Birmingham Alabama

May 13-15

Birmingham, AL

A.G. Gaston (right) in front of his motel with R.A. Hester. City of Birmingham Archives

Arthur George Gaston died in 1996 with a net worth of $130 million. He was an innovator from the beginning, first earning some cash by letting the neighborhood kids ride his tire swing in exchange for their buttons, which the children's parents would buy back from him. As a young adult, he was a miner in Birmingham and provided lunches and burial insurance to his coworkers.

Gaston opened a business school, a funeral home, a savings and loan, and the A.G. Gaston Motel, which was listed in the Green Book. While he generally laid low to keep out of conflict with white society, he did provide financial assistance to the Civil Rights movement, and opened his motel to activists in the early 60's.

Dr. King stayed there during the Children's Crusade in 1963, a march in which children left school to walk downtown and talk with the mayor about segregation in Birmingham. Bull Connor, "Public Safety" officer, stopped the marches by using fire hoses and police dogs against the students. Here is the National Park Service narrative about the Motel and why it is part of the Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument.

The events of the Children's Crusade led to the arrest of Dr. King. Gaston's Motel was bombed; two devices exploded near Dr. King's room. Four months later, on September 15, 1963, four Klan members killed four girls and injured 14 others. The four who died were Addie Mae Collins, Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson, and Denise McNair. Addie Mae's sister, Sarah, was partially blinded in the explosion. 

Gaston put up $160,000 bond for Dr. King.

A postcard from the Gaston Motel

2019 unveiling of A.G. Gaston Boulevard signs at the Gaston Motel. Bham Now

Gaston Motel renovations underway during my visit. The firm completing the renovation is A.G. Gaston Construction.

A.G. Gaston Building, right across the street from the Motel. I love this building.

More about Birmingham's people and industry

Hosea Hudson was an ironworker, and organizer, and a member of the Communist Party. He also sang bass in the L&N Quartet. He grew up as a Georgia sharecropper and worked in Atlanta and Nashville before heading to New York City to train with the Communist Party USA. Hudson settled in Birmingham as a WPA worker, joining the United Steelworkers of America during WWII. Ultimately, he was fired and blacklisted because of his communist affiliations. Birmingham Mayor Richard Arrington designated February 26, 1980 as "Hosea Hudson Day". Nell Irvin Painter worked with Hudson on her biography of him, The Narrative of Hosea Hudson: The Life and times of a Black Radical.  Hudson wrote his own book in 1972 entitled Black Worker in the Deep South: A Personal Record.  

Sloss Furnaces

Sloss Furnaces used Black workers for the manual jobs in the plant, and whites for managerial roles. It also used convict leasing, a continuance of the system of slavery that was profitable for businesses and for local governments. The company had its own prison system. Alabama was the last state in the Union to do away with convict leasing in 1928, although many counties in the South continued to use the system. Sloss was segregated, with separate bath houses, separate time clock areas, and separate company picnics.

And some food

I picked up a catfish sandwich and fried green tomatoes at Green Acres Cafe. Delicious.

More reading

Black Titan: A.G. Gaston and the Making of a Black American Millionaire, Carol Jenkins

Audio and Video

A.G. Gaston Episode of Driving the Green Book, Alvin Hall and Janee Woods Weber.

A video piece on Gaston's businesses and his support of the Civil Rights movement. 

A video piece on Black workers at Sloss Furnaces.

Putting Pieces Together: Pop Culture is a Teaching Tool

Memphis

May 11-13

View of the Lorraine's classic sign
with the motel in the background

The wreath on the balcony is a replica of the one placed
 there after Dr. King's assassination.

The Lorraine got me started.

Popular culture can be a good teaching tool. Take Watchmen. I learned a lot about the Green Book, I learned about the Tulsa Massacre, I recognized Emmett Till in the story, and felt the terror of a sundown town. There is probably plenty I missed. Here's a link from BET going over some of the history covered. 

