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B M & T ••• September/October 2026 ••• www.blackmeetingsandtourism.com 46 ALABAMA AREA GUIDES ALABAMA: PAST MADE HISTORY PRESENT MAKES THE FUTURE BY DARLENE DONLOE Alabama is Gulf Coast beaches and Appalachian foothills stitched togeth- er by rivers, red clay, and relentless history. It's where the Civil Rights Movement found its voice, where W.C. Handy wrote the blues, and where Saturn V rockets first roared to life. Expect sugar-white sand along the coast, cypress swamps in the Delta, and Cheaha Mountain's granite spine up north. The soundtrack is Muscle Shoals soul, college football Satur- days, and cicadas at dusk. Eat smoked pork with white sauce, fried catfish, and peach cobbler. It's complicated, proud, and hotter than you think — a state that made America listen, then made it dance. BIRMINGHAM Birmingham doesn't ease into an introduction. Built fast in 1871 at the crossing of two rail lines, it became "The Magic City" by smelting iron ore, coal, and limestone pulled from the same Red Mountain you can still hike today. Downtown is the Civil Rights District, the moral center of Birmingham and, arguably, America. The 16th Street Baptist Church still holds services where four girls died in the 1963 bombing. Across the street, the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute confronts Jim Crow, the Children's Crusade, and King's jail letter. Kelly Ingram Park's sculptures hit hard. But Birmingham isn't stuck in its past. Sloss Furnaces, a National Historic Landmark, now hosts con- certs and art festivals between rusted blast furnaces. Avondale and Pepper Place are packed with James Beard- nominated chefs turning out popular modern Southern plates inside old warehouses. The Pizitz Food Hall's 13 vendors and Birmingham's legit craft beer scene — Good People, TrimTab, Ghost Train — show the city's range. You'll fly into Birmingham-Shuttle- sworth International Airport (BHM), named for civil rights leader Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth. The airport is five miles northeast of downtown Birmingham — a 10–15 minute drive via I-20/I-59, traffic depending. The city's front door for events is the Birmingham-Jefferson Convent- ion Complex (BJCC), a massive 220- acre complex downtown with over 220,000 sq. ft. of exhibition space, a 50,000-capacity stadium, and 65 meeting rooms totaling over 107,000 sq. ft. It includes Legacy Arena, a 17,000-capacity arena hosting nation- al and international touring concerts, productions, and various sporting events each year. The North Exhibition Hall at BJCC covers 90,000 square feet, accommodating 452 10'x10' booths. It offers flexible setups for theatre, classroom, and banquets. Protective Stadium is home to UAB Blazers Football, Birmingham Legion FC, and the JLab Birmingham Bowl. It's located on the BJCC campus in the Uptown Entertainment District. The BJCC 10-story Medical Forum has 13 flexible meeting spaces, a 275-seat theater, classrooms, conference space, and offices. Birmingham is a city that took its hardest history and hardest industry and turned both into fuel. MOBILE Forget the cookie-cutter confer- ence towns. Mobile has been talking people into staying since 1702 — and it's still got the skill. This isn't hospital- ity as a marketing line. It's 300 years of practice. The city knows how to throw a party because it invented America's Mardi Gras, and that same instinct for spectacle, timing, and a good meal bleeds into how it handles business. The Arthur R. Outlaw Convention Center, located right on the Mobile • • • STATS • • • HOTEL ROOMS Sheraton Birmingham Hotel 757 The Wynfrey Hotel 329 Birmingham Marriott 302 Birmingham Perimeter Park 298 Hilton Birmingham at UAB 295 The Westin Birmingham 294 EXHIBITION FACILITIES The Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex Total Meeting Space 107,000 sq. ft. Exhibition Space 220,000 sq. ft. Meeting rooms 65 WHO YOU GONNA CALL? Visit Birmingham (800) 458-8085 www.birmingham.com Birmingham Jefferson Convention Complex meeting room photo credit: B.J.C.C