16th Street Baptist Tells Its Powerful Story
by Michael J . Crosbie , FAIA
On the morning of September 15 , 1963 , a bomb exploded at the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham , Alabama . In the ladies lounge in the basement of the church , a number of young Black girls were preparing for Sunday school . The blast killed four of them : Addie Mae Collins , Denise McNair , Carole Robertson , and Cynthia Wesley . Twenty-two people were injured . According to the FBI , the dynamite bomb was concealed under a basement back staircase , placed there by members of the KKK . This event , which happened just weeks after the historic March on Washington and Dr . Martin Luther King , Jr .’ s “ I Have a Dream ” speech , further galvanized the civil rights movement . But it would not be until years later that three suspects were tried and convicted for this hate crime .
Interior of the “ experience room ” includes seating on original pews , dual video screens , and a clock stopped at the time of the bomb blast . Method 1
The 16th Street Baptist Church has created a museum in the church basement to memorialize this event in civil rights history , and to tell its own story . The congregation was founded in 1873 as the city ’ s first Black Baptist church , and seven years later it moved to the 16th Street location . In 1911 they completed a new church building of brick and brownstone designed by Wallace Rayfield , at the time the state ’ s only Black architect ( see “ His Light Shines in Our House ,” page six , for more on Rayfield ’ s career ). In the early years of the 1960s the church became a rallying point for mass meetings of the Black community to fight discrimination through protests and marches , which led to it becoming a target for the bombing . In 2006 , the church received National Historic Landmark designation from the US
The exhibit is designed to run the periphery of the basement wall , recounting the church ’ s history , including the bombing deaths of four girls in the congregation . Method 1
The exterior of the “ experience room ” gives an account of the bombing at 10:22 AM on September 15 , 1963 , using historic photos and reflections on Christian teaching . Method 1
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