Birmingham, 1972: The Government Photographed the Air It Took to Court
The film of this episode premieres September 15, 2026 on YouTube. The documents, the transcript and the sources are below now.
At 1:45 in the morning on November 18, 1971, a federal judge signed a restraining order at his own home. A temperature inversion had held Birmingham's air still for three days, the particulate monitors were reading over 700 micrograms — nearly three times the federal critical level — and twenty-three companies, from U.S.
Transcript
A quarter to two
R001 HEAVILY POLLUTED AIR OF BIRMINGHAM, CENTER OF STEEL, COAL AND COKE INDUSTRIES, POSES SERIOUS THREAT TO CITY'S CHILDREN. (FROM THE SITES EXHIBITION. FOR OTHER IMAGES IN THIS ASSIGNMENT, SEE FICHE NUMBERS 49, 50, 51, 52.)
LeRoy Woodson · July 1972 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-11392). View the original.
The year before this photograph, the air over this city put twenty-three companies in front of a federal judge. At a quarter to two in the morning.
R002 SMOKE FILLED STREET OF NORTH BIRMINGHAM, MOST HEAVILY POLLUTED OF THE CITY
LeRoy Woodson · July 1972 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-2917). View the original.
North Birmingham, July 1972. The government's caption: a smoke-filled street, in the most heavily polluted area of the city.
R003 DAY BECOMES NIGHT WHEN INDUSTRIAL SMOG IS HEAVY IN NORTH BIRMINGHAM. ADJACENT TO U.S. PIPE PLANT. THIS IS THE MOST HEAVILY POLLUTED AREA OF THE CITY
LeRoy Woodson · July 1972 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-2910). View the original.
Same streets, another day. Day becomes night, the caption says, when the industrial smog is heavy.
R004 A COMMUNITY IN NORTH BIRMINGHAM, THE AREA OF THE CITY MOST BADLY EFFECTED BY POLLUTION FROM THE STEEL PLANTS. THE NORTH BIRMINGHAM PIPE PLANT IS ADJACENT. THE PLANT HAS NO CHIMNEY TO LIFT THE SMOKE TO A HIGHER ALTITUDE. OFTEN THE SMOKE BLANKETS THE COMMUNITY. AT TIMES IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO SEE AHEAD MORE THAN A FEW FEET
LeRoy Woodson · July 1972 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-3051). View the original.
At times, says the caption on this one, it is impossible to see ahead more than a few feet.
The valley
R005 BIRMINGHAM SKYLINE IN SMOG. DENSELY INDUSTRIALIZED BIRMINGHAM IS HEADQUARTERS FOR THE UNITED STATES STEEL CORPORATION. THE CITY IS THE GREATEST IRON AND STEEL MANUFACTURING AREA IN THE SOUTH
LeRoy Woodson · June 1972 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-2942). View the original.
Birmingham sits in a valley, and the valley holds what the city makes. The caption calls it the greatest iron and steel manufacturing area in the South.
R006 SMOKE FROM INDUSTRIAL PLANTS IS A 24 HOUR FACT OF LIFE IN BIRMINGHAM
LeRoy Woodson · May 1972 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-2960). View the original.
Smoke from industrial plants, another one says, is a twenty-four hour fact of life in Birmingham.
November 1971
R007 BIRMINGHAM, A MAJOR INDUSTRIAL CITY, IS LOCATED IN A VALLEY THE SMOKE FROM ITS CONTINUOUSLY OPERATING PLANTS IS A CONSTANT PRESENCE
LeRoy Woodson · July 1972 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-2945). View the original.
In the third week of November 1971, the weather stopped moving. The smoke had nowhere to go.
Between the fifteenth and the seventeenth, the county's monitors read 722. 728. 758. 771. Federal authorities called 260 critical.
The Weather Service issued an air stagnation advisory. Unless emissions are curtailed or terminated, an EPA meteorologist swore in his affidavit, the concentrations will increase.
R008 DRAMATIC RED-ORANGE GLOW OF BIRMINGHAM NIGHT COMES FROM EMISSIONS OF STEEL PLANTS, WHICH OPERATE AROUND THE CLOCK
LeRoy Woodson · July 1972 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-2931). View the original.
On November sixteenth, the State of Alabama notified twenty-three companies, asking them to cut their emissions voluntarily.
