Black History Month

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On this page, you will find various Black History Month events and more available from City of Birmingham facilities. We hope you enjoy!

 Birmingham Museum of Art

  • The Birmingham Museum of Art will host “ArtBreak: Confronting an Ugly Past, Building a Beautiful Future: The Legacy of Jim Crow’’ on Thursday, Feb. 11, from 12 – 12:30 p.m. In this virtual talk, Museum Director Graham C. Boettcher will discuss the museum’s history in the era of segregation and trace the integration of its collections and exhibition program. Boettcher will also present new information about Corietta Mitchell, who in 1963, became the first African-American artist to exhibit at the BMA.
  • The museum is also showcasing the in-person exhibition, “All Things Bright and Beautiful,’’ which brings together works primarily from the museum’s permanent collection that look at themes of power and agency. This exhibition takes its name from a painting by African-American artist Amy Sherald. Some artists in the exhibition look towards power in other creative endeavors, like music. Others contemplate the hidden potential of everyday objects by transforming them into works of art. Several artists engage the representation of space and architecture–including museum spaces–to discover the dynamics of power. Considered together, these works illustrate the importance of being seen, choosing how to be depicted, and telling one’s own history.

Negro Southern League Museum

  • African-American baseball players will tell their story and share black baseball league history during an online event on Tuesday, February 16 from 6 to 7 p.m. The main speaker will be Earnest Fann. Check out the event via the venue’s Facebook page. For more info, call (205) 581-3040 or visit org
  • NSLM will host a virtual salute to 100 years of Negro League history, in partnership with the Birmingham Public Library, on Sunday, February 21 from 6 to 7 p.m. This event may be found on YouTube at: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClyT1NyAQzos4F2muxywDaA.

To register, visit http://bit.ly/NLBaseball Questions? Call (205) 581-3040 or visit www.BirminghamNSLM.org

Birmingham Public Library

Sloss Furnaces

  • During the month of February and beyond, Sloss Furnaces will offer a video on its website and social media outlets to highlight the significance of African-American workers in the development of the Birmingham Industrial District. The video explains the various aspects of African-American industrial labor in the late 19th and 20th centuries, including working conditions, limitations put on African-American industrial workers, etc.

Questions? Send them to tyler.malugani@birminghamal.gov; call 205-254-2254; or visit the Sloss website at www.slossfurnaces.com.

Southern Museum of Flight

  • The Southern Museum of Flight is proud to offer “Black Aviation Pioneers,” self-guided tours and programs that explore early African-American aviation pioneers such as Eugene Bullard, Bessie Coleman, the Tuskegee Airmen and more.  The Tuskegee Airmen B-25 Bomber will also be on temporary display, as this one-of-a-kind artifact continues to undergo long-term restoration efforts under the supervision of curatorial and restoration teams at the museum.
  • In partnership with Lucasfilm, the museum is offering educational resources freely available to teachers, students, and the public so that these stories may help foster new discoveries for young and old alike.
  • This month, the museum’s website will feature the film “Double Vision: The Tuskegee Airmen at War” and the “Double Victory Education Guide.”  These educational resources will be complemented by a free curriculum-based virtual tour of Southern Museum of Flight’s Tuskegee Airmen Exhibition.

For more information or to “reserve your seat,” please contact Melissa Morgan at 205-833-8226 or send emails to  Melissa.Morgan@birminghamal.gov. The Southern Museum of Flight is located at 4343 73rd St. North. The website is www.SouthernMuseumofFlight.org.

Black History Month Flyers (View and download here)

BlackHistory2021_COB

BlackHistoryQuiz_COB

BlackHistory2021Sale

Virtual Black History Program final
 BCRI Black History Month Program 2021
  • Click the down arrow above to view additional pages of the BCRI Black History Month Program
  • Click here to download

Executive Summary: Valuing Inclusion to Accelerate and Lift

By Mayor Randall L. Woodfin and Cornell Wesley

In 2019, the city of Birmingham announced a program called VITAL, which included a commitment to measure our municipal government’s record for diversity spend. In keeping that promise, we have released Birmingham’s first-ever report of spending with minority- and women-owned firms.

We believe that collecting and sharing this information is a matter of transparency, of leadership, and of moving from talk to action to improve opportunities for minority- and women-owned businesses.

The results show we have a long way to go to maximize opportunities for minority- and women-owned businesses. Now, we must move forward deliberately and intentionally to diversify our city’s vendor portfolio.

As we look to expand opportunities in the future, we must also acknowledge a painful past that still has an impact on African-American communities today.

In Birmingham, the twin evils of segregation and redlining — a discriminatory practice that denied home loans in minority communities — played particularly harmful roles in creating disparities still evident today. While these racist policies were outlawed more than 50 years ago, they left many of our citizens on the sidelines – and continue to deny them the chance to play on a level field.

Birmingham ranked 98th among 100 metros when Brookings Metro Monitor looked at the gap between whites and people of color on poverty, employment and income. Disparities are also evident in business ownership. In Greater Birmingham, Black people make up 28 percent of the population, but own just 3 percent of businesses that have at least one employee. Birmingham’s record on this point is the worst among all large metro areas in the U.S.

COVID-19 further demonstrated lingering effects of generations of under-resourcing and discrimination. Many businesses struggled during the pandemic as revenues dried up, reserves ran low and assistance remained out of reach. But African-American businesses were disproportionately hurt. One study found that 40 percent of Black-owned businesses closed as a result of the pandemic, compared to 17 percent of white-owned businesses.

The city of Birmingham quickly established local programs that helped sustain many businesses, but the pandemic emphasized the importance of a diverse, healthy small business ecosystem — and once again exposed inequities that still stand in the way.

 Hence, our report on diversity spend could not come at a more relevant time.

The city’s Office of Business Diversity and Opportunity, which was created to support our small business community, worked with city departments and agencies for almost a year to pull data to show where the city spends its dollars and where opportunities exist.

The effort was not without its challenges. In many cases, the city did not have a good system in place to capture information about vendors or about city spending. Moving forward, the city must work to establish a better way to identify local vendors, to track city diverse spending, and to share upcoming opportunities with companies that supply goods and services.

Action steps include:

  • Improve the city’s vendor registration process and encourage minority- and women-owned businesses to register.
  • Create a database of minority, women-owned and other disadvantaged businesses that can help the city as well as other agencies, companies and institutions diversify vendors.
  • Establish more consistency in procurement practices among city departments and agencies.
  • Proactively seek local minority- and women-owned businesses to provide needed goods and services.
  • Continue to offer and support programs that encourage entrepreneurship and strengthen small businesses.
  • Publish an annual Opportunity Guide that forecasts the city’s anticipated purchases so that all vendors are aware of potential opportunities.

The spend report establishes a baseline that the city can build on as it works to diversify and strengthen its pool of vendors. And while on this journey, the city will remain focused to use its purchasing power to support a more inclusive economy, accelerate opportunity and uplift local businesses whose success is VITAL for the city’s future.

Randall L. Woodfin is the mayor of Birmingham. Cornell Wesley is the director of the city of Birmingham’s Department of Innovation and Economic Opportunity.