If We Can Soar: What Birmingham Roller Pigeons Offer the Men of South Central


The Black Country Roller Club and its founder, Cornell Norwood, fostered a subculture in Los Angeles' South Central neighborhoods among Black men who broke the color barrier in competitive pigeon husbandry. Besides the success they found in their hobby of breeding and raising roller pigeons, known for their distinctive aerial acrobatic talents, the young men and boys drawn to this world found mutual support "in times of flux and instability," and a meritocracy that provided meditative benefits: "a more organic form of the Big Brother program, and a culturally sensitive outlet for mental health."

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