Birminghamian James Head worked to bring down segregation in city

The conviction of Thomas Blanton in the 1963 bombing of Birmingham’s Sixteenth Street Baptist Church May 1 represented a long overdue victory for justice in Birmingham’s long saga of racial tensions.
   
But retired businessman and civic leader James Head believes strides made by the African-American community would have come with or without the verdict. And those advances are something Head has followed with a sense of pride.
   
Now living in Mountain Brook, the retired businessman and civic leader was instrumental in taking an unpopular stand by working against segregation in the volatile climate that was Birmingham in the 1960s. But Head, a member of Southside Baptist Church in Birmingham, believes his position was biblical.
   
“There have been other things I’ve enjoyed, but nothing like the satisfaction that I was really doing some good like the Lord put me on this earth to do,” Head said.
   
Head’s participation in Birmingham’s civil rights movement is documented in “Carry Me Home.” In that book, Diane McWhorter paints a picture of the struggle for civil rights in Birmingham which eventually ended segregation in the city.
   
McWhorter, who grew up in Bir-mingham, tells how Head led a challenge to segregation in Birmingham.
   
She chronicles events ranging from Head’s meetings with prominent black leaders to his work with the Chamber of Commerce in efforts to have black police officers hired and end desegregation of restaurants in Birmingham.
   
The author also tells of how Head, the owner of what was then the city’s largest stationery and office supply company, offered financial support to the “Birmingham Plan,” an initiative aimed at ending segregation. The book also follows Head’s work with other community leaders — both black and white — and petitioning of government officials.
   
All in an attempt to achieve racial equality for all people.
   
In 1963, Birmingham was a town divided by race. It was Sept. 15 of that year that four young African-American girls perished after dynamite exploded on the east wall of Sixteenth Street Baptist Church.
   
The bombing was but one of many major events in a human drama transpiring daily, with many of its plotlines less publicized.
   
It would be almost 38 years before Blanton was convicted for his role in the murders. But while Blanton’s conviction represents a judicial and moral victory, Head also believes it may have been overemphasized.
   
“I don’t really think that’s as significant as the press and some people have tried to make it,” Head said of Blanton’s conviction earlier this month. “I think it’s fine and I think it was a charge that we had to dispose of.”
   
Taking a stand that separated him from his white peers in the 1960s, Head worked to bring racial harmony and respect for all minorities to this city. “There has no place in the country of America — which was founded by immigrants avoiding persecutions where they formerly lived — for those things (racism),” he said.
   
Head’s alert nature and appearance offer no hint that he is now less than four years from 100.
But even at 96, Head remembers a Bir-mingham that was gripped by fear. It wasn’t only blacks who were frightened. Some whites also were afraid to speak out.
   
“It was fear,” Head said.
   
The retired businessman remembers how he could count on one hand the ministers who agreed with his position of trying to reach out to the black community by erasing barriers standing in their way in the forms of employment and basic rights such as access to public buildings.
   
But that did not mean these ministers would publicly support him.
   
Head recounts the story of one minister who confided he agreed with the businessman, but told him not to expect his backing because he would lose half of his congregation.
   
Sharing another story, Head said he wanted to use one church for a secret meeting where blacks could talk about their experiences, but that church’s minister also expressed fear about incurring the wrath of his congregation.
   
Head’s mission was assuring the Klan never became too rooted in the mindset of Alabamians.
   
“I didn’t believe that it would be possible for any group of people in disguise uniforms to take over the state and everybody in it,” Head said, “but that was the threat.”
   
Part of his mission in working for equality for all Alabamians was realized through his participation in the National Conference of Christians and Jews.
   
The National Conference of Chris-tians and Jews describes itself as a nationwide ecumenical organization founded in 1928 to “advance friendship and cooperation among Protestants, Catholics and Jews.”
   
The organization’s Web site says “in its efforts to promote a fair society in which differences are respected and prejudices overcome, the conference helps diverse groups to discover their common ground, and tries to develop the processes and strategies for solutions to areas of conflict.”
   
Head said his work with the Conference honored people who made a contribution to this community — regardless of the color of their skin, where they worshiped or where their ancestors hailed from.
   
“We have honored Catholics, we’ve honored blacks, we’ve honored any nationality,” he said. “In other words, we picked people who have honored this community with their good will.”
Family aside, Head said he counts his work with the Conference as his greatest accomplishment.
   
“That’s the one thing that I’ve spent 66 years in and I honestly believe that the good Lord directed me to do that job,” Head said.
   
Reflecting on his involvement with the civil rights movement, Head said he did “whatever I could possibly do to help alleviate racial bigotry.”
   
He remembers the strong use of slang toward blacks, foreigners and those of other faiths in the 1960s.
Head said such language is still present today, but has decreased since the 1960s because people have learned to show greater respect toward others.
   
“That was one of the things that enticed me into committing myself to the National Conference of Christians and Jews,” he said. “I can’t take (all the) credit for it, but it has gradually gone away.”
   
Despite advances, Head believes Birmingham is still struggling with the racism that gripped its past.
Birmingham, in Head’s opinion, is a city once populated by people from across the state who were raised and educated and “lived in the conditions not only of segregation, but hating black people.”
   
But he also sees that changing.
   
“There have been a couple of generations since then,” he said.
“Gradually, some of our young people have gone off to colleges elsewhere and they’ve been exposed to people who don’t carry those kinds of bigotry,” Head added.
   
He also believes racist attitudes among politicians prevented Alabama from advancing as a state. “There’s no question about it,” he said, “plus, (it was) the people who put the politicians in office.
   
“Let’s don’t forget, the politicians didn’t get there by filing an application,” Head said. “They were elected.”
   
Attitudes can change, though, he said. “You want to know what can we do? We change the people,” Head said.
   
“Since the largest majority of them are Baptists, that’s a good place to start,” he said.