R009 SMOKE-BELCHING CHIMNEYS AND SMOG-OBSCURED CITY
LeRoy Woodson · July 1972 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-2976). View the original.
A day later the counts in North Birmingham were still in the seven hundreds. Surveys of the plants found less than half of the requested reductions had actually happened.
So, in the small hours of November eighteenth, government lawyers filed United States versus U.S. Steel. A complaint, three affidavits, and a motion.
R010 U.S. STEEL PLANT. RED-ORANGE SMOKE BELCHES FROM CHIMNEYS TWENTY-FOUR HOURS A DAY
LeRoy Woodson · 1972 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-2938). View the original.
District Judge Sam Pointer signed the temporary restraining order at his own home. It was 1:45 in the morning.
The order went operation by operation. U.S. Steel's Fairfield Works: cease feed to the open hearth furnaces — and maintain the heat.
R011 THE UNITED STATES STEEL CORPORATION, JEFFERSON COUNTY'S LARGEST EMPLOYER, HAS TWO PLANTS IN OPERATION, ONE IN FAIRFIELD AND THE OTHER IN ENSLEY. A CHIMNEY POURS OUT THE CHARACTERISTIC RED-ORANGE SMOKE OF THE STEEL PLANTS. MUCH OF THE SMOKE BECOMES TRAPPED IN THE VALLEY IN WHICH BIRMINGHAM IS SITUATED
LeRoy Woodson · June 1972 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-2985). View the original.
Marshals began serving papers before dawn. Some of the companies got a telephone call at 5:30 that morning.
R012 RED-ORANGE SMOKE OF THE STEEL PLANTS GIVES BIRMINGHAM ITS DRAMATIC NIGHT TIME LOOK
LeRoy Woodson · June 1972 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-2915). View the original.
Then it rained. An autumn rain washed the particulates out of the valley, and on the morning of November nineteenth the government asked the court to dissolve its own order. The case had lasted thirty-six hours.
Within a week, the agency's health scientists had dated their first analysis of what the episode did to eyes and lungs. November 24, 1971.
The instructions
That winter, the same young agency started a photography project, and issued its photographers a set of written instructions.
Page two tells them cities will have to shut down industrial air polluters when public health is threatened. If they don't, EPA can take action. That's what happened, it says, in Birmingham, Alabama, in November 1971.
The project numbered its assignments, and Birmingham came early. Assignment eight. The photographer: LeRoy Woodson.
The office typed a list of what his file contains. Black lung X-rays. Damaged lungs. Litter on the streets. Prisoners from the Jefferson County Jail.
Assignment 0008
R013 BIRMINGHAM STREET CROSSING
LeRoy Woodson · May 1972 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-2881). View the original.
Woodson got to Birmingham in May of 1972 — six months after the restraining order.
R014 SKYSCRAPERS
LeRoy Woodson · May 1972 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-2889). View the original.
Nothing in this film has been colorized. This is Kodachrome. The color that was in his camera.
R015 REFLECTIONS IN A GLASS WALL
LeRoy Woodson · May 1972 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-2893). View the original.
He photographed the new glass downtown.
R016 BUS PROVIDED BY REV. JOHN PORTER'S SIXTH AVENUE BAPTIST CHURCH GETS VOTERS OF BLACK COMMUNITY TO THE POLLS ON PRIMARY ELECTION DAY
LeRoy Woodson · May 1972 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-2883). View the original.
It was primary election day. His caption: a bus provided by Reverend John Porter's Sixth Avenue Baptist Church gets voters of the Black community to the polls.
R017 PRIMARY ELECTION DAY
LeRoy Woodson · May 1972 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-2897). View the original.
He followed the voters inside.
Twenty-four hours a day
R018 U.S. STEEL PLANT EMITS RED-ORANGE SMOKE 24 HOURS A DAY
LeRoy Woodson · May 1972 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-2959). View the original.
Then he turned to what the assignment was for. U.S. Steel's plant, his caption says, emits red-orange smoke twenty-four hours a day.
R019 U.S. STEEL PLANT. RED-ORANGE IS CHARACTERISTIC COLOR OF STEEL PLANT EMISSIONS
LeRoy Woodson · June 1972 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-2928). View the original.
The red-orange color is characteristic of steel plant emissions. He wrote that line over and over.
R020 U.S. STEEL PLANT. RED-ORANGE IS CHARACTERISTIC COLOR OF STEEL PLANT EMISSION
LeRoy Woodson · June 1972 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-2934). View the original.
