Operating Hours & Seasons

Addresses

Directions

Hours & Seasons

Amenities

Contact Information

Image Gallery

 

Associated Civil Rights sites with tours or exhibits

 

The Birmingham Civil Rights Institute (BCRI), part of the Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument is a cultural and educational research center that promotes a comprehensive understanding for the significance of civil rights developments in Birmingham.

NPS/ Jacob Garrett

Birmingham Civil Rights Institute

512 16^th Street N.
Birmingham, AL 35203
[phone]

Closed Sunday and Monday
Open Tuesday–Saturday: 10 am–5 pm
Contact directly for admission cost. Last admission 1 hour before closing

Birmingham Civil Rights Institute is located next to the A.G. Gaston Motel, is a cultural and educational research center. Opened in 1992, the institute presently reaches more than 150,000 annual visitors, and whose exhibits provide an overview of the struggle for civil rights in Birmingham.

 

Sixteenth Street Baptist Church is most often remembered as the site of a bombing that killed 4 girls. It would play important roles in Project C and would be the backdrop of photos of violence against protestors.

NPS/ Jacob Garrett

16th Street Baptist Church

1530 6th Ave N,
Birmingham, AL 35203
[phone]
Contact directly for tours and hours.

Sixteenth Street Baptist Church was the target of the September 1963 bombing that killed four young girls who were preparing for Sunday school. This act of domestic terrorism became a galvanizing force for the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

 

St. Paul was involved with efforts to integrate Birmingham buses in 1956, and nonviolence training for Project C in 1963. It served as a mustering point for the Palm Sunday Children’s March.

NPS/ Jacob Garrett

St. Paul United Methodist Church

1500 6th Ave N,
Birmingham, AL 35203
[phone]
Contact directly for tours and hours.

Just after the current church building was erected in 1956, St. Paul served as the site of meetings to integrate Birmingham buses. During the spring of 1963 , St. Paul hosted meetings and training sessions in nonviolence as a part of Project C. Also during Project C, St. Paul served as the mustering point for the Palm Sunday Children’s March in 1963, which ended with police, dogs, and fire hoses aggressively dispersing the nonviolent marchers.

 

Historic Bethel Baptist Church is connected to the Civil Rights Movement through the desegregation work of Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth and the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights.

NPS Photo

Historic Bethel Baptist Church

3200 28th Ave N,
Birmingham, AL 35207
[phone] x103
Contact directly for tours and hours.

Historic Bethel Baptist Church is located six miles north of the city center. The church was the historical headquarters of the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights led by Shuttlesworth. The church was essential to the 1961 Freedom Rides and 1963 desegregation efforts in Birmingham. Historic Bethel's role in the nonviolent, direct action protest movement for during the 1950's and 1960's led to the church being bombed three times – in 1956, 1958 and 1962.

 

Other local Civil Rights sites without tours

 

Statues in Kelly Ingram Park remind visitors of the violence that took place there in the fight for freedom.

NPS Photo

Kelly Ingram Park

5th Avenue N & 16th Street
Birmingham, AL 35203

Open daily: 8 am–8 pm
Note: Kelly Ingram Park is an outdoor green space with numerous civil rights monuments and a short walking trail.

Kelly Ingram Park was where protesters, including many children, were violently disrupted by police dogs and powerful water cannons. Images of the brutal police response to peaceful protesters spread across the country through the news media, shocking the conscience of the nation and the world.

 

This Masonic Temple provided spaces for black business to thrive when they were banned from other locations

NPS/ Jacob Garrett

Masonic Temple

1630 4th Ave N,
Birmingham, AL 35203
Note: This building is under construction, visitors may view the exterior, but not the interior.

The Colored Masonic Temple was situated in the middle of the 4th Avenue business district. This district was one of the few commercial areas of town where African Americans owned businesses and were welcomed into restaurants, pharmacies, and clothing stores. Against all odds, the 4th Avenue business district became a booming hub, thanks in large part to places like the Colored Masonic Temple.