Birmingham
[key]
1 City (2020 pop. 200,733), seat of Jefferson co., N central
Ala., in the Jones Valley near the southern end of the Appalachian system;
founded and inc. 1871. The city was long a leading iron and steel center,
the “Pittsburgh of the South.” Industry has diversified since
the 1970s to include textiles, chemicals, automotive parts, and aircraft
production. Health-care services, commerce, banking, insurance, research,
and government are also important. A leading “New South” city,
Birmingham developed rapidly with the expansion of railroads and, connected
with the Gulf of Mexico by canal, became a trade and communications center.
The city was the scene of unrest during the civil-rights struggles of the
1960s; on Sept. 15, 1963, four young black girls were killed in a church
bombing. In 1979 the city elected its first African-American mayor. The
Birmingham Civil Rights Institute includes a museum, archives of the period,
and research facilities; the Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument (est.
2017) commemorates the struggle for integration. Local educational
institutions include the Univ. of Alabama Medical Center,
Birmingham-Southern College, Miles College, and Samford Univ. Overlooking
the city, on nearby Red Mt., is a huge iron statue of Vulcan, the Roman god
of the forge. 2 City (2020 pop. 21,607), Oakland co., SE Mich.,
on the River Rouge; settled 1819, inc. as a village 1864, as a city 1933. It
is largely residential.
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2024, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
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