A man walks past a toppled statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee, the city's founder who served in the Confederate Navy, after a night of unrest in Birmingham, Alabama. As Confederate leader Jefferson Davis is commemorated by state officials as part of an annual state holiday - a public holiday recognized by the majority - black cities have begun removing Confederate soldiers and sailors monuments from public parks. The symbolism is not lost on the residents of Birmingham, Alabama.

The Birmingham metropolitan area is the third city in the South, surpassed only by New Orleans and Louisville. The contest was heated and ended in a three-way battle between the city of Birmingham, Alabama State and Montgomery County. The decision was made in favour of Birmingham by a large majority and Birmingham remains a county seat to this day.

Birmingham's A population has grown phenomenally, and statisticians call it the country's census miracle. The Birmingham area and surrounding suburbs and cities of Montgomery, Montgomery County and Leeds have a population of about 1,146,880. Birmingham also has the highest percentage of black residents in a city in England ("H" is silent in all cities outside England, but not here).

The Jane Austen Society, which has about 40 members, meets five times a year in Birmingham. A is commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, where an exhibition examines the rise of the movement. Other attractions include the Alabama Museum of Natural History, the University of Alabama in Birmingham and the National Museum for the Humanities.

Birmingham is also home to several power companies, including the Alabama Power and Light Company and Birmingham Electric Company. Other leading employers include the University of Alabama at Birmingham, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Alabama State University and Alabama University.

Birmingham Southern University, founded in Greensboro in 1856, was founded in 1918 as Birmingham Southern College of Methodist. In addition to UAB, the city offers other educational opportunities in the Birmingham area. Birmingham is also home to the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Alabama State University and Alabama University. Today, Birmingham is a modern city in the New South, with a population of more than 1.5 million and an annual economic output of $2.2 billion.

The city's medical center includes the University of Alabama at Birmingham Medical Center, the largest hospital in the United States, as well as a number of other hospitals and medical facilities.

The city is home to Alabama Power Building, UAB, which is the largest building in the United States with a total area of 1.5 million square feet and is by far the largest employer in the city with 18,750 employees. The largest University of Alabama in Birmingham is the University of Birmingham, founded in 1969 and comprising more than 4,000 students and faculty. At 18, it is by far Birmingham's largest employer. 750 employees, but not the only ones.

Birmingham is still home to several of the country's largest steel producers, including U.S. Steel, McWane and Nucor. It is also home to several other major steel companies, such as steel mills and steelworks. Due to the continued presence of these companies in the city, Birmingham is an important hub for the steel industry in Alabama and the United States as a whole.

Finally, we have developed a clearly defined testing and traceability strategy with the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Energy (DOE), focusing on the safety and environmental impacts of toxic chemicals use in the US and abroad.

The BBC's Blue Box Companions is a British television fan club that meets once a month in Birmingham. The Alabama Celtic Organization provides information about Irish, Scottish and Welsh events and organisations taking place in Alabama.

The Birmingham News appears three times a week and is the newspaper with the most subscribers in Jefferson County. The Birmingham Weekly was the city's alternative newspaper, offering a combination of local news, sports, arts, entertainment, business and entertainment.

Anyone visiting Birmingham today will find it hard to remember it definitively, despite having survived more than half a century as one of the wealthiest cities in the United States. The city is so closely linked to the so-called mineral quarter, both industrially and financially, that phases of history are practically inseparable between the two. Birmingham is now the largest city in Jefferson County and the second largest in Alabama.

Birmingham and I-20 are connected by a long stretch of Interstate 65 and US-31, both coming from places in the south, and through the Mississippi.