Remembering the Space Age. - Black Vault Radio Network (BVRN)

OperatION paperCLIp IN hUNtSVILLe, aLaBaMa
almost tenfold, from 16,437 to 137,802, over the following two decades, adding
people from other regions of the United States as well as from other countries. 8
Formerly a small cotton mill town that prided itself in being the “watercress
capital of the world,” huntsville soon became known as “rocket City,” to
some even “Space Capital of the Universe,” for its new space- and missilerelated
industry. today, real estate companies and travel agents like to advertise
that huntsville has the “highest percentage of engineers and more ph.D.’s per
capita than any city in the country.” 9 huntsville’s main newspaper perceives the
town as hugely indebted to the German rocket specialists, especially Wernher
von Braun, who was titled “huntsville’s frst citizen” in an article describing
the ceremonies at huntsville’s courthouse to send him and his family of to
work for NaSa in Washington, DC, in 1970. 10 enforcing the notion that
the city owes much of its prosperity to the arrival of these immigrants, the
Von Braun Civic Center was named after the most prominent member of the
rocket team—a constant reminder of the Germans’ presence in town while
simultaneously showcasing huntsville’s defant position towards more critical
national and international viewpoints.
While the casual observer or newcomer to huntsville is not likely to
hear any contradictions to this impressive and positive portrayal, the people
in the town were not then, nor are they now, unanimous in their assessment
of the newcomers. For this excerpt of my research, I focus on interviews
with members of the african-american community. I intend to illustrate the
signifcance of social positioning based on racial categorizations in a Jim Crow
environment for perceptions of the German families’ impact on huntsville. In
the larger project, I propose that some dominant narratives in huntsville stem
from power structures based in the history of slavery and Jim Crow, as well
as in certain forms of anti-Semitism and elitism among those with economic
power in this once small cotton mill town. the German group clearly ft well
into these preexisting structures and, as we will see, were sometimes perceived
as reinforcing them.
Naturally, the perspectives of individuals evaluating this event are based
on personal backgrounds and level of contact with members of the German
group. the most prominent public voices typically heard on this subject
are either members of the German community, former coworkers, or close
8. these population numbers are for huntsville proper. W. Craig remington and thomas J.
Kallsen, eds., Historical Atlas of Alabama: Historical Locations by County, vol. 1 (tuscaloosa, aL:
Department of Geography, College of arts and Sciences, University of alabama, 1997).
9. holly McDonald,“home page:Welcome to huntsville,” Keller Williams realty Web site, http://
www.hollymcdonald.com/ (accessed august 22, 2007), and “Welcome to huntsville: It’s a Great
place to Live,” Inspired Living: Greater Huntsville Relocation Guide (huntsville, aL: price-Witt
publications LLC, Fall/Winter 2005): 12.
10. Bill Sloat, “rocket City Launches von Braun,” Huntsville News (February 25, 1970): 1-2.
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