City of Perpetual Promise
City of Perpetual Promise is an appellation which has been sometimes used to describe Birmingham. The "promise" refers principally to the mineral resources which many expected to to fuel the growth of the Birmingham District into one of the world's great industrial centers. The qualification refers both to the calculated retardation and suppression of that potential for the benefit of outside interests, and to the shortage of progressive local leaders capable of reversing such damaging exploitation.
The phrase was used as the subtitle of a detailed analysis of Birmingham's conditions undertaken by Harpers Magazine editor George Leighton and published in August 1937. It was reprinted in his book Five Cities in 1939.
Since then, the phrase has been recalled many times by critics of slow or retrograde progress in Birmingham, including former Mayor Larry Langford who outlined steps he believed residents should take to create momentum for realizing the city's unfulfilled potential.
References
- Leighton, George R. (August 1937) "Birmingham, Alabama: The City of Perpetual Promise". Harpers Magazine. No. 1407. pp. 225-242. Republished in Five Cities: The Story of their Youth and Old Age (also published as America's Growing Pains: The Romance, Comedy & Tragedy of Five Great Cities) New York: Harper & Brothers. pp. 100-139
- Template:Leighton-1939
- Langford, Larry (June 15, 2009) "'City of perpetual promise' can live up to that potential" editorial. Birmingham News