wfn.org | SDOP Committee Revisits The Civil Rights Movement in Birmingham

[PCUSA.NEWS@pcusa.org]

3-February-1998 
98026 
 
    SDOP Committee Revisits The 
    Civil Rights Movement in Birmingham 
 
    by Julian Shipp 
 
BIRMINGHAM, Ala.-Honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday, the 
National Presbyterian Committee on the Self-Development of People (SDOP) 
revisited the civil rights movement of the 1960s by touring two historic 
sites here Jan. 16 (through the slain civil rights leader was actually born 
Jan. 15). 
 
    Organized after the 182nd General Assembly (1970) of the former United 
Presbyterian Church in the United States of America, SDOP is a ministry 
that works to empower poor, oppressed and disadvantaged people who are 
seeking to change the structures that perpetuate poverty, oppression and 
injustice. 
 
    The Sixteenth Street Baptist Church 
 
     The group first visited historic Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, 
organized in 1873 as the First Colored Baptist Church of Birmingham, the 
first African-American church here. 
 
    A showcase of  modified Romanesque and Byzantine design, the present 
church was completed in 1911. It features twin towers with pointed domes, a 
cupola over the sanctuary accessible by a wide stairway and a large 
basement auditorium with several rooms along the east and west sides. 
 
    Because of segregation, Sixteenth Street Baptist Church served many 
purposes, according to Gladys Surels, a church historian. It functioned as 
meeting place, social center and lecture hall for a variety of activities 
important to the lives of the city's black citizens. W.E.B. Du Bois, Mary 
McLeod Bethune, Paul Robeson and Ralph Bunche were among many noted African 
Americans who spoke at the church during its early years. 
 
    "African Americans from across the city and neighboring towns came to 
Sixteenth Street, then called `everybody's church,' to take part in the 
special programs it hosted," Surels said. 
 
    Due to the church's prominence in the black community, and also because 
of its central location in downtown Birmingham, the church served as 
headquarters for civil rights mass meetings and rallies in the early 1960s. 
During this time of trial and confrontation, the church provided strength 
and safety for black men, women and children dedicated to breaking the 
bonds of segregation in Birmingham, a city many black Americans at that 
time believed to be the most racist in America. 
 
    The mass meetings held in Sixteenth Street Baptist Church and in many 
other churches in Birmingham in the Spring of 1963 resulted in marches and 
demonstrations that were met with police retaliation and brutality still 
painful to the memory of all who lived in the city and the millions who saw 
it reported on television newscasts. 
 
    Most of the marchers were school children and several thousand were 
arrested. The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the Rev. Fred L. 
Shuttlesworth (a former church pastor) and others provided 
inspirational  leadership to the marches during those chaotic times. 
Ultimately, the chains of public segregation in Birmingham were broken. 
 
    However, the progress begun that May was interrupted by disaster. On 
Sunday, Sept. 15, 1963, at 10:22 a.m., a bomb exploded at Sixteenth Street 
Baptist Church, killing four young girls attending Sunday school and 
injuring more than 20 members of the congregation. Later that same evening, 
in different parts of town, a black youth was killed by police and another 
black youth was murdered by a mob of white men. It was a shocking, 
terrifying day in the history of Birmingham, a day that forced the city to 
come to grips with its bitter racist reputation. 
 
    But the tragedy of that Sunday produced outpourings of sympathy, 
concern and financial contributions from all over the world. More than 
$300,000 was contributed for the restoration of the damaged church, which 
reopened for service on June 7, 1964. Of particular interest is one gift - 
a large stained-glass window in the image of a black crucified Christ, 
given by the people of Wales and designed by John Petts. The window, which 
SDOP members saw during their tour, is located in the rear center of the 
church at the balcony level. 
 
    The Rev. Christopher M. Hamlin, the current pastor of Sixteenth Street 
Baptist Church, said the congregation works hard to ensure the church 
remains not only a historic monument, but relevant to the lives of the 
members of the congregation and the Birmingham community. 
 
