of that time emerged stronger neighbors and coworkers. Not perfect.
America in the 21st century can’t seem to leap the racial divide and continues to struggle with racism, but in a different way than the Birmingham of the 1960s. Maybe in a different way because of the Birmingham of the 1960s.
The blast that shattered the quiet of a Sunday morning in September 1963 was the clarion call answered for change in a city that often found it hard to change. Yet even amid the pain, life was far more commonplace than tumultuous. From cotton candy to football games life was normal— except when it wasn’t.
