Stigma Cities: The Reputation and History of Birmingham, San Francisco, and Las Vegas

289 Pages·2018·13.762 MB·English

by  Jonathan Foster

S T I G M A C I T I E S
The Reputation and History of Birmingham,
San Francisco, and Las Vegas
J O N AT H A N F O S T E R
STIGMA CITIES

STIGMA CITIES
The Reputation and History of
Birmingham, San Francisco, and Las Vegas
JONATHAN FOSTER
UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA PRESS : NORMAN
Publication of this book is made possible through
the generosity of Edith Kinney Gaylord.
Some ideas and information in this volume have been previously published in “Stigma Cities: Las
Vegas and Birmingham in the National Newspaper Media, 1945–2000,” Nevada Historical Society
Quarterly 50, no. 4 (Winter 2007): 297–324, and are used here by permission.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Name: Foster, Jonathan, 1972– author.
Title: Stigma cities : the reputation and history of Birmingham, San Francisco, and Las Vegas /
Jonathan Foster.
Description: Norman : University of Oklahoma Press, 2018. | Includes bibliographical references
and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017058759 | ISBN 978-0-8061-6071-9 (hardcover : alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Birmingham (Ala.)—History. | San Francisco (Calif.)—History. | Las Vegas (Nev.)—
History. | Stigma (Social psychology)—United States. | Cities and towns—Social aspects—United
States.
Classification: LCC HT123 .F7175 2018 | DDC 307.760973—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017058759
The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability of the Committee on
Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council on Library Resources, Inc. ∞
Copyright © 2018 by the University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, Publishing Division of the
University. Manufactured in the U.S.A.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,
or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording,
or otherwise—except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the United States Copyright Act—
without the prior written permission of the University of Oklahoma Press. To request permission
to reproduce selections from this book, write to Permissions, University of Oklahoma Press, 2800
Venture Drive, Norman, OK 73069, or email [email protected].
For Marianne, Nora, and Sadie

Contents
List of Illustrations ■ ix
Preface ■ xi
Acknowledgments ■ xiii
1. Imagining Place ■ 3
2. Not Always a Pariah: Birmingham’s Journey
from Magic City to Bombingham ■ 17
3. Remembering Bombingham: Race and Anxiety
in Post–Civil Rights Movement Birmingham ■ 47
4. Never Quite American: The Deviantly Exotic Reputation
of San Francisco, 1776–1969 ■ 70
5. Battlefield by the Bay: San Francisco’s Emergence, Trials,
and Acceptance as America’s Gay Mecca ■ 94
6. Sinning in the Desert: The Origins and Development
of America’s Sin City ■ 125
vii
viii Contents
7. Mainstream Currents: Las Vegas and Respectability
at the Turn the of the Twenty-First Century ■ 151
8. Stigma and Cities ■ 182
Notes ■ 195
Bibliography ■ 245
Index ■ 263
Illustrations
Major Birmingham iron and steel factories and related sites ■ 19
Birmingham locals observe the bombed-out home
of civil rights attorney Arthur Shores ■ 33
Fred Shuttlesworth’s Bethel Baptist Church, Birmingham ■ 35
Fred Shuttlesworth after the attempted desegregation
of Birmingham’s Phillips High School, 1957 ■ 36
Damage caused by racially motivated bombing
at the Gaston Motel, Birmingham ■ 37
Martin Luther King, David Abernathy,
and Fred Shuttlesworth, 1963 ■ 43
CORE activists march under “No More Birminghams” sign, 1963 ■ 48
Statue commemorating civil rights demonstrations, Birmingham ■ 66
Harper’s Weekly cover, 1877 ■ 84
Harvey Milk campaigns for seat on
San Francisco Board of Supervisors, 1975 ■ 95
ix