 In addition , Birmingham 's economy was stagnating as the city was shifting from blue collar to white collar jobs . According to Time magazine in 1958 , the only thing white workers had to gain from desegregation was more competition from black workers . Fifty unsolved racially motivated bombings between 1945 and 1962 had earned the city the nickname " Bombingham " . A neighborhood shared by white and black families experienced so many attacks that it was called " Dynamite Hill " . Black churches in which civil rights were discussed became specific targets for attack . 
