Sharing the Magic City’s story, 1 kid at a time

While “Down in the Ham” — a new children’s book that provides a walking tour and history of Birmingham — is based in the Magic City, its origins are not.

The author, Ashley Chesnutt, is a Georgia native who moved to Birmingham in 2008 and was first inspired to write during a 2016 trip to Greenville, South Carolina. She walked the city with her friends and their kids, who kept talking about “seeing the mice downtown,” Chesnutt said. 

In Greenville, there are nine mice statues throughout the downtown area, and someone had written a book about the mice.

“That book got them [the kids] so excited about their downtown, and as I was driving back to Birmingham from Greenville, I thought, ‘I really wish we could capture that kind of excitement for Birmingham’s downtown,’” Chesnutt said.

In the summer of 2015, Chesnutt said, she felt compelled to start serving in other places in Birmingham. She was working at Church at Brook Hills as associate singles minister, but wanted to serve more outside of her church.

“I realized I was definitely doing good things,” she said, “but I was kind of living in a bubble.”

She started volunteering at pregnancy center Sav-A-Life Vestavia, but still wanted to do more in the city. While downtown Birmingham’s recent renovations have brought a greater draw for young professionals, Chesnutt said she hadn’t seen as many families or older individuals in Birmingham proper. She wanted everyone to be excited about downtown.

“There’s a lot of great things that have happened in Birmingham,” Chesnutt said.

Even though the idea of a children’s book was circulating in her head, Chesnutt said she knew there was no point in starting one unless she had great illustrations. That’s when she found Abby Little, a Minor resident and founder of Reflect Visual Arts.

Sav-A-Life was having a fundraiser, and Chesnutt spotted a painting during the silent auction. The piece, called “Lovingham,” was a colorful rendition of Birmingham.

“As soon as I saw it, I was like, ‘That’s it. That’s the illustrator. That’s the artist,’” Chesnutt said. “So I bid on the painting, and I lost.”

Even though she lost out on the painting, Chesnutt reached out to Little about the potential children’s book. Since seeing Little’s painting at the silent auction, inspiration had struck and Chesnutt wrote the entire manuscript in a few months. Then, she messaged Little and they met up to talk about the project.

“We both kind of left knowing that this was going to happen,” Chesnutt said.

“When she brought up the project to me, the way she pitched it was just so intriguing because I grew up a Birmingham child. I’ve always lived here,” Little said, adding that while she got to experience the downtown area growing up, she had several friends from school who saw the area as dangerous or not the best place for kids. “Down in the Ham,” she said, is something that could help introduce more kids to the city.

“I have always loved being with kids and sharing with them, so I just felt this was such a unique marriage of my work and my passion,” Little said. “I thought, ‘Wow. Kids are going to want to read this, and they’re going to learn something about their city.’”

The book includes two parts: a history of Birmingham and a scavenger hunt along Richard Arrington Jr. Boulevard. As she was writing, Chesnutt said she focused on that street as it provides a lot of history on Birmingham, starting with the history of the city’s first black mayor.

During the time that they worked on the project, both women kept in mind Birmingham’s history and making sure it’s accurate.

“We want to portray Birmingham, the history of it, accurately,” Chesnutt said. “In a kid-friendly way, but we don’t want to hide the history.”

This history includes the racial divides, the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing, the Civil Rights Movement and economic challenges in Birmingham. Little’s initial “Lovingham” painting was in color, which she said helped show the brightness of the city and represent the newness of Birmingham art. But along those same lines, she reflected on how “color” had always been divisive in the city’s history.

Throughout the book, readers move from more muted colors at the start, in the “darker” parts of the city’s history, Chesnutt said.

“As you move into the present day in the tour, the color scheme moves brighter in the book,” she said. “Things are changing, and things are brighter, and we wanted to represent that brighter present and brighter future that we see.”

The book launched in June and so far has received positive feedback, Chesnutt and Little said. They hope as more people hear about it and read it, more families will make their way into downtown. 

“For me, having children and our families in our city is our next generations and our next step forward,” Little said. “All of these revitalization efforts can end so quickly, in one generation.”

In addition to bringing people into Birmingham, the book will give back to the city. 

Some of the book’s proceeds will be donated to The Lovelady Center, a faith-based organization that provides job training, coaching and mentorship to individuals coming out of prison.

“With the book, we wanted to be able to write a book about the city, but we also wanted the book to contribute to the people of the city,” Chesnutt said.

For more information, go to downintheham.com.