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![]() ![]() “Because of Birmingham’s tight-fisted industrial history and history of civil rights, it makes sense there had to be a piece that came before that,” King said. She chose the topic for the spring course because she believes knowledge of the city’s role in the early 20th century communist movement is needed to understand other aspects of Birmingham’s history. ![]() King has chronicled Birmingham’s involvement in the growth of the communist party aided by students who documented the sites most integral to it during the HY 481 Public History course. Add to that the large number of laborers and African-Americans tired of inequality and wealth disparity, and Birmingham was primed to be the seat of the Southeast’s communist party activities, said Pam Sterne King, assistant professor of history. ![]() The city - the nerve center of the industrial South - was the ideal home base for the district, which comprised Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Florida, Tennessee and Mississippi. chose Birmingham for its new District 17 headquarters. In the late 1920s, the Communist Party U.S.A. The Woodward Iron Company (above) and other industrialists in Birmingham opted to reduce their employees' hours rather than lay them off, hoping demand would eventually increase due to market fluctuations.Decades before Birmingham’s tumultuous involvement with the civil rights movement, another political shift was taking place in the Magic City: the rise of communism. ![]()
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