David Sher

David Sher

David Sher is the publisher of ComebackTown.com. He’s past Chairman of the Birmingham Regional Chamber of Commerce, Operation New Birmingham, and the City Action Partnership. He lives with his wife of 52 years in Vestavia Hills, a suburb of Birmingham, Alabama.

My Dad’s Struggle to Do the Right Thing in Racially Charged Birmingham

I grew up in the South in the 1950s.

‘Negroes’ drank from water fountains labeled ‘Colored’; used separate restrooms from whites; and were relegated to sit in the back of buses.

My father owned a small retail store in downtown Birmingham.

We lived on the Southside of Birmingham and I often took the Highland Avenue bus downtown to meet my parents or friends.

My parents taught me and my brother and sister to be respectful, so one day I remember asking my father if it was okay to give up my bus seat to an elderly black woman. He sternly warned that I would risk being hurt by some hateful people.

My dad was kind and respectful to his employees, but at that time there were laws against ‘colored’ office workers and salespeople.

When it became clear that the Civil Rights law was going to pass and rules prohibiting ‘colored’ employment were about to change, my dad took the opportunity to hire a black office worker—likely among the first in a white owned retail store in Birmingham.