Birmingham Now and Then - Civil Rights Museum

Yesterday my friend Mike and I spent the afternoon at the civil rights museum in Birmingham Alabama. This trip has been my first extended visit to the south and, while I have a lot of thoughts on that, I wanted to share a few facts I learned from the museum.



The museum shares several important facts about inequality in the United States. I wanted to see how much these statistics have changed since the 1950’s now that so many folks think that racial inequality has ended. I was greatly disturbed by the way that many museums make it seem that we have made great strides in attaining racial equality. As evidence of our lack of success, the following are the statistics in the museum compared to current rates:

- in 1950 the infant mortality for black babies was 46.3/1,000 births while it was 30.6/1,000 for white infants. This means that the proportion of black babies dying compared to white was 1.5:1.

- according to the CDC, in the year 2003 the infant mortality rate for black babies was 13.61/1,000 births. The mortality rate among whites was 5.7/1,000 births. While both have improved remarkably, the new proportion is 2.4:1 indicating that black babies currently die at a higher comparative rate than they did in 1950!



The exhibit also talked about schools. While segregation is legally prohibited we all know that the bulk of inner city school students are people of color while most suburban schools are predominantly white. The following is what I discovered:

- according to the museum in 1944 there were an average of 42.8 students in each black classroom compared to 24.3 students in each white classroom.

- according to the U. of Michigan the current student/teacher ration in rural areas is 16.4 compared to urbans 17.1



While these statistics make it appear that classroom size inequity has been mostly resolved, it is saddening to see this:

- the museum states that in 1950 the average amount of money spent on a white student was $120 while only $60 was spent on a black student.

- Currently, in New York State (I couldn’t find information for every state) the average expenditure for a student in city school is $5,590 compared to $11,000 for their suburban peer. This shows that the funds given to students has not changed much over the past 50 years with urban (mostly students of color) recieving half of what suburban (mostly white) students recieve in schools. (Kozol 1991).

Teachers are also paid differently based on location. In 1950 the average black teacher’s salary was 60% of a whites. Today suburban teachers earn 20% more than urban ones.

Outside of the realm of education, the wage inequality also has been maintained. The museum states that in 1950 75% of the service industry was made of black people while whites mad eup 33%. Today whites only make up 13% of the service industry. And, while black people only hold 22% of these jobs, Latino, Asian, and Native American folks make up the difference. White people are still a minority in service jobs (especially considering they hold a larger percentage of the population).
I am currently reading a book called “The Color of Wealth” by Meizhu Lui, Barbara Robles, Betsy Leondar-Wright, Rose Brewer and Rebecca Adamson. This book outlines the history of racial inequality and shows how it has led to, and maintains, the current colorline in wealth ownership. It flies in the face of everyone who claims that we have “an equal playing feild”. I strongly recommend both reading it and watching “Race: The Color of an Illusion” - video three. This is a PBS series that discusses the persisting wealth gap.



Anyway, I have a lot of thoughts on both the bias reporting in museums/history books/etc, as well as on the current state of the nation. However, I can’t seem to wake up today and my brain is a bit fried so instead I’ll let this information speak for itself.