Birmingham Civil Rights District
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The Birmingham Civil Rights District is an area of downtown Birmingham, Alabama where several significant events in the American Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s took place. The district was designated by the City of Birmingham in 1992 and covers a six-block area.
Among the landmarks in the district:
- 16th Street Baptist Church, where four young African American 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 that included famous scenes of policemen turning back protesters with fire hoses and police dogs. News coverage of the riots in this park helped turn the tide of public opinion in the United tates against segregationist policies. Several sculptures in the park depict scenes from those 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 Hotel, a meeting place for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and Alabama Christian Movement during the early 1960s.
- Carver Theatre, once a popular motion picture theater for blacks in Birmingham, now renovated as a live-performance theater and home of the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame.
- Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, a museum which chronicles the struggles of the civil rights movement, opened in 1993.
[edit] External links
- ProseandPhotos.com: Birmingham Civil Rights District
- Greater Birmingham Convention and Visitors Bureau: Civil Rights District
