1969

1969 was the 98th year after the founding of the City of Birmingham.

Events

• The University of Alabama at Birmingham became an autonomous campus of the University of Alabama System, with Dr Joseph Volker as president.
• Alabama College became the University of Montevallo and began enrolling male students.
• Liston Corcoran, Nina Miglionico, E. C. Overton, Arthur Shores, and Russel Yarborough were elected to the Birmingham City Council.
• The Birmingham Weather Bureau Office was deisgnated as the forecast office for Alabama and Northwest Florida with Robert M. Ferry as Meteorologist-In-Charge.
• WENN-FM went on the air at FM 107.7.
• United Appeal expanded operations into Shelby County.
• April 24: Blount, Jefferson, Shelby, St Clair, and Walker Counites joined the Regional Planning Commission of Greater Birmingham.
• The Marijuana Tax Act was found unconstitutional in Timothy Leary v. United States, 1969
• A lawsuit was filed on behalf of black students at the University of Alabama to compel football coach Bear Bryant to admit African Americans to the team.
• A troop of Boy Scouts discovered the Oglesby Cemetery at Tannehill Historical State Park.
• James Woodward joined the faculty of UAB.

Business

• U. S. Pipe was purchased by the Jim Walter Corporation.
• Pemco Space Vector, part of the Pemco Aviation Group, was founded.
• Jabo Stone sold the Golden Rule Bar-B-Q to Michael Matsos.
• Pasquale Gramaglia sold Pasquale's Pizza & Pasta to Neal Andrews.
• Tommy Charles sold WAQY-AM.
• The Dandé Lion shop was opened by Joan Conzelman.

Sports

• Alabama State defeated Alabama A&M 26-6 in the Magic City Classic at Legion Field.
• The Atlanta Braves signed Satchel Paige as a pitching coach.
• Red Farmer won the first of three consecutive NASCAR National Late Model Sportsman championships.
• Pat Sullivan became the starting quarterback for the Auburn Tigers
• Watson Brown became the starting quarterback for the Vanderbilt Commodores.
• Auburn (8-3) defeated Alabama (6-5) by a score of 49-26 in the 1969 Iron Bowl at Legion Field.
• Jim Davenport played his last season as a starter for the San Francisco Giants.
• Quarterback Joe Namath delivered on his guaranteed victory for the New York Jets in Super Bowl III.

Works

• "Complex Vision", op-art installation by Yaacov Agam at the Callahan Eye Foundation Hospital.

Buildings

• The "Touch and See Nature Trail" opened at the Birmingham Botanical Gardens.
• Additional property was purchased to enlarge the site of the Birmingham Museum of Art.
• The Birmingham Terminal Station was demolished.
• BTNB Eastwood branch.
• Citizens Federal building
• The Cullom Apartments (UAB Medical Center Annex) were demolished.
• Essex House was purchased by the Birmingham Housing Authority.
• The Festival Cinema opened in Southside
• "Multi-Vapor" lighting was installed at Legion Field.
• 116,000 square-foot addition to the Lyons Harrison Research Building at UAB.
• Four classrooms were added to the church hall at St Elias Maronite Church.
• Parisian opened at Eastwood Mall.
• The Talladega Superspeedway opened.
• University Hall at UAB.
• The Vestavia Hills Civic Center, including the Vestavia Hills Public Library, opened in Wald Park.

Books

• Birmingham-Jefferson Civic Center National Architectural Competition, edited by Les Adams

Films and TV

• Starlet!, Thar She Blows! and Ramrodder, produced by David F. Friedman.
• September 15: "The Popeye Show" starring "Cousin Cliff" Holman aired for the last time.

Music

• "Cloud Nine", The Temptations (featuring Dennis Edwards on lead vocal), charted single
• It's All Wrong (It's All Right)" / "Don't Keep Hanging On" and "Easier to Say Than Do" / "Soul Sister" singles by Sam Dees on Lolo Records
• Atlantis, jazz album by Sun Ra and his Astro Infinity Arkestra
• Sam Dees founded the Moonsong Publishing Company.

