2021

RWDSU Mid-South Council representatives campaigning unsuccessfully to unionize the Bessemer Amazon Fulfillment Center, January 2021

2021 is the 150th year after the founding of the City of Birmingham.

Events

• January 6: Phillip Bromley of Sterrett and Joshua Black of Leeds participated in an attempted disruption of Congress in the U.S. Capitol.
• January 25: A deadly tornado struck Fultondale and Center Point.
• February 20: 2021 Cullman County plane crash
• March 17: The March 17, 2021 tornado outbreak produced 24 tornadoes across central Alabama.
• March 25: The March 25, 2021 tornado outbreak produced several tornadoes across central Alabama.
• March 26: 2021 Bessemer airport plane crash.
• April 13–14: The Frontier Conference 2021, originally scheduled for April 2020 at the Lyric Theatre, was held online instead.
• April 15–18: The Alabama Auto Show was held at the BJCC.
• June 18–20: The Euphonious music festival was held at the Birmingham Zoo.
• September 24–26: Furnace Fest 2021
• October 11–16: 2021 Smithsonian Journeys Cradle of the Movement tour
• October 18–23: 2021 New York Times Civil Rights Trail in Alabama tour

Business

• 1st quarter: SouthFirst Bank of Sylacauga merged with FirstBanc of Talladega.
• February: Tuscaloosa's University Boulevard Hooligans relocated to 15th Street.
• February 8–March 29: Workers at the Bessemer Amazon Fulfillment Center voted not to form a collective bargaining unit through the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union.
• March: Hollywood Pools acquired Alabama Gas Light & Grill.
• April 1: United Mine Workers of America began a labor strike against Warrior Met Coal.
• Heiche opened an advanced metal coating facility at the Jasper Industrial Park.

Establishments

• January 6: Cook Out opened at 2411 3rd Avenue South.
• January 25: Buc-ee's opened in Leeds.
• February: Alexander Shunnarah and Tyler Vail founded Shunnarah Vail Trial Attorneys.
• April 1: Neighbors Brew & Pies and Saw's BBQ opened at The Backyard adjoining the Shops of Grand River.

Disestablishments

• January: My Supply Chain Group was acquired by NTT DATA Business Solutions of Bielefeld, Germany.
• January: Magnolia Meadows Golf Course in Columbiana closed.
• February: Moe's Southwest Grill at Vestavia Hills City Center closed.
• February 20: Tuscaloosa's Ruan Thai restaurant closed.
• February 28: Catfish Cabin in Albertville closed.
• February: The Plainsman transitioned to an online publication.
• March 1: Cabaniss, Johnston, Gardner, Dumas & O'Neal was acquired by Phelps Dunbar of New Orleans, Louisiana.
• March 19: Ichiban Japanese Grill & Sushi in [[Tuscaloosa] closed.
• March: Blackwell's Pub in Cahaba Heights closed.

Government

• January 26: 2021 Birmingham Board of Education special election
• February 2: The 2021 Alabama legislative session began.
• February: Birmingham's Mayor’s Office of Sports and Entertainment was merged into the Birmingham Department of Innovation and Economic Opportunity.
• August 24: 2021 Birmingham municipal election

Sports

• The 2020–2021 Alabama Crimson Tide basketball team won the 2021 SEC Men's Basketball Tournament and advanced to the Sweet 16 of the 2021 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament.

Individuals

• Chuck Holmes became executive director of the Alabama Humanities Alliance.
• January 11: Cornell Wesley began his term as head of the Birmingham Department of Innovation and Economic Opportunity.
• February: Chad Carson was named permanent dean of the Brock School of Business at Samford University.
• March: Andy Cunningham became CEO of Precision Grinding Inc.
• March 22: DeJuana Thompson was named interim President and CEO of the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute.
• July 1: Beck Taylor succeeded Andrew Westmoreland as president of Samford University.

Retirements

• John Owen retired as chief operating officer of Regions Bank.
• Photographer Joe Songer retired from al.com.
• April 30: Mike Walker retired as Chief of Police from the Gardendale Police Department.

Deaths

• January 1: Mike Coppage, former Birmingham Police chief and Alabama Department of Public Safety director
• January 3: Bill Stewart, professor of political science
• January 3: Joann Bashinsky, Golden Flake heiress
• January 10: Derrick Johnson, Huffman High School coach
• January 10: Corbin Day, chair of Jemison Investment Company
• January 16: Scotty McCallum, UAB president and Vestavia Hills mayor
• January 16: Leon Edwards, Edwards Chevrolet president
• January 20: Sonny Penhale, Helena mayor
• January 21: Marc Phillips, musician and music minister
• January 28: Sammy Wilson, Clanton city council
• February 2: Danny Ray, emcee and "cape man" for James Brown
• February 15: Jimmy Evans, former Attorney General of Alabama
• February 17: Eileen Walbert, civil rights activist
• March 1: Kevin P. Turner, UAB Gospel Choir director
• March 12: Pat Bailey, speech, drama and debate teacher
• March 20: Dan Sartain, rock musician and barber
• March 23: Houston Tumlin, soldier and former actor
• April 2: Luke Ratliff, Alabama basketball "superfan"
• April 4: Areyelle Yarbrough, accountant
• April 5: Bill Lumpkin, sports writer
  • List of homicides in 2021

Works

Books

• The Wife Upstairs, novel by Rachel Hawkins
• Shaking the Gates of Hell, family memoir by John Archibald

Buildings

• Asian Passage at the Birmingham Zoo
• Birmingham VA Mental Health Clinic on Crestwood Boulevard
• Buc-ee's travel stop in Leeds
• The Citizen "micro-unit" apartments on 18th Street South
• Cortland Vesta Apartments on Highland Avenue
• Hilton Tapestry Collection in Homewood
• Hoover Fire Station No. 11 in Trace Crossings
• Jones Valley Trail extension to Avondale
• Motion Industries area fluid power shop, hose & rubber shop, and engineering department
• Protective Stadium at the BJCC
• The Railyard "micro-unit" apartments on 1st Avenue South
• Tarrant City Hall
• The Birmingham Police Real Time Crime Center on the 4th floor of Birmingham Police Headquarters
• Malone Roofing building at 2689 Queenstown Road in Irondale
• renovation of Samford Hall at Samford University

Demolitions

• McFarland Mall in Tuscaloosa
• UAB Education Building at UAB

Context

In 2021 insurrectionists stormed the U.S. Capitol, disrupting Congress's certification of the 2020 presidential election. For inciting the mob, President Trump was impeached for a second time.

Notable people who died in 2021 included activist Vernon Jordan; actors Hal Holbrook, Yaphet Kotto, Cloris Leachman, Christopher Plummer, George Segal, Cicely Tyson, and Jessica Walter; authors Beverly Cleary and Larry McMurtry; baseball hall of famers Hank Aaron and Don Sutton; basketball coach John Chaney; basketball player/executive Elgin Baylor; boxer Marvin Hagler; director Robert Altman; football coach Marty Schottenheimer; magician Mark Wilson; musicians DMX and Mary Wilson; poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti; Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh; radio/television interviewer Larry King; radio host Rush Limbaugh; former Secretary of State George Schultz; and Watergate figure G. Gordon Liddy.

2020s

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