Memorials in Birmingham, Alabama, and their Purposes

By David R. Bains

Like most cities, Birmingham, Alabama is filled with memorials, large and small, that seek to remind people of the people and events of the past. Some memorialsare motivated by the sentiment famously expressed in 1905 by George Santayana, “those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” A good example is the historical marker in Irondale commemorating racial terror lynching of William Wardley, Other memorials celebrate the accomplishements of historical figures so that that they are not only remembered, but so that their heroic deeds are emulated. This is the case with the statue of educator A. H. Parker in front of the high school that bears his name.

In this spring 2024 semester, first-year undergraduate students in my Core Seminar at Samford University explored “memorials and the future.” They chose a memorial in Birmingham, researched the subject it remembers, and offered their own assessment of what future actions viewers of it should be encouraged to perform. Among the actions they concluded their chosen memorials encourage are practicing environmental sustainablity, celebrating racial identity, fighting for civil rights, working for gender equality, being innovative, and practicing generousity.

The New Testement’s Letter to the Hebrews remembers the faithful action of Adam’s son Abel and then asserts that due to his faithful action, Abel “being dead yet speaketh.” The same is true of the subject of these memorials. But for Abel or the subjects of these memorials to speak they must be remembered and listened to. These students have done that and thus released the voice of their subjects.

See “Stone, Bronze, Iron, Wood and Paint: Fifteen Memorials in Birmingham, Alabama” for a narrative overview of the memorials students chose. They are listed by title below.