And photographed it over and over.
R021 SMOKE FROM THE NEIGHBORING STEEL PLANT SETTLES ON EVERYTHING. THE MIXTURE OF RAIN, WATER AND THE FERROUS OXIDE IN THE SMOKE PRODUCES SULPHURIC ACID WHICH EATS AWAY AUTOMOBILE FINISH
LeRoy Woodson · June 1972 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-2982). View the original.
The smoke settles on everything, one caption explains. Rain and the iron oxide in it produce sulphuric acid, which eats away automobile finish.
R022 A RESIDENT OF FAIRFIELD WHICH BORDERS ON U.S. STEEL'S PLANT SHOWS THE BLACK SOOT WIPED FROM HIS CAR
LeRoy Woodson · June 1972 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-3061). View the original.
A Fairfield man showed him the black soot wiped from his car.
R023 ABANDONED CORVAIR SHOWS EFFECT OF SMOKE CORROSION. FERROUS OXIDE IN SMOKE COMBINES WITH RAIN WATER AND PRODUCES THE SULPHURIC ACID WHICH EATS AWAY THE CAR'S FINISH
LeRoy Woodson · July 1972 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-3053). View the original.
And an abandoned Corvair shows what the acid does when nobody wipes it.
R024 STEEL PLANT CHIMNEYS, SENDING OUT CLOUDS OF SMOKE, CREATE A SEVERE POLLUTION HAZARD. STEEL IS BIRMINGHAM'S MAJOR EMPLOYER HOWEVER, AND IN A CONTEST BETWEEN CLEAN AIR AND JOBS, JOBS WIN
LeRoy Woodson · May 1972 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-3004). View the original.
One caption states the arithmetic of the place outright. Steel is Birmingham's major employer. And in a contest between clean air and jobs — jobs win.
The last tap
R025 DETAIL OF STEEL MAKING PROCESS INSIDE U.S. STEEL PLANT. BLAST FURNACES ARE BEING DISCONTINUED AT U.S. STEEL TO MAKE WAY FOR THE NEW Q-BOP (BASIC OXYGEN PROCESS) FURNACE WHICH ARE SCHEDULED TO BEGIN OPERATION IN 1974
LeRoy Woodson · July 1972 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-3045). View the original.
Inside the plant, the old furnaces were finishing their last year.
R026 LOCAL NEWS MEDIA MEN ARE ON HAND FOR LAST TAP OF OLD BLAST FURNACE. NEW Q-BOP (BASIC OXYGEN PROCESS) FURNACES ARE SCHEDULED TO BEGIN OPERATION IN 1974
LeRoy Woodson · July 1972 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-3050). View the original.
In July he photographed the local news media, on hand for the last tap of an old blast furnace.
R027 DETAIL OF ONE OF THE LAST BLAST FURNACES USED BY U.S. STEEL IN BIRMINGHAM. IT WAS SHUT DOWN IN JULY, 1972, TO MAKE WAY FOR THE NEW Q-BOP (BASIC OXYGEN PROCESS) FURNACES WHICH ARE SCHEDULED TO BEGIN OPERATION IN 1974
LeRoy Woodson · July 1972 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-3041). View the original.
Its replacement, the caption notes, was a new basic oxygen process, scheduled to begin operation in 1974.
R028 SMOKE FROM THE CONTINUOUSLY OPERATING STEEL PLANTS GIVES BIRMINGHAM ITS SPECTACULAR NIGHTTIME RED-ORANGE GLOW
LeRoy Woodson · July 1972 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-2944). View the original.
At night the sky over the mills glowed. The captions call it the city's spectacular nighttime look — and name the source.
North Birmingham
R029 THE NORTH BIRMINGHAM PIPE PLANT OF U.S. PIPE HAS NO CHIMNEY TO ELEVATE THE SMOKE LEVEL. THE RESIDENTIAL COMMUNITY ALONGSIDE THE PLANT IS REGULARLY ENVELOPED IN THICK SMOKE. SMOKE IS PART OF THE AIR THE RESIDENTS BREATHE AND THE FOOD THEY EAT
LeRoy Woodson · July 1972 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-2902). View the original.
North Birmingham. The pipe plant here has no chimney to elevate the smoke level, the caption says. The smoke is part of the air the residents breathe, and the food they eat.
