Visit Birmingham over the Thanksgiving Holiday Weekend on C-SPAN2 and C-SPAN3. Both networks will air the BookTV and AHTV pieces the LCV crew shot in Birmingham earlier this month. Here are some highlights….
On BookTV on C-SPAN2 – Pulitzer Prize winning author Rick Bragg took a few minutes before his class at the University of Alabama to talk to us about his book, “The Most They Ever Had.” The book is about Jacksonville, Alabama, a mill town where Bragg grew up. Bragg explained the mill’s impact on the town’s growth and what happened to Jacksonville once that mill shut down. We also spoke to Carolyn McKinstry, one of the survivors of the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in 1963. McKinstry spoke about her book, “While the World Watched,” and recounts the morning of the bombing, and explains how growing up in a segregated Birmingham had an impact on her life.
On American History TV on C-SPAN3 – We visited the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute where there is an exhibit dedicated to Dr. Martin Luther King’s, “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” History professor Jonathan Bass explained Dr. King’s arrest in Birmingham, why he wrote the letter, and spoke about the eight white clergymen to whom the letter was addressed. Our cameras also toured around Sloss Furnaces, which is a National Historic Landmark and the only 20thcentury blast furnace in the nation being preserved and interpreted as a museum of industry. Education Coordinator Heather Guy, showed us how iron was made at the site and why Birmingham was the perfect location to build a blast furnace.
We owe many thanks to our cable partners at Bright House Networks for their help in making this a successful trip. Director of Public Affairs Robert Smith and his team helped to organize our visit and coordinated several stops for us at local schools like Lawson State Community College, Ramsay High School, Center Point High School and Phillips Academy. We were also able to speak to Mayor William A. Bell, Sr. and the city leadership during the Birmingham City Council meeting. One of the highlights of our visit was viewing the premiere of the On The Set Summer Film Camp student made film titled, “The Hop Off,” during its Red Carpet Premiere at the Alabama Theatre. Bright House Networks sponsored the event, and we loved getting a chance to see all of the students’ hard work and participating in the awards ceremony.
Enjoy the pieces from Birmingham this weekend! If you don’t catch them on the networks, you can always stream them online at C-SPAN’s Video Library or watch them from our LCV website.
