The Birmingham Years

Abstract Black arrived in Birmingham in 1907 not knowing a soul. Decades later, he would say that life there “was enjoyable” and that living and working in Birmingham was “the happiest time” of his life. Black, as he liked to say to disarm people, was somewhat of a “backward country fellow” when he arrived. In a very short while, however, he became both a legal legend and a social success story. His acquaintances and friends grew dramatically in number, as did the names in his client roster. Hugo’s personal injury practice very soon became the first such lucrative law practice in Alabama. By the time Black went off to the U.S. Senate in 1927, his total worth exceeded $250,000. In his first year in Birmingham, however, Hugo paid his rent working for the Retail Credit Company of Atlanta, Georgia. He received fifty cents apiece “for reports on the life and habits of life insurance applicants.” This job, plus some minor legal work, got Black through his early days. Success did come fairly soon after Hugo arrived in the big city, for a number of not too surprising reasons, given Black’s personal characteristics. First of all, he was an active participant in one of the South’s primary social groups, Birmingham’s First Baptist Church.