    "Today Sixteenth Street Baptist Church serves as a pivotal reminder 
that racial unity is a struggle involving all citizens,"  Hamlin said. "It 
is a symbol of the courageous spirit that helped make each American more 
truly free." 
 
              The Birmingham Civil Rights Institute 
 
    Adjacent to Sixteenth Street Baptist Church is the Birmingham Civil 
Rights Institute. 
 
    Events in Birmingham during the 1960s stirred the conscience of the 
nation and influenced the course of civil and human rights around the 
world. The Institute seeks to capture the spirit and drama of countless 
individuals - some well known, most unsung - who dared to confront racial 
discrimination and bigotry. Dedicated on Nov. 15, 1992, the Institute is 
the community's commitment to the courageous souls who walked to freedom. 
It is also a testament to building bridges of understanding among all 
people. 
 
    The exhibitory program is literally a movement through the history of 
African-American life and the struggle for civil rights and human rights 
worldwide. Visitors experience for themselves the drama of this story as it 
is reenacted in the permanent displays. 
 
    Vital components of the Institute include 
 
    ù the Archives Department, which serves as a national resource for 
      educators and researchers. One major mission is to collect and 
      preserve civil rights documents and artifacts 
    ù the Oral History Project, which is documenting Birmingham's role in 
      the civil rights movement through those most qualified to tell the 
      story - the participants 
    ù the Education Department, which produces programs directed at both 
      schools and public audiences, as well as curriculum guides, 
      workshops, lectures, a speaker's bureau, walking tours and special 
      exhibits 
    ù changing exhibits, which appeal to all audiences, such as "Southern 
      Roots," "Black Achievers in Science," "Lest We Forget," and "Anne 
      Frank in the World." 
 
    The permanent exhibits in the Institute are self-directed and 
compelling. For instance, in the Barriers Gallery, 14 venues convey the 
quality of life under segregation from about 1920 to 1954. Special features 
include replicas of a mine entrance, a segregated streetcar, a newspaper 
office, a classroom, a courtroom and a church. A video jukebox highlights 
musicians of the era. 
 
    In the Confrontation Gallery, three venues eerily depict the climate of 
violence and intimidation that reinforced segregation. As visitors walk 
through the gallery, surround-sound speakers broadcast derogatory racial 
epithets as seemingly holographic images of people from all walks of life 
etched on sheets of glass appear before them in a ghostly manner. 
 
    And in the Movement Gallery, 16 venues progress through the history of 
the civil rights movement from 1955 to 1963 with the Montgomery Bus Boycott 
and Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights highlighted. The "Bus Ride 
for Freedom" segment includes the charred hulk of a firebombed Greyhound 
bus and a large-screen video program. 
 
    Afterward, several SDOP members reflected on their visit to Sixteenth 
Street Baptist Church and the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute. Oscar 
Heyward of Howard Beach, N.Y., SDOP Committee vice chair, reminded the 
members that SDOP is philosophically aligned with the ministry King devoted 
his life to. 
 
    "SDOP embodies human dignity, worth, justice, social, political, and 
cultural freedom," Heyward said. "As such, SDOP continues to carry out the 
vision of Dr. Martin Luther King." 
 
    "[The Institute and church] visit was very painful to remember and it 
made me wish I had done more to help," said Mary Ann Walt of Solon Springs, 
Wis., an SDOP Committee member who said she grew up in Alabama during 
segregation. 
 
    "[Slavery and segregation in America] did happen, it did take place," 
said the Rev. Fredric T. Walls, SDOP director. "And I think to take no 
action is just as dangerous as to take sides with those who said the 
Holocaust never took place." 
 
    "We've come a long way in race relations, but we've still got a long 
way to go," said the Rev. Carnell Hampton of Gable, S.C., an SDOP Committee 
member. "We have not arrived. Oppression is still here. The poor are still 
among us." 

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