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Birmingham, Kentucky
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Birmingham, Kentucky
Birmingham was a town in Marshall County, Kentucky, that was destroyed by the creation of Kentucky Lake.
Birmingham was located on land owned by Thomas A. Grubbs in 1849, laid out and platted in 1853 and incorporated in 1860. Early residents included L. S. Locker, Thomas Love and Thomas C. Grubbs. Birmingham enjoyed prosperity shortly after the end of the Civil War when a stave mill and timber business employed over 200 people. Birmingham was named after Birmingham, England in hope that the city would establish its European namesake's iron industry; the area had its own nascent iron industry, some remains of which can be viewed today in the Land Between the Lakes. Collins' History of Kentucky states that in 1874 Birmingham had a population of 322; by contrast, the county seat of Benton, Kentucky then had a population of only 158. By 1894, Birmingham had five churches, two schools, two hotels, four dry goods and general stores, three grocers, two millinery shops, two wagon and blacksmith shops, and a drug store.
The Birmingham Marshall County Kentucky Night Riders succeeded in forcing almost all of the black residents to leave several small communities in southwest Kentucky.
The two main targets, suffering repeated assaults, were black people in the small communities of Golden Pond in Trigg County and Birmingham in Marshall County. Economic motives lay behind the attacks. Black people owned good farm lands or were employed by the tobacco trust. Since the end of the Civil War, Afro-Americans had lived in Birmingham, a port town on the Tennessee River. Commenting on this predominantly black area, the Courier-Journal explained, “Birmingham has some of the best farming land in the Purchase, and around there is to be found practically the entire Negro population of Marshall County.” (Louisville Courier-Journal, March 11, 1908)
Attacks on black people in Birmingham began in February, 1908. Towards the end of the month, after having suffered through several raids, community leaders finally went to the authorities, pleading in vain for protection. They had been told to leave Birmingham but had refused to do so, and the mob now resorted to murder, apparently concluding that it would take more than a few warning signs and small brush fires to oust the entrenched African Americans.
In addition to being landowners, some of the black population worked at the tobacco factory in the county, which further incensed the Night Riders. Officials of the tobacco company were warned to fire all Negro hands but had likewise failed to act. As a reporter for the Courier-Journal accurately predicted, the unwillingness of law officers to intervene sealed the fate of the black population: “Apparently encouraged by the failure of Marshall County officials to prosecute whitecaps who have warned and whipped blacks, 100 men road into Birmingham on March 8, and shot seven men and whipped five others.”
John Scruggs and his granddaughter died from wounds sustained during the raid. All of the local black people were given another warning to sell their lands, resolve all of their personal and financial matters, and leave Birmingham within ten days. Most of them soon left for Paducah or Nashville, and in their rush for safety they left behind household goods and farm equipment. A final story concerning them appeared in the Courier-Journal toward the end of March: “Only six blacks remain since the notices to leave town were posted. A steamer from Marshall County brought in seventeen black families and their household goods. In all about 100 blacks got off the steamer when it arrived in Tennessee.” (Ibid., March 11, 17, 24, 28, 1908; Madisonville Hustler, March 17, 1908)
Shortly after their successful removal of the black population, the Night Riders adopted the practice that seems to have been widespread in Kentucky during the first two decades of the twentieth century and posted a sign near the railroad station in Marshall County telling anyone who somehow remained uninformed about the ousting of black people that their community was for whites only.
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Birmingham, Kentucky
Birmingham was a town in Marshall County, Kentucky, that was destroyed by the creation of Kentucky Lake.
Birmingham was located on land owned by Thomas A. Grubbs in 1849, laid out and platted in 1853 and incorporated in 1860. Early residents included L. S. Locker, Thomas Love and Thomas C. Grubbs. Birmingham enjoyed prosperity shortly after the end of the Civil War when a stave mill and timber business employed over 200 people. Birmingham was named after Birmingham, England in hope that the city would establish its European namesake's iron industry; the area had its own nascent iron industry, some remains of which can be viewed today in the Land Between the Lakes. Collins' History of Kentucky states that in 1874 Birmingham had a population of 322; by contrast, the county seat of Benton, Kentucky then had a population of only 158. By 1894, Birmingham had five churches, two schools, two hotels, four dry goods and general stores, three grocers, two millinery shops, two wagon and blacksmith shops, and a drug store.
The Birmingham Marshall County Kentucky Night Riders succeeded in forcing almost all of the black residents to leave several small communities in southwest Kentucky.
The two main targets, suffering repeated assaults, were black people in the small communities of Golden Pond in Trigg County and Birmingham in Marshall County. Economic motives lay behind the attacks. Black people owned good farm lands or were employed by the tobacco trust. Since the end of the Civil War, Afro-Americans had lived in Birmingham, a port town on the Tennessee River. Commenting on this predominantly black area, the Courier-Journal explained, “Birmingham has some of the best farming land in the Purchase, and around there is to be found practically the entire Negro population of Marshall County.” (Louisville Courier-Journal, March 11, 1908)
Attacks on black people in Birmingham began in February, 1908. Towards the end of the month, after having suffered through several raids, community leaders finally went to the authorities, pleading in vain for protection. They had been told to leave Birmingham but had refused to do so, and the mob now resorted to murder, apparently concluding that it would take more than a few warning signs and small brush fires to oust the entrenched African Americans.
In addition to being landowners, some of the black population worked at the tobacco factory in the county, which further incensed the Night Riders. Officials of the tobacco company were warned to fire all Negro hands but had likewise failed to act. As a reporter for the Courier-Journal accurately predicted, the unwillingness of law officers to intervene sealed the fate of the black population: “Apparently encouraged by the failure of Marshall County officials to prosecute whitecaps who have warned and whipped blacks, 100 men road into Birmingham on March 8, and shot seven men and whipped five others.”
John Scruggs and his granddaughter died from wounds sustained during the raid. All of the local black people were given another warning to sell their lands, resolve all of their personal and financial matters, and leave Birmingham within ten days. Most of them soon left for Paducah or Nashville, and in their rush for safety they left behind household goods and farm equipment. A final story concerning them appeared in the Courier-Journal toward the end of March: “Only six blacks remain since the notices to leave town were posted. A steamer from Marshall County brought in seventeen black families and their household goods. In all about 100 blacks got off the steamer when it arrived in Tennessee.” (Ibid., March 11, 17, 24, 28, 1908; Madisonville Hustler, March 17, 1908)
Shortly after their successful removal of the black population, the Night Riders adopted the practice that seems to have been widespread in Kentucky during the first two decades of the twentieth century and posted a sign near the railroad station in Marshall County telling anyone who somehow remained uninformed about the ousting of black people that their community was for whites only.