R030 INDUSTRIAL SMOG BLACKS OUT HOMES ADJACENT TO NORTH BIRMINGHAM PIPE PLANT. THIS IS THE MOST HEAVILY POLLUTED AREA OF THE CITY
LeRoy Woodson · July 1972 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-2909). View the original.
Industrial smog blacks out homes, reads the next frame.
R031 RESIDENTIAL STREET NEAR STEEL PLANT. AIR POLLUTION IN THIS NEIGHBORHOOD IS PARTICULARLY SEVERE
LeRoy Woodson · July 1972 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-2932). View the original.
He kept coming back to the same blocks. Air pollution in this neighborhood, says the caption, is particularly severe.
R032 RESIDENT OF COMMUNITY ADJACENT TO U.S. STEEL PLANT. THE JOBS ARE HERE AND SO IS THE SMOKE
LeRoy Woodson · July 1972 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-2903). View the original.
A resident of the community next to the plant. The jobs are here, the caption says, and so is the smoke.
R033 RESIDENT OF COMMUNITY ADJACENT TO U.S. STEEL PLANT. THE JOBS ARE HERE AND SO IS THE SMOKE. SMOKE AND RAIN FORMS ACID WHICH CORRODES AUTOMOBILE SURFACE
LeRoy Woodson · July 1972 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-2904). View the original.
Under this one it continues. Smoke and rain form acid, which corrodes the cars.
R034 HOUSING ADJACENT TO U.S. STEEL PLANT
LeRoy Woodson · July 1972 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-2911). View the original.
Housing adjacent to the plant.
R035 RESIDENTIAL STREET NEAR U.S. STEEL PLANT IN HEAVY SMOG
LeRoy Woodson · July 1972 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-2885). View the original.
A residential street, in heavy smog.
R036 HOUSES OF RESIDENTS OF THIS STEEL MANUFACTURING AREA ARE DWARFED BY THE MASSIVE STRUCTURES OF THE FOUNDRY NEARBY
LeRoy Woodson · June 1972 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-3043). View the original.
Houses, the caption says, dwarfed by the massive structures of the foundry nearby.
The measurements
R037 DR. PETER PEACOCK, PROJECT DIRECTOR OF CHESS (COMMUNITY HEALTH ENVIRONMENTAL SURVEILLANCE STUDIES) WHICH MEASURES EFFECTS OF POLLUTION ON AREA RESIDENTS
LeRoy Woodson · June 1972 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-2887). View the original.
The government was measuring what this did to people. Doctor Peter Peacock ran the EPA's health surveillance study here — a program called CHESS.
CHESS is where that November study came from. Panels of volunteer families, called on the telephone while the counts were still high, and asked about their eyes and throats.
R038 DAMAGED LUNG STATISTICS
LeRoy Woodson · June 1972 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-2916). View the original.
Woodson photographed a chart at the clinic. Percentage of population with damaged lungs. The top row is North Birmingham. Thirty percent.
R039 DR. BEN V. BRANSCOMB OF THE RESPIRATORY CONTROL CENTER. DR BRANSCOMB, A CENTRAL FIGURE IN THE FIGHT AGAINST AIR POLLUTION IN THIS HEAVILY POLLUTED STEEL MANUFACTURING AREA, IS A PIONEER IN THE TREATMENT OF RESPIRATORY AILMENTS. HE HAS DESIGNED UNIQUE OXYGEN BREATHING AIDS FOR VICTIMS OF RED AND BLACK LUNG DISEASE AND EMPHYSEMA
LeRoy Woodson · June 1972 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-2984). View the original.
Doctor Ben Branscomb of the Respiratory Control Center — a pioneer, says the caption, in the treatment of respiratory ailments.
R040 DR. BEN V. BRANSCOMB USES A SIMPLE TIRE PUMP AS A BREATHING AID FOR A RED LUNG VICTIM. DR. BRANSCOMB IS A LEADING FIGURE IN THE FIGHT AGAINST AIR POLLUTION IN BIRMINGHAM
LeRoy Woodson · July 1972 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-2908). View the original.
Here he demonstrates a breathing aid he built around a simple tire pump.
R041 MR. ROBERT B. JONES, 78 YEARS OLD, IS TOTALLY DEPENDENT ON HIS HOME OXYGEN MACHINE FOR SURVIVAL. THE POLLUTED AIR IS A SEVERE PROBLEM FOR HIM
LeRoy Woodson · June 1972 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-2922). View the original.
