When my brother, Brian, and I moved to Birmingham from Northern, California in the late '70's, we experienced a major culture shock. At first glance, Birmingham consisted of two major groups--Black and White. For the exception of Five Points South, Birmingham was still segregated. However, as time progressed, Birmingham's cultural roots began to expand before my eyes. At John Carroll, I met Mexican, Palestinian, Lebanese, Greek, Italian, Vietnamese and Irish students. At Ramsay, I also met Muslim and Jewish students.
In the interim between college and career, I was looking for an escape from an infrequent lecture by Granddaddy. He asked, "Do you realize Atlanta and Charlotte had to start from somewhere--Use your talent to build Birmingham." One of my cousins rescued me. She had read that Birmingham was hosting a music festival similar to Summerfest in Milwaukee. We were able to raise
$ 5.00 each for weekend passes to the first annual City Stages. It was surreal. I couldn’t remember another occasion in Birmingham where so many people of different races, creeds, colors and musical tastes were in the same two square blocks. How could I leave for the east coast with all this excitement in Birmingham?
As I registered for graduate school, the diversity that UAB had attracted caught my attention… Stay tuned for Part 2/3
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