Birmingham

16th Street Baptist Church

This church suffered the deadliest moment of the civil rights era.  Klansmen bombed the church, killing four girls in the basement who were getting ready for Sunday School.  

For me, the most powerful display in the Civil Rights Institute is tucked in a hallway between momentous exhibits.  Denise McNair was only 11 years old when she died in the 16th Street bombing.  Her family provided a time-line of memorabilia to tell her life story.  It included her baby picture, Sunday School dress, class work, favorite doll, and finally the shoes she wore and the brick imbedded in her skull when she died.  Overwhelming...

Birmingham Civil Rights Institute

After watching a short introduction movie about the Civil Rights Movement, the screen rises and you are faced with these two drinking fountains.  It's a very powerful moment.  The first part of the institute is a comparison of life for Birmingham blacks and whites at the time.

High school classrooms for whites on the left and blacks on the right.  Can you tell the white classroom is a modern facility with newer furnishings?

In December of 1960 the Supreme Court rules that segregation in inter-state travel is illegal.  Separate white and colored bathrooms and dining rooms are no longer allowed, inter-state travelers have the right to use whatever facilities they choose and sit wherever they wish.  Freedom Riders decide to test the law by taking the bus from Washington DC to New Orleans.  They travel without incident through Virginia and North Carolina, several people are beaten and arrested in South Carolina.  In Georgia white leaders decide to uphold the Supreme Court ruling.  Upon arriving in Alabama, the Riders are attacked by a mob of over 100 Klansmen who smash windows and slash tires.  The bus tries to flee but is again stopped and set fire!  The mob holds the door closed to burn the riders alive!  Fortunately an undercover cop pulls his gun and forces the Klansmen back.  The people tumble from the bus before the gas tank explodes but not before several are beaten!  After the violence subsides, a 12 year old white girl, who lives nearby, brings water to the bleeding Riders who are still choking from the smoke.  For daring to help, she and her family are ostracized and forced to leave the county.  This is that Freedom Rider bus!

Anonymously donated Klutz Klux Klan robe and hood. 

Original cell where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote "Letter From Birmingham Jail" in 1963.

Martin Luther King Jr. In the Birmingham Jail.  All black and white photographs are iconic images I found on the internet that brought life to the injustices of the Jim Crow era.

Kelly Ingram Park

Four Spirits honors the four girls who died in the 1963 bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church.  The girls were Addie Mae Collins, Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson, and Denise McNair.

Children's Crusade

Each of James Drake's sculptures appear on either side of the walkway creating a very visceral experience.  On May 2, 1963 more than 1,000 students skipped school and marched on downtown.  Police Chief Bull Conner responded by jailing more than 600 children that day.  So the next day, another 1,000 students filled the park.  With his cells full and his back against the wall, Conner responded savagely.  The legend reads "We ain't afraid of your jail".

Ground Zero

Police Chief Bull Connor used snarling police dogs to attack civil rights marchers.  You walk between these dogs and immediately get a sense of what it might have been like for the protesters.

Water Cannons

Bull Connor ordered the fearless "Child Crusaders" to be blasted with high pressure fire hoses.  This sculpture shows the water cannons that were aimed at civil rights protesters knocking them to the ground from the force of the water.

The Foot Soldiers

Statue depicts teen being attacked by one of the infamous Bull Connor police dogs.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Rickwood Field

Rickwood Field is recognized as America's oldest baseball park.  Opening day was August 18, 1910. The field served as the home of the Birmingham Barons and the Birmingham Black Barons for most of the 20th century.

Some of baseballs finest, from Willie Mays to Ty Cobb to Babe Ruth to Dizzy Dean and Reggie Jackson, have played on this field.

Rickwood Field is now home to Birmingham's high school teams as well as men's amateur teams.  Wouldn't it be something to play a game on this famous field?

Vulcan Statue

The Vulcan Statue is the largest cast iron statue in the world and is the city symbol reflecting it's roots in the iron and steel industry.  The 56 foot tall Vulcan is the Roman god of fire and forge.  It was created as Birmingham's entry for the 1904 World's Fair.