Back to Birmingham
Richard Arrington, Jr., and His Times

Jimmie Lewis Franklin (Author)

9780817359454

Paperback / softback, published 19 March 2019

376 pages, 10 black & white figures
22.6 x 14.9 x 3 cm, 0.587 kg

During the 1960s, Birmingham, Alabama, became a major battleground in the struggle for human rights in the American South. As one of the most segregated cities in the United States, the city of Birmingham became known for its violence against blacks and the callous suppression of black civil rights.

In October of 1979, the city that had once used dogs and fire hoses to crush protest demonstrations elected a black mayor, Richard Arrington Jr. A man of quiet demeanor, Arrington was born in the small rural town of Livingston, Alabama, and moved to Birmingham as a child. Although he did not play a direct part in the civil rights movement in the 1960s, Arrington was destined to bring about some fundamental changes in a city that once defied racial progress.

Professor Franklin’s book is guided by the assumption that Americans everywhere can find satisfaction in understanding the dynamics of social and political change, and they can be buoyed by the individual triumph of a person who beat the odds. Ultimately, Back to Birmingham will, perhaps, enable the reader to measure the distance black southerners have traveled over the decades.

• Illustrations
• Preface
• 1. Depression and Segregation: Background in Sumter County
• 2. The Quest for Excellence: From Fairfield to Leadership
• 3. Shape of the Old Order: The Black Community and the City-Council Years
• 4. Do Not Abuse the Citizens: Assault on Police Brutality
• 5. Bottom Rails and Ballots: The 1979 Election
• 6. Neither Black nor White: The New Administration Takes Shape
• 7. The Spectre of Race: A Police Chief and a Council
• 8. The Man Up Close: Values, Reform, and Racial Imperatives
• 9. A New Day Cometh: Reelection to Office
• 10. Consolidation of Power: Arrington'
  s Second Term
• Appendix
• Essay on Sources
• Index