People

• George M. Murray succeeded C. C. J. Carpenter as the Episcopal Bishop of Alabama.
• Angela Davis was fired from UC-San Diego because of her membership in the Communist Party.
• Joseph A. Durick became the 8th Catholic Bishop of Nashville.
• Poet John Beecher took a job at the North Shore Community College in Beverly, Massachusetts
• Howell Raines married Susan Woodley.
• Hoover City Schools superintendent Jack Farr married Janice Smith.
• Charles D. Hounshell succeeded Robert F. Henry as President of Birmingham-Southern College.
• Charles Moss served as president of AIA Birmingham
• Jim Luker succeeded Jim Dultz as display director for Pizitz department stores.
• Astronaut Hank Hartsfield joined NASA.
• Actress and producer Gail Patrick divorced Cornwell Jackson.
• Kitchen manager Shirley Posey began working at the Pell City Steak House.
• Fred Shuttlesworth separated from his wife, Ruby.
• Joseph Kula presided over the Holy Infant of Prague Catholic Church.
• O. E. Braddock succeeded Edward Ernest as Mayor of Hoover.
• Emmylou Harris married Tom Slocum.

Births

• April 21: Scott Register, music promoter and DJ
• May 21: Ben Short, professional baseball pitcher
• June 16: State Representative Earl Hilliard, Jr
• September 13: Russ Davis, MLB baseball player
• October 13: Scott Beason, state senator
• October 17: Warren St John, writer
• Celia Carey, documentary filmmaker
• Abdul Kallon, attorney and judicial nominee
• Scott Strand, runner and Trak Shak co-owner

Graduations

• Jefferson County Sheriff Mike Hale graduated from Woodlawn High School.
• Broadcast engineer Joe Dentici graduated from the Elkins Institute in Texas.
• Jan Willis completed her Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy at Cornell University.

Awards

• P.E.N. Writing Award: Sonia Sanchez

Deaths

• June 29: singer and record producer Shorty Long died in a boating accident on the Detroit River in Michigan.
• July 3: Soldier Bill Terry, Jr was killed in Vietnam.
• July 21: Civil Rights leader A. D. King drowned in his swimming pool in Atlanta, Georgia.
• August 9: hair stylist Jay Sebring was shot along with Sharon Tate at Roman Polanski's house by followers of Charles Manson in Los Angeles, California.

See also List of Birmingham homicides in 1969

Context

1969 saw the last issue of The Saturday Evening Post and the first album by Led Zeppelin. Richard Nixon began his presidency and Yasser Arafat became leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization. John Lennon married Yoko Ono in Gibraltar. Hee Haw debuted on CBS, Monty Python's Flying Circus debuted on the BBC, and Sesame Street debuted on PBS. Apollo 11 successfully brought Neal Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin onto the lunar surface. The Woodstock Festival was held in New York. Hurricane Camille devastated the Mississippi coast. The first ATM was installed in Rockville, New York. 109 Vietnamese civilians died in the My Lai massacre. The New York Mets won the World Series. Wal Mart Stores was incorporated. The ARPANET was created.

Notable 1969 births include Jennifer Aniston, Cate Blanchett, Steffi Graf, Ice Cube, Jennifer Lopez, Edward Norton, Brett Favre, Ken Griffey, Jr, and Nancy Kerrigan. Deaths in 1969 included Dwight Eisenhower, Judy Garland, Rocky Marciano, Ho Chi Minh, and Jack Kerouac. Murray Gell-Mann won the Nobel Prize for Physics and Samuel Beckett won for Literature.

Top grossing films in 1969 included The Love Bug, Funny Girl, Bullitt, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, True Grit, and Easy Rider. Midnight Cowboy was voted "Best Picture" by the Academy.

1960s

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