Birmingham, Alabama

Birmingham, Alabama.  The words tend to make you think about freedom riders, church bombings, civil rights marches and police dogs.  Almost 50 years later, people in Birmingham still can’t escape their history—especially the painful parts. Some have started trying to unearth the city’s past and face it.  In this hour, SOTRU brings listeners into the courtrooms, churches and backyards of Birmingham to answer the question borne out by the lives of people here: is Birmingham a monument to brutal segregation, or one of the few American cities willing to take a hard look at race?