Robert B. Jones, seventy-eight years old. Totally dependent, the caption says, on his home oxygen machine for survival.
R042 MR. ROBERT B. JONES, RETIRED RAILROAD WORKER, IS TOTALLY DEPENDENT ON HIS HOME OXYGEN MACHINE FOR SURVIVAL. THE POLLUTED AIR IS A SEVERE PROBLEM FOR HIM
LeRoy Woodson · June 1972 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-2933). View the original.
Another frame of Mr. Jones. Retired railroad worker, the caption adds. The polluted air is a severe problem for him.
R043 FORMER MACHINIST MR. WILBUR SHUFF USES A LUNG FUNCTION TESTING MACHINE TO MEASURE HIS BREATHING CAPACITY. HAVING DEVELOPED EMPHYSEMA, HE SUFFERS SEVERELY FROM AIR POLLUTION
LeRoy Woodson · June 1972 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-2995). View the original.
A former machinist with emphysema measures his own breathing capacity. His name is Wilbur Shuff.
R044 EMPHYSEMA PATIENT MR. GEORGE LEWIS USES A LUNG FUNCTION TESTING MACHINE TO MEASURE HIS BREATHING CAPACITY. MR. LEWIS HAD SPENT ALL HIS WORKING YEARS IN A COTTON FACTORY
LeRoy Woodson · June 1972 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-2998). View the original.
George Lewis measures his. All of his working years, says the caption, were spent in a cotton factory.
R045 BLACK LUNG X-RAYS FROM PATIENTS OF DR. A.H. RUSSAKOFF PULMONARY DISEASE SPECIALIST AND PIONEER AIR POLLUTION FIGHTER IN THE AREA
LeRoy Woodson · July 1972 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-2987). View the original.
Black lung X-rays, from the patients of Doctor A. H. Russakoff — pulmonary disease specialist, and, the caption says, pioneer air pollution fighter.
R046 SHRIVELLED AND HARDENED LUNG OF BLACK LUNG VICTIM. THIS DISEASE OFTEN ATTACKS MINERS AND OTHER ORE AND STEEL WORKERS LIVING WITHIN THIS DENSELY INDUSTRIALIZED AND SEVERELY POLLUTED AREA
LeRoy Woodson · June 1972 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-3000). View the original.
A lung, shrivelled and hardened. Black lung — the disease, the caption notes, of the miners and ore and steel workers of this valley.
R047 LEADING AIR POLLUTION FIGHTERS DR. A.H. RUSSAKOFF (LEFT). MS CAMERON MCDONALD, DR. GEORGE HARDY, AND DR. BEN V. BRANSCOMB. DR RUSSAKOFF ALERTED CITY TO HAZARDS AND WORKED TO GET SMOKE EMISSION LAWS ENACTED. MS. MCDONALD ORGANIZED THE GREATER ALLIANCE TO STOP POLLUTION (GASP). DR. HARDY, THE JEFFERSON COUNTY HEALTH OFFICER, IS RESPONSIBLE FOR DECLARING AIR POLLUTION EMERGENCIES. DR. BRANSCOMB HAS DESIGNED UNIQUE OXYGEN BREATHING AIDS FOR VICTIMS OF RED AND BLACK LUNG DISEASE AND EMPHYSEMA
LeRoy Woodson · June 1972 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-2988). View the original.
Four names, one frame. Russakoff, who first alerted the city. Cameron McDonald, who organized the citizens' group GASP. Branscomb. And Doctor George Hardy, the county health officer responsible for declaring air pollution emergencies.
R048 LEADERS IN FIGHT AGAINST AIR POLLUTION. LEFT TO RIGHT: DR. A. H RUSSAKOFF; CAMERON MACDONALD; DR. GEORGE HARDY; DR. BEN V BRANSCOMB. (FROM THE SITES EXHIBITION. FOR OTHER IMAGES IN THIS ASSIGNMENT, SEE FICHE NUMBERS 49, 50, 51, 52.)
LeRoy Woodson · June 1972 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-11450). View the original.
The November alert was Hardy's call. Three years later, he co-wrote the medical journal account of it — titled, First Use of the Federal Clean Air Act's Emergency Authority.
Sunday
R049 SIXTH AVENUE BAPTIST CHURCH
LeRoy Woodson · July 1972 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-2890). View the original.
