Sixteenth Street Baptist Church
2/21/2006
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The Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, was a key meeting place during the Civil Rights Movement and the site of a 1963 bombing. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2006.
The church had been a rallying post for civil rights activities throughout the 1960s. For instance, it was at this church that students were arrested during a training section for the 1963 Birmingham Campaign’s Children’s Crusade. It was also a space for prominent civil rights leaders such as Martin Luther King, Jr., Ralph David Abernathy, and Fred Shuttlesworth to congregate and make plans for the movement.
The active civil rights activity in the church marked it as a target for acts of violence by the Ku Klux Klan and other hate groups. On Sunday September 15, 1963, a bomb exploded in the church and four young girls, Denise McNair, Carole Robertson, Cynthia Wesley, and Addie Mae Collins, were killed.
The church had been a rallying post for civil rights activities throughout the 1960s. For instance, it was at this church that students were arrested during a training section for the 1963 Birmingham Campaign’s Children’s Crusade. It was also a space for prominent civil rights leaders such as Martin Luther King, Jr., Ralph David Abernathy, and Fred Shuttlesworth to congregate and make plans for the movement.
The active civil rights activity in the church marked it as a target for acts of violence by the Ku Klux Klan and other hate groups. On Sunday September 15, 1963, a bomb exploded in the church and four young girls, Denise McNair, Carole Robertson, Cynthia Wesley, and Addie Mae Collins, were killed.
This primary source comes from the Records from the Department of the Interior.
National Archives Identifier: 5629789
Full Citation: Photograph 48-DP-SIO NPS AL 2-20-06 1 SIO; Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, Birmingham, Alabama, key meeting place during civil rights movement and site of 1963 bombing, designated as National Historic Landmark; 2/21/2006; SIO NPS AL 2-20-06 1 SIO NPS AL 16th St Church 2-21-06 003.jpg; Photographs Documenting the Secretary's Activities, and Agency Officials, Events, Programs, and Managed Sites, 2001 - 2006; Records from the Department of the Interior, Record Group 48; National Archives at College Park, College Park, MD. [Online Version, https://docsteach.org/documents/document/sixteenth-street-baptist-church, May 2, 2024]Rights: Public Domain, Free of Known Copyright Restrictions. Learn more on our privacy and legal page.