David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants

(Darren Dugan) #1

Deep South were still as racially
divided as ever. In the 1940s and early
1950s, most Southern states had been
governed by relatively moderate
politicians who were at least willing to
acknowledge the dignity of black
people. Alabama had a governor in
those years named “Big Jim” Folsom,
who was fond of saying “all men are just
alike.” By the early sixties, all the
moderates were gone. The statehouses
were in the control of hard-line
segregationists. The South seemed to be
moving backwards.
And Birmingham? Birmingham was
the most racially divided city in
America. It was known as “the
Johannesburg of the South.” When a

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