Here we are! Birmingham!
Birmingham is the main city in the state of Alabama
And as many people imagine, the name was indeed
inspired by Birmingham in England
Many founders had English descent
2 things made Birmingham be very well known
here in the United States: one was the production of
iron ore and steel in the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th
And the second was Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s and 60s
That's when African Americans fought for equal rights
And I'm here to understand this very disturbing moment of American history
But before getting started, a good brunch to give us some energy
Who can resist chicken and waffles?
This restaurant is located in the TJ Tower - one of the most historic buildings in Birmingham
And look at how beautiful it is! Looks at the details!
This is the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute. It's where the reality shock starts
about how things were here in the United States until the 60's
"Yellow, black, brown and white We're all precious in His sight"
And this brick pattern is taken right from that. Do you see the yellow, the black, the brown and the white?
So, we've come to rosemary and this is one of the things they used to try to wake
people's memories up when they've lost their memory and it's here because it
represents the fact that you should remember everything you see when you go inside
They have real-life examples here showing how life was for black people and for white people.
It's really shocking
No matter how hard you worked, no matter how smart you were,
no matter how beneficial you were to the company,
if you were an African American you could only rise so high
What these 2 classrooms show us is the different facilities.
What these classrooms don't show us is... is that here in Birmingham education was segregated
The Negro City schools only went to the 10th grade. If you're an African American, your future
was working in that steel mill, that iron ore mine or one of these places
If you're African American female your future would lie in domestic work, cooking and
things of that nature, so you didn't need to go past the 10th grade in high school
because you weren't going to go to college
The black spots indicate where African Americans were legally allowed to live
Blacks were only given 11% of the residential zoned space in the city
although they made up 43% of the population
And so what happens is any house is going to be used regardless of
your financial ability to pay for something better
That's because white people were bombing properties that belonged to African Americans
When the bus would drive off from the terminal they had a curtain that they would pull between the middle
of the bus and black people sat behind the curtain and white people sat in front of the curtain
They used to keep people from voting with things like literacy tests
They would ask you to recite the United States Constitution
or they'd ask you stupid stuff like how many grains of sand are on the seashore,
how many bubbles can you find in a bar of soap, how many seeds in a water mill
And nobody can answer these questions!
You had something known as the grandfather clause because some of the questions like I said
nobody could answer them, but if you were white you didn't have to answer them because according to the
grandfather clause if your grandfather had voted
then you can vote. If your grandfather hadn't voted, you had to pass this test
"Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"
The real bars of the cell where Martin Luther King was arrested here in Birmingham
Why do people throw money there?
People throw money in there... it started organically...
One of these days I'm going to get in trouble for saying this but I
always joke that people are trying to raise Dr. Martin Luther King's bail
But in actuality people treat it like a wishing well and so they throw change and coins
and some things like that and I guess in hopes that we develop a better society
I'm very shocked
This square here in front of the Institute
is a well-known place for demonstrations
And it was like this also during the civil rights movement
So much so that some of the worst repressions, you know? Some of those images that
Americans remember to this date happened here
These water hoses... it took 77 pounds of pressure per
square inch at a minimum for them to function
If it hits you and you weigh 140-130 (pounds),
you're flying. It takes you out of your feet
These 4 fountains represent the change to the 4 corners of the Earth
that started right here in Birmingham, Alabama
And in the center we see that
the park is a place of revolution and reconciliation
The tiles and the colors, look at that, also continue here
When I think about this I think about the fact that history repeats itself
even when you don't want it to... Without forgiveness there's no way to move into the future
You can't hold those things and...
Because that hate will eat you up as well
What we like to call the original Iron Man
That's Vulcan, the world's largest cast iron statue
Now we're switching topics a little, from the past related to the
Civil Rights movement to the past related to iron and steel production
Vulcan in the Roman mythology was the God of Fire. But what does this have to do with anything, right?
This symbolizes the origins of Birmingham
Vulcan, the God of Fire - the city of iron and steel
One of the things Vulcan means to Birmingham is it meant a lifeline
at a very tenuous time in the city's history
Birmingham produced iron and steel
During the Great Depression there was not a demand for the things that
Birmingham produced so there are a lot of Birminghamians who were suffering tremendously
This park provided work for people in Birmingham during the Great Depression, when they needed it terribly
There's also a museum here explaining a
little bit of this past
You'd have a store, the company store. And you would be paid sometimes in cash
but some steel mills wouldn't pay you cash, they would pay you something known as script
And script was like a piece of coin but you could only spend it in the company's store
So what's happening is the money's being recycled. It never leaves the steel mill
Look at this! You're really enjoying yourself now, aren't you?
Are you guys seeing all the way down there?
It is so beautiful!
Can you believe we haven't even done the check-in yet?
We're at the Homewood Suites by Hilton near University of Alabama
And now I'm going to get some rest before going out for dinner
Wow! Look at the size of this room!
Look at Vulcan up there
Look at this house! We're having a special dinner here tonight
Hi!
So we're now in this really nice neighborhood and chef John Hall is preparing a private dinner for us
And I'm here in the kitchen now seeing if I can learn something
John, is the menu a surprise?
Yes, yes, yeah! Each course is a surprise
I want exactly to capture you!
Very few times I have the chance to congratulate the chef and tell him how much I love the food!
Thank you so much!
Oh, thank you! Thank you!
How did you decide being a chef?
My dad and both my uncles were great cooks
And I just loved being in the kitchen with them and my mom and my grandparents and...
I just wanted something, you know, I love doing every day... Every day is different!
Thank you very much for watching!
In the next video, day 2 here in Birmingham
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