The Birmingham Civil Rights District is an area of downtown

Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of the U.S. state of Alabama. Birmingham is the seat of Jefferson County, Alabama's most populous county. As of the 2021 census estimates, Birmingham had a population of 197,575, down 1% fr ...

where several significant events in the

Civil Rights Movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional racial segregation, discrimination, and disenfranchisement throughout the Unite ...

of the 1950s and 1960s took place. The district was designated by the City of Birmingham in 1992 and covers a six-block area. Landmarks in the district include: *

16th Street Baptist Church The 16th Street Baptist Church is a Baptist church in Birmingham, Alabama, United States. In 1963, the church was bombed by Ku Klux Klan members. The bombing killed four young girls in the midst of the Civil Rights Movement. The church is stil ...

, where the students involved in the 1963

Birmingham campaign The Birmingham campaign, also known as the Birmingham movement or Birmingham confrontation, was an American movement organized in early 1963 by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) to bring attention to the integration efforts o ...

and its Children's Crusade were trained by SCLC activist

James Bevel James Luther Bevel (October 19, 1936 – December 19, 2008) was a minister and leader of the 1960s Civil Rights Movement in the United States. As a member of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), and then as its Director of Direct ...

and left in groups of 50 to march on City Hall, and where four young

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

girls were killed and 22 churchgoers were injured in a bombing on September 15, 1963. * Kelly Ingram Park, where many protests by blacks were held, often resulting in recrimination by Birmingham

police The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and th ...

, including the famous 1963 scenes of policemen turning back young protesters with fire hoses and police dogs. News coverage of the police attack in this park helped turn the tide of public opinion in the United States against legalized segregationist policies. Several sculptures in the park depict scenes from those police riots. * The Fourth Avenue Business District, where much of the city's black businesses and entertainment venues were located; the area was the hub of the black community for many years. The business district includes A. G. Gaston's Booker T. Washington Insurance Co. and the Gaston Motel, a meeting place for the

Southern Christian Leadership Conference The Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) is an African-American civil rights organization based in Atlanta, Georgia. SCLC is closely associated with its first president, Martin Luther King Jr., who had a large role in the American civ ...

and Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights during the early 1960s. * Carver Theatre, once a popular motion picture

theater Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...

for blacks in Birmingham, now renovated as a live-performance theater and home of the

Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame The Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame (AJHF) was founded in 1978, and opened a museum on September 18, 1993, with a mission "to foster, encourage, educate, and cultivate a general appreciation of the medium of jazz music as a legitimate, original and dis ...

. * Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, a museum which chronicles the events, actions, and victories of the Civil Rights Movement, opened in 1993. On March 21, 2016, Rep. Terri Sewell introduced to the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

H.R. 4817, a bill that would designate the Birmingham Civil Rights District as a

National Historical Park National Historic Site (NHS) is a designation for an officially recognized area of national historic significance in the United States. An NHS usually contains a single historical feature directly associated with its subject. The National Historic ...

. On March 28, 2016, the bill was referred to the Subcommittee on Federal Lands. However, a portion of the district was designated by executive order by President Obama as the

Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument The Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument is a United States National Monument in Birmingham, Alabama established in 2017 to preserve and commemorate the work of the Civil Rights Movement. The monument is administered by the National Park Serv ...

on January 12, 2017.Pres. Obama signs executive order establishing Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument
.

WBRC WBRC (channel 6) is a television station in Birmingham, Alabama, United States, affiliated with the Fox network. It is owned by Gray Television alongside low-power, Class A Telemundo affiliate WTBM-CD (channel 24). The two stations studios ...

, 11 January 2017

References

External links

ProseandPhotos.com: Birmingham Civil Rights District
{{Civil rights movement National Register of Historic Places in Birmingham, Alabama History of civil rights in the United States Geography of Birmingham, Alabama History of Birmingham, Alabama Tourist attractions in Birmingham, Alabama Historic districts in Birmingham, Alabama Civil rights movement museums

See also

References

External links