About The BHM Scroll
Long before college Greek life, before social media, before any of it — Birmingham had its own.
High school fraternities and sororities that built bonds stronger than most things that came after. Organizations that shaped how a generation of Black Birmingham carried themselves — with pride, with style, and with each other.
These clubs didn't have national headquarters. They didn't have endowments or official histories. What they had was community. And for decades, that community has been the only archive.
This is not nostalgia. This is documentation.
The BHM Scroll is a living preservation project — built to collect, verify, and protect the social and cultural legacy of Birmingham's historic high school clubs. We gather membership records, photographs, oral histories, letters, dance programs, pledging memories, and stories that have never been written down anywhere. We work with original members, their children, and their grandchildren to make sure nothing else gets lost.
Every city has a version of this story. But Birmingham's version is its own — shaped by the Civil Rights era, by segregated schools that became centers of excellence, by communities that created their own traditions because the world outside wouldn't make room. The clubs born inside those walls deserve the same respect as anything that came after them.
Every verified submission becomes a permanent part of the archive. Photographs, oral histories, membership records — preserved with full community context.
Segregated schools became centers of excellence. The clubs born inside those walls carry that story. We document that legacy with the seriousness it deserves.
The Scroll belongs to the people who made it — and it always will. Members correct the record, add context, and build on each other's contributions.
How It Works
Share a photograph, record an oral history, verify a club's founding year, or claim your membership. Every format is welcome.
Our archivists review every entry for historical accuracy. Community members can add context and correct the record.
Approved entries become permanent. The Scroll belongs to the people who made it — and it always will.
Who We Are
Researchers, alumni, family members, and community archivists who believe that local history is sacred — and that the people who made it deserve to see themselves in the record.
The BHM Scroll is powered by It's Buzzing, Birmingham's community-first platform, built in collaboration with former members, school alumni networks, and oral history contributors across the city.
If you were there
If you were there — or you know someone who was — the archive is incomplete without you. Every name, every memory, every photograph matters.
"The city is made of stories, not just buildings. Help us keep them."