As promised, radio talk show host Frank Matthews today introduced a slavery apology resolution to the Birmingham City Council. Matthews’ presentation couldn’t have been timed much better, as it livened up an otherwise slow news day at City Hall.

Speaking to the council, Matthews argued that it did not matter that Birmingham was founded five years after the Civil War and eight years after the Emancipation Proclamation. Instead, the Elyton Province, the precursor to Birmingham, was home to many slaves, including several dozen at the antebellum Arlington House, Matthews said.

“A hundred years from now, 50 years from now, 1000 years from now, the aliens if they come to this city can say that some bad things happened in the 60s in Birmingham, some bad things happened in the early 1800s,” Matthews said. “Slaves were all in the Elyton Province, but this city council went on record to say that Mr. William Mudd, one of the founders of Birmingham was wrong to own these 37 slaves.”

Also, Matthews pointed out, the city has appropriated $558,000 in this year’s budget for the Arlington antebellum home, which is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Matthews didn’t push the council to pass the resolution. Afterward, he said he did not pursue it further because he wasn’t sure he had the votes.

Interestingly, Councilor Carol Brown-Duncan (formerly known as Reynolds) asked the council to give Matthews time to speak. In the last two elections, Matthews has run against her as a rival candidate, and in 2005 pushed her into a runoff. But today, they were cordial to each other. However, Matthews blasted councilor Steven Hoyt, who Matthews said had gone against a promise to grant him time before the council.

Matthews brought a hangman’s noose with him to the meeting, but at Duncan’s request, he did not wear it during his presentation.

After hearing Matthews speech, the council took no action on the resolution.

Matthews’ proposal follows a week after the council rejected another resolution to join the Inclusive Communities Partnership, an initiative of the National League of Cities.

— Kyle Whitmire