1920
1920 was the 49th year after the founding of the city of Birmingham. The United States 1920 Census showed Birmingham with a population of 178,806, of which 108,550 were white and 70,230 were black. It was also the census year with the greatest number of foreign immigrants, 2,160 of which hailed from Italy.
Events
- B. B. Comer filled the unexpired term of John H. Bankhead in the U. S. Senate
- Oscar Underwood, became United States Senate Minority Leader.
- The North Birmingham By Products Coke Oven Plant produced its first coke
- Glenn Messer founded the Messer Flying Circus.
- J. Mercer Barnett was elected president of Kiwanis International
- James Mitchell stepped down as president of Alabama Power Company.
- Howard College joined the Southern Association of Colleges.
- Cooper Green married Hattie Taylor.
- F. C. Bishop serves as pastor of McElwain Baptist Church
- 1920 general strike by the United Mine Workers of America led to the closing of Brookside mine
- Property was purchased for a new building for Industrial High School
- Bromberg's moved to 218 20th Street North
- William Dobyns became pastor of South Highland Presbyterian Church
Sports
- Birmingham Black Barons of the Negro Southern League founded
- October 23: 1920 International Balloon Race
Buildings
Births
- January 20: Sam Hairston, baseball player
- March 19: George Huddleston, Jr, U. S. Representative, 9th District
- April 3: Mary Anderson, film and television actress
- May 3: Dan Bankhead, baseball player
- July 1: Paul Lehner, baseball player
- October 22: Timothy Leary, LSD advocate
- Charles G. Brooks, editorial cartoonist
- Mary Burks, environmentalist
- Benjamin Greene, former Birmingham Housing Authority commissioner
- Ann Hodges, struck by meteorite
- Helen Saxon, dance instructor
Deaths
- March 1: John H. Bankhead, U. S. Senator
Context
1920 was a leap year. It was the first year of women's suffrage, and also the first year of national prohibition (an experiment already tried in Birmingham between 1908 and 1911). Babe Ruth was traded to the Yankees. The Senate blocked the United States' membership in the League of Nations while Woodrow Wilson was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for its establishment. The Royal Canadian Mounted police were created. Joan of Arc was canonized. The Mexican Revolution puts Alvaro Obregon in power. Warren Harding defeated James Cox in the 1920 presidential race. British troops gunned down soccer fans in Dublin on Bloody Sunday. Those born in 1920 include Isaac Asimov, Sun Myung Moon, Federico Fellini, Ravi Shankar, Pope John Paul II, Yul Brynner, Ray Bradbury, Mickey Rooney and Dave Brubeck. 1920 saw the deaths of Amedeo Modigliani, Robert Peary, William Dean Howells, Max Weber, Peter Carl Fabergé and Gaston Chevrolet. Notable works of 1920 included Edith Wharton's The Age of Innocence, D. H. Lawrence's Women in Love, Karel Čapek's play R.U.R.', Gustav Holst's The Planets, and the film The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari.
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