Years before the 1963 Civil Rights marches brought national attention to Birmingham, Alabama, Black families on a single residential street were quietly resisting Jim Crow segregation—and facing severe repercussions. As part of a series revisiting pivotal moments from 50 years ago, NPR’s Debbie Elliott explored Birmingham’s Dynamite Hill.
The origins of modern Birmingham’s racial struggles can be traced to Center Street, a tree-lined hill with well-kept brick ranch-style houses. In the 1940s, this street marked the city’s racial boundary—white families lived on the west side, while the east side was undergoing demographic change.
