It’s National Park Week, and it’s likely that scenic vistas, majestic mountains and forests, and photogenic wildlife come to mind. After all, you’ll find those all represented on the iconic National Park Service emblem. But, the NPS has another essential responsibility—conserving and protecting our country’s history through historical and archaeological treasures. That’s why the NPS emblem is the shape of an arrowhead.
This year the theme for National Park Week is “Celebrate America’s Story.”
And today’s National Park Week designation is “Freedom Friday.”
I could not have asked for a more fitting day to share pictures from the Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument, which I visited in July.
Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument
I went to Alabama for the first time this summer, spending a few days in Birmingham for a wedding. I didn’t have a lot of extra time, but did manage a few runs, a visit to the Birmingham Botanical Gardens, and a stop at the Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument on my last morning.
Established in 2017, the Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument encompasses several historic landmarks of the Civil Rights Movement within four downtown blocks. Here the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, led by Martin Luther King Jr., and the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights, led by Fred Lee Shuttlesworth, organized the Birmingham Campaign in the spring of 1963. The goal was to bring attention to integration efforts in this most-segregated city through nonviolent direct action: boycotts, sit-ins, marches, and ultimately the Children’s Crusade marches led by Black schoolchildren.
It’s a pivotal historical location. The A.G. Gaston Motel, headquarters for the campaign and now visitor center for the national monument, unfortunately was closed for renovations during my visit. Also, tours of the 16th Street Baptist Church were fully booked. I questioned if a quick stop was even appropriate for such an important place, but to go to Birmingham and completely miss key landmarks of the American Civil Rights Movement felt wrong.
Kelly Ingram Park
So, we went to Kelly Ingram Park, a central assembly area for the Birmingham campaign in 1963. Here and in the nearby streets snarling police dogs, high-pressure water hoses, batons, and other tactics were aimed at non-violent protesters. More than 1,000 children marching peacefully for desegregation were arrested and placed in makeshift jails. Pictures of the violence raised a nationwide public outcry.
Sixteenth Street Baptist Church
Just across the street from Kelly Ingram Park is the 16th Street Baptist Church, the first Black church in Birmingham, established in 1873. In the 1960s it became an organizational headquarters and site of mass meetings for the Civil Rights Movement. Martin Luther King Jr. and Fred Shuttlesworth were frequent speakers at the church.
On Sunday morning, September 15, 1963, the Ku Klux Klan bombed the church, killing four girls—Addie Mae Collins, Carole Robertson, Cynthia Wesley, and Denise McNair—who were preparing for the church’s Youth Day. Twenty-two other victims suffered injuries. A funeral for three of the four victims was attended by more than 8,000 mourners, Black and white, though no city officials.
Sixteenth Street Baptist Church is still an active church and offers daily tours (book in advance).
The People
People make a place historic, and at the Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument you’ll find memorials of major figures who fought segregation:
Martin Luther King Jr. was the first president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and helped draw national attention to the city’s segregation and racial injustice. His famous “Letter from Birmingham Jail” was written after his arrest for marching here without a permit.
John Thomas Porter, Nelson H. Smith Jr., and A. D. King (younger brother of MLK) are depicted in the Three Ministers Kneeling sculpture by Raymond Kaskey. The three led a protest in response to the arrests of Martin Luther King Jr., Ralph Abernathy, and Fred Shuttlesworth.
Fred Lee Shuttlesworth was pastor of Bethel Baptist Church and led the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights, which coordinated boycotts and federal lawsuits aimed at dismantling segregation.
Preserving America’s Stories
I admit, I was hesitant about how to post this. Civil rights are substantial, ongoing issues. These historic sites include the bombing of children and major violence and injustices against peaceful citizens. My walk around a park does not add much context to such an important and deep subject as the Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument, though it’s left me wanting to return when the visitor center is open and to visit other sites on the U.S. Civil Rights Trail.
Ultimately, Birmingham, then the most segregated city in America according to King, became a turning point for public opinion in the Civil Rights Movement. That helped lead to the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and other anti-discrimination legislation. Then in 2017, our country’s first Black president signed a proclamation and designated these landmarks a national monument due to their collective historical significance.
Of course, there’s more to it than that. History is long and complicated and all around us. But first we must preserve it. Then we must stop and listen to its stories to understand it. To understand our country.
So, take a walk.
Stop and read a plaque.
Look at art.
And remember that today’s news is tomorrow’s history, and all of America’s stories need to be told.