The Sixteenth Street        Baptist Church 







The following information is taken from the Visitor Guide at the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church.
"Organized in 1873 as the First Colored Baptist Church of Birmingham, Alabama.  Sixteenth Street was the first black church in Birmingham."
"Tragedy During Sunday School 
Sunday, September 15, 1963, at 10:22 a.m., the church became known around the world when a bomb exploded, killing four young girls attending Sunday School and injuring more than 20 other members of the congregation.
"Due to Sixteenth Street's prominence in the black community, and its central location to downtown Birmingham, the church served as headquarters for the civil rights mass meetings and rallies in the early 1960s.

The building stands prominently on the corner and is an anchor to Ingram Park and the Civil Rights Institute.
It is amazing that so much history took place in one area of Birmingham.  The church is beautiful and well preserved with a small photography museum in the basement.  The nave of the church has a beautiful organ and the crowning glory, for me, was the beautiful, breath taking stained glass window in the rear of the church.

excerpt from the Visitor Guide
"A special memorial gift, a large stained glass window of the image of a black crucified Christ designed by John Petts, was given by the people of Wales on June 6, 1965.  The window is located in the rear center of the church at the balcony level and seeks to express the identification of Christ and Every man.  In the face of the huge world problem of intolerance, the denial of human rights, hatred, violence of man against man, color-bars and segregation, the simple words of Christ stand out: YOU DO IT TO ME...!"

The church is filled with the spirit of the past and looks toward a hopeful future.