A History Of Birmingham

Birmingham was a village worth only one pound in the Domesday Survey, yet it rose to become the second city of the British Empire with a population that passed a million. Its growth began when Peter de Birmingham obtained a market charter in 1154 for his little settlement by an insignificant river, with all roads leading to its all-important market-place, the great triangular Bull Ring, with the parish church of St Martin's in the middle. In the succeeding centuries, Birmingham has been a product of market forces, as a market of agriculture, trade and metal work.By the 18th century, Birmingham overtook Coventry as the biggest town in Warwickshire and by 1800 it was 'the toy shop of Europe', having cornered the markets for gun-making, jewellery, buttons and buckles with a bewildering variety of specialist craftsmen and traders. The factory system had already begun and men like James Watt, Matthew Boulton, Joseph Priestley and William Murdock made Birmingham the powerhouse of the Industrial Revolution, selling their wares in vast quantities to the entire world. The middle of the 19th century saw Birmingham pioneering political reform, education and municipal government.In this first single-volume history of the city for half a century, Dr Upton looks at why Birmingham grew and what it has become. It has always been a place in which to experiment, from the steam engine to the factory in a garden; from the Bull Ring to Spaghetti Junction. To some, the story of Birmingham is one of great industries: Boulton and Watt, Dunlop, Cadbury's, G.K.N., Lloyd's Bank and Austin Rover. But there are many lesser known tales: of the Bull Ring Riots, the Onion Fair, the first floodlit football matches and the tripe sellers. It is a story of communities, too. The Quakers settles in the 17th century, the Irish and Italians in the 19th and, more recently, people from the Caribbean, the Indian subcontinent, China and Vietnam have all made Birmingham their home.As Birmingham makes it marks on the map of Europe again, one thing is certain... the story of the city that brought us Joseph and Neville Chamberlain, Thomas the Tank Engine, Fu Manchu and Mendelssohn's Elijah can hardly be dull. Chris Upton's lively account ensures that Birmingham's fascinating story loses nothing in telling.

This new, factually rich and visually stunning publication is the first major history of Birmingham for more than four decades.

Birmingham served as the stage for some of the most dramatic and important moments in the history of the civil rights struggle. In this vivid narrative account, Glenn Eskew traces the evolution of nonviolent protest in the city, focusing particularly on the sometimes problematic intersection of the local and national movements. Eskew describes the changing face of Birmingham's civil rights campaign, from the politics of accommodation practiced by the city's black bourgeoisie in the 1950s to local pastor Fred L. Shuttlesworth's groundbreaking use of nonviolent direct action to challenge segregation during the late 1950s and early 1960s. In 1963, the national movement, in the person of Martin Luther King Jr., turned to Birmingham. The national uproar that followed on Police Commissioner Bull Connor's use of dogs and fire hoses against the demonstrators provided the impetus behind passage of the watershed Civil Rights Act of 1964. Paradoxically, though, the larger victory won in the streets of Birmingham did little for many of the city's black citizens, argues Eskew. The cancellation of protest marches before any clear-cut gains had been made left Shuttlesworth feeling betrayed even as King claimed a personal victory. While African Americans were admitted to the leadership of the city, the way power was exercised--and for whom--remained fundamentally unchanged.

This fascinating collection of over 200 picture postcards provides a nostalgic insight into the changing history of Birmingham during the period 1900-1945. For over a quarter of this time Britain was at war and the political and social changes experienced were immense, not least in Birmingham, a major industrial city. Each image is accompanied by a detailed caption, bringing the past alive and describing many aspects of life in the city, including chapters on wartime, work, sport, shopping, entertainment and celebrations, providing a vital record of vanished vistas and past practices. This book will appeal to anyone with an interest in the history of the area, and also awaken memories of a bygone time for those who worked or lived in the "Second City".

Few cities have undergone such a radical transformation over the last few decades as Birmingham. Culturally and architecturally, it has been in a state of perpetual flux and regeneration, with new communities moving in, then out, and iconic post-war landmarks making way for brighter-coloured, 21st century flourishes. Much like the city itself, the characters in the stories gathered here are often living through moments of profound change, closing in on a personal or societal turning point, that carries as much threat as it does promise. Set against key moments of history – from Malcolm X’s visit to Smethwick in 1965, to the Handsworth riots two decades later, from the demise of the city’s manufacturing in the 70s and 80s, to the on-going tensions between communities in recent years – these stories celebrate the cultural dynamism that makes this complex, often divided ‘second city’ far more than just the sum of its parts.

Reproduction of the original: An History of Birmingham by W. Hutton