When King joined the movement in Birmingham, he rallied Black residents of all backgrounds. The working-class residents trusted him because of Shuttlesworth’s endorsement, while the more affluent Black community from congregations such as 16th Street Baptist Church (shown at top of story) felt they could support a prestigious Ph.D. like King.
Activists looked to 16th Street Baptist Church, designed by pioneering Black architect Wallace Rayfield, as the ideal downtown gathering space for this newly united front. But church leaders were reluctant to get involved.
“There was a whole lot of resistance from the membership to bring the movement inside the church because of the fear of retaliation … Birmingham was a cruel and evil city during that time,” says Theodore Debro, former chair at 16th Street Baptist Church.
Eventually church leaders welcomed King, Shuttlesworth, and their legion of freedom fighters, who would receive their marching orders at 16th Street before going out to protest. They often went right across the street to Kelly Ingram Park, which along with the church is part of the Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument.
Images of these spring 1963 protests, known as Project C, spread across the world: firefighters blasting young demonstrators with high-pressure hoses and police officers terrorizing them with attack dogs. The Kennedy administration ultimately intervened, negotiating a deal to desegregate restrooms, lunch counters, and water fountains.
Though the protests were successful, segregationists responded with violence, and church leaders’ fears were realized on September 15, 1963, when Ku Klux Klan members detonated a bomb right before Sunday service, killing four young girls.
The tragedy is widely regarded as another key turning point in the Civil Rights Movement, and today, people can visit the site of the bombing during a tour of 16th Street Baptist Church.
