In some ways, no American city symbolizes the black struggle for
civil rights more than Birmingham, Alabama. During the 1950s and
1960s, Birmingham gained national and international attention as a
center of activity and unrest during the civil rights movement.
Racially motivated bombings of the houses of black families who moved
into new neighborhoods or who were politically active during this era
were so prevalent that Birmingham earned the nickname "Bombingham."
In this critical
analysis of why Birmingham became such a national flashpoint, Bobby
M. Wilson argues that Alabama's path to industrialism differed
significantly from that of states in the North and Midwest. True to
its antebellum roots, no other industrial city in the United States
depended as much on the exploitation of black labor so early in its
urban development as Birmingham.
A persuasive
exploration of the links between Alabama's slaveholding order and the
subsequent industrialization of the state, America's Johannesburg
demonstrates that arguments based on classical economics fail to take
into account the ways in which racial issues influenced the rise of
industrial capitalism.
