Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument

Alabama

Managed by National Park Service

Established 2017

18 acres

Overview

Created by President Barack Obama on January 12, 2017 (the same day as Freedom Riders and Reconstruction Era National Monuments), this site encompasses four city blocks of downtown within the larger 36-acre Birmingham Civil Rights District. In 1963, this area was where the 16th Street Baptist Church was bombed and the Children’s Crusade (a non-violent protest march) was attacked by policemen with water hoses and dogs. The only portion of the site run by the National Park Service (NPS) is the A. G. Gaston Motel, which was bombed by the KKK after Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. and other civil rights leaders stayed there from April through May 1963 to plan their non-violent campaign against segregation laws. The City of Birmingham and the NPS have restored the motel to its historic appearance and a park ranger is stationed there three days a week.

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Highlights

Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, A.G. Gaston Motel, 16th Street Baptist Church, Kelly Ingram Park, St. Paul United Methodist Church, Bethel Baptist Church

Must-Do Activity

The Birmingham Civil Rights Institute is a history museum that opened in 1992 across from the 16th Street Baptist Church (see Photographic Opportunity). With a timed entry ticket, your self-guided tour starts with a short video, then an immersive walk through the struggle for civil rights in Birmingham and around the U.S. It includes powerful displays on the Freedom Riders bus burning and Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” as well as the decades-long effort to bring to justice the bombers of the 16th Street Baptist Church. If you come on one of the three days per week that a park ranger is posted at the A.G. Gaston Motel, be sure to stop there afterwards to see the ongoing reconstruction work. Six miles north of the city in the Collegeville neighborhood, Bethel Baptist Church was bombed three times in 1956, 1958 and 1962, partly why the city earned the nickname “Bombingham.” The church is associated with the influential Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, who has a statue outside the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute.

Best Trail

Across the street from the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, Kelly Ingram Park features sculptures, interpretive signs, and an audio tour describing the violent attacks by police officers and dogs on civil rights protesters (many of them children) on May 7, 1963.

Photographic Opportunity

Across the street from the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, 16th Street Baptist Church was bombed on September 15, 1963, killing four young girls, an act of domestic terrorism that propelled the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Tours inside the church are by appointment only.

Peak Season

Spring and fall

Hours

The A.G. Gaston Motel is open Thursday through Saturday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute is open Tuesday through Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

https://www.nps.gov/bicr/planyourvisit/hours.htm

Fees

No cost for the A.G. Gaston Motel or Kelly Ingram Park, but there is an admission fee at the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute (online reservations recommended).

Road Conditions

All roads are paved with a free parking lot next to the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute.

Camping

In northeast Alabama, De Soto State Park offers camping, in addition to excellent hiking trails to several waterfalls. There are also three backcountry campsites in Little River Canyon National Preserve available from February through September with a permit. Cheaha State Park and Joe Wheeler State Park both have campgrounds and lodges. Talladega, Tuskegee, and William B. Bankhead National Forests also offer car camping and backpacking opportunities.

Horseshoe Bend National Military Park (Alabama)

Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site (Alabama)