Woodson also photographed the city living. Sunday services at Sixth Avenue Baptist.
R050 SIXTH AVENUE BAPTIST CHURCH
LeRoy Woodson · July 1972 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-2983). View the original.
The congregation, under the stained glass.
R051 "Little Korea", an area of sub-standard housing in South Birmingham
LeRoy Woodson · July 1972 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-2949). View the original.
And a neighborhood the captions call Little Korea — the name in quotation marks — an area of substandard housing in South Birmingham.
R052 Scene in "Little Korea", in South Birmingham. Despite the significant progress of recent years, many Birmingham blacks still live in areas of substandard housing of which this is a prime example. Several creeks flow through the community. During heavy rains, these are apt to overflow, and residents must often be evacuated. Birmingham, Alabama. July, 1972
LeRoy Woodson · July 1972 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-3055). View the original.
Creeks run through the community, one caption notes. In heavy rain they overflow, and residents must often be evacuated.
R053 RESIDENT OF "LITTLE KOREA", A LOW INCOME AREA IN SOUTH BIRMINGHAM
LeRoy Woodson · July 1972 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-3037). View the original.
A resident of Little Korea, a low income area in South Birmingham.
R054 CORNER OF THIS BIRMINGHAM SCHOOL PLAYGROUND DOUBLES AS DUMP/INCINERATOR
LeRoy Woodson · June 1972 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-3003). View the original.
The corner of a school playground, doubling as dump and incinerator.
R055 CUSTOMER BUYS SNACK FROM ELDERLY PEANUT VENDOR
LeRoy Woodson · May 1972 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-3018). View the original.
A customer buys a snack from an elderly peanut vendor.
GASP
R056 HOME OF CAMERON MCDONALD, ORGANIZER OF GASP (GREATER ALLIANCE TO STOP POLLUTION). THIS GROUP IS ACTIVE IN BATTLE AGAINST AIR POLLUTION
LeRoy Woodson · July 1972 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-3009). View the original.
The fight had civilians. This is the living room of Cameron McDonald, organizer of GASP — the Greater Alliance to Stop Pollution.
R057 NOTICE TO MEMBERS OF GASP ORGANIZED WEEKEND AT BANKHEAD NATIONAL FOREST. TRIP WAS ONE ACTIVITY IN BATTLE TO PREVENT CLEAR-CUTTING IN THE FOREST. BANKHEAD IS 90 MILES NORTH OF BIRMINGHAM
LeRoy Woodson · July 1972 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-3032). View the original.
A notice pinned to a tree, addressed to GASPers. The group spent a weekend in Bankhead National Forest, campaigning against clear-cutting there.
R058 CAMPERS AT BANKHEAD NATIONAL FOREST ARE SUPPORTERS OF BATTLE AGAINST CLEAR-CUTTING HERE. THE WEEKEND TRIP WAS ORGANIZED BY GASP (GREATER ALLIANCE TO STOP POLLUTION). BANKHEAD NATIONAL FOREST IS 90 MILES NORTH OF BIRMINGHAM
LeRoy Woodson · July 1972 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-3040). View the original.
Ninety miles from the mills, under a rock ledge.
October
R059 STATE FAIR
LeRoy Woodson · Oct. 1972 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-2969). View the original.
Woodson came back in October, and photographed the State Fair.
R060 RIDING THE FERRIS WHEEL AT THE STATE FAIR
LeRoy Woodson · Oct. 1972 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-2971). View the original.
Riding the ferris wheel.
R061 SPINNING THE SUGAR FOR COTTON CANDY AT THE STATE FAIR
LeRoy Woodson · Oct. 1972 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-2966). View the original.
Spinning the sugar for cotton candy.
R062 NIGHT TIME STREET SCENE
LeRoy Woodson · Oct. 1972 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-2975). View the original.
A night time street scene — the last month of his Birmingham file. The air does not appear in these captions.
Only once
Twelve years later, EPA wrote its staff a guidance memo on the emergency power, and put the score in a footnote. Only once has a restraining order been requested under Section 303. The incident occurred in 1971, in Birmingham, Alabama.
R063 SMOG OBSCURES BIRMINGHAM SKYLINE. TWO STEEL FURNACES OPERATED ROUND THE CLOCK BY U.S. STEEL, PLUS OTHER HEAVY INDUSTRY IN THE CITY SPEW FORTH THE SMOKE THAT PERIODICALLY CAUSES THE SMOG
LeRoy Woodson · July 1972 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-2980). View the original.