Likewise, hearing about the Lorraine Motel on Driving the Green Book sparked my interest in learning more about trying to travel and move about the country as a Black person in America. We see only some of what goes on today. Driving the Green Book gives you the details that fill out the truth of taking a trip prior to 1970 in the U.S.

Pack all your food because you won't be able to buy any on the road. Bathrooms? Hotels? Gas? Good luck. Travel for Black Americans was dangerous enough during Jim Crow, and without the Green Book, it would have been impossible. The book was filled with businesses that would serve Black customers. Imagine putting that together in a time when there was not only no internet, but many people did not have telephones. Who better to write a book like this that someone with a lot of human contact: Victory Hugo Green, a postman.

The Lorraine is a real place.

The Lorraine, I learned, is not just the last place Dr. King spoke to a crowd. It was a haven for black travelers; a unique endeavor built in the 1920's and bought by Loree and Walter Bailey and renamed the Lorraine and began serving Black travelers in 1945. It wasn't just a welcoming place for travelers. It was a place for Black performers and athletes to stay when visiting or performing in Memphis.

In April 1968, Dr. King was visiting Memphis as a part of the recently-launched (November 1967) Poor People's Campaign, an attempt to focus on economic inequality and poverty. He had also been supporting and strategizing with the AFSCME Sanitation workers weeks before, delivering his "Mountaintop" speech to them on April 3rd. He was assassinated the next day.

Scatter the pieces

Many of us have learned just a few things about the Civil Rights Movement, Jim Crow, and/or slavery. Some of us vaguely remember something about 'states rights'. That's actually what I was taught the Civil War was about. Neither the concept nor the mechanics of states rights made sense to me as a fifteen-year-old. As I've said, my parents never talked about this time. (It was all Nixon, Nixon, Nixon in our house. I remember that much)

Pop culture helped me put some pieces together: the Green Book, the Lorraine Motel, and Dr. King's assassination. Each day on this trip, I gather more threads, more connections. How many civil rights museums have I been to at the time of this writing? At least four? And yet I learn many new things at each one. The picture becomes clearer, the lines of connection thicker. It starts to make sense as a continuum. The line from slavery to today is clear and the behaviors of intimidation, oppression, violence, and lawlessness on the part of white people against Black Americans is loud and impossible to ignore.

Why didn't I know these things? Because if you scatter the pieces far enough, you can't see the patterns and connections. Which means the chance that someone will uncover your crimes is lower. lack of knowledge about the machine keeps the machine running. I'll have more about these connecting pieces in other posts.

Continuity of today.

Today, the Poor People's Campaign is alive and well. It is spearheaded by Reverend Dr. William Barber II, who is an inspiring and empathetic speaker whether you are religious or not. The platform of the Poor People's Campaign may sound familiar to you from Bernie Sanders' campaign.

Americans Who Tell the Truth is a beautiful website that makes the people who make a difference come to life. You can check out activists and leaders by sortable categories (including centuries!) on the linked site.

Some examples of my current heroes are:

Bree Newsome Bass, the hero who removed the confederate flag from the State House in South Carolina.

Alicia Garza, who began the Black Lives Matter movement in 2013 with Patrisse Cullors and Opal Tometi after the murder of Trayvon Martin.

Other Resources and Info

What did I see in Memphis?

Lorraine Motel: Quality accommodations for Black people, civil rights leaders planned and strategized here, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated on the balcony here. It is now part of the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis.

W.C. Handy House: Handy was the "Father of the Blues". His bio is linked, and fascinating.

Beale Street: historically Black business district

Ida B. Wells was a journalist and activist; she owned and ran two newspapers in Memphis. Please read her bio. She has many accomplishments.

Recommended Reading

Labor Power is the Key to Racial Equity, Thomas Geoghegan, The New Republic

How Black Activists Shaped the Labor Movement, Kim Kelly, Teen Vogue

The Negro and the Labor Unions, Booker T. Washington, The Atlantic

W.C Handy's House. So cute!