As of that memo, no court had ever been asked for another one.
2014
In September 2014, the same agency proposed a new Superfund site. Thirty-Fifth Avenue. Collegeville, Fairmont, Harriman Park — northern Birmingham.
The sheet names what is in the residential soil there now, and the potential sources around the neighborhoods. Among them, U.S. Pipe.
R064 NEIGHBORHOOD NEAR STEEL PLANT
LeRoy Woodson · July 1972 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-2896). View the original.
Woodson's caption from 1972 had already said it. The smoke was part of the air the residents breathe, and the food they eat. The 2014 sheet measures what stayed behind.
R065 BOY WALKS ALONG BANKS OF CREEK POLLUTED BY EFFLUENT FROM NEIGHBORING STEEL MILLS
LeRoy Woodson · July 1972 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-3052). View the original.
A boy walks the bank of a creek polluted by mill effluent. July, 1972. His photograph is a federal record — free, at full resolution, to anyone who wants to look.
D01 HEAVILY POLLUTED AIR OF BIRMINGHAM, CENTER OF STEEL, COAL AND COKE INDUSTRIES, POSES SERIOUS THREAT TO CITY'S CHILDREN. (FROM THE SITES EXHIBITION. FOR OTHER IMAGES IN THIS ASSIGNMENT, SEE FICHE NUMBERS 49, 50, 51, 52.)
LeRoy Woodson · July 1972 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-11392). View the original.
Sources
- Photographs: LeRoy Woodson for Project DOCUMERICA, assignment 0008, May–October 1972. U.S. National Archives, Record Group 412-DA (series NAID 542493, unrestricted). Full-resolution originals free at catalog.archives.gov — every frame's National Archives identifier is on screen with the frame.
- Rendleman, "Legal Anatomy of an Air Pollution Emergency," 2 Boston College Environmental Affairs Law Review 90 (1972) — the chronology of United States v. U.S. Steel, CA 71-1041 (N.D. Ala.): the affidavits, the particulate counts of 722, 728, 758 and 771, the TRO signed by Judge Sam Pointer at his home at 1:45 a.m. on November 18, 1971, the order's operation-by-operation terms, and the dissolution on the government's own motion on November 19. The case was dismissed without any adjudication of fault; no opinion was ever published.
- "Irritation Symptoms During the November 1971 Air Pollution Episode in Birmingham, Alabama (Interim Analysis)," U.S. EPA Division of Health Effects Research, November 24, 1971 (EPA 645/R-71-003, NEPIS).
- "Guidance on Use of Section 303 of the Clean Air Act," U.S. EPA memorandum, September 15, 1983 — "Only once has a TRO been requested under Section 303. The incident occurred in 1971, in Birmingham, Ala." (p. 10, footnote 4).
- Guidelines for Photographers, Project DOCUMERICA, U.S. EPA, 1972 — p. 2 cites the Birmingham shutdown by name. Recovered from the Internet Archive Wayback Machine.
- Project DOCUMERICA assignment list (EPA finding aid to RG 412-DA) — Fiche 49–51, LeRoy Woodson, assignment 0008, Birmingham, Alabama, with the typed "Subjects include" list.
- National Priorities List, Proposed Site: 35th Avenue, Birmingham, Alabama, U.S. EPA, September 2014 — residential soil contamination in Collegeville, Fairmont and Harriman Park; potential sources named include ABC Coke, U.S. Pipe, a lead foundry, KMAC Recycling & Industrial Services and Alagasco Corporation. Proposed listing only; a listing is not a finding of legal liability.
- Hardy et al., "First Use of the Federal Clean Air Act's Emergency Authority: A Local Analysis," 64 American Journal of Public Health 72 (1974) — co-authored by Dr. George E. Hardy Jr., the Jefferson County health officer photographed by Woodson.
- Glicksman & Shapiro, "EPA's Strategic Use of Emergency Powers," 48 Harvard Environmental Law Review (2024) — the November 16–19 chronology with citations.
- The captions quoted are NARA's transcriptions of the DOCUMERICA caption cards, quoted as the agency's own words, including the period name "Little Korea," which appears in quotation marks in the original captions.
- This is period Kodachrome. Nothing in this episode is colorized and there is no AI imagery.