To make a donation to the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, call (866) 328-9696, ext. 236.
MILESTONES a walking tour
Saturday walking tours promoting hometown pride and tourism take place during the summer months at the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute. All walks begin at 10:00 a.m. and follow a pre-determined, walk-by route. The walking tours are free and open to the public. All tours are designed to increase awareness in local culture and history.
Birmingham Civil Rights Institute 520 Sixteenth Street North Birmingham, Alabama 35203
(866) 328-9696, ext. 211 www.bcri.org
MILESTONES a walking tour
MILESTONES a walking tour Birmingham Civil Rights and Fourth Avenue Business Districts Saturdays at 10:00 a.m. Visit the BCRI Web site at www.bcri.org for specific dates.
“PROMOTING HOMETOWN PRIDE AND TOURISM� Tours coordinated by the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute in collaboration with the Alabama Bureau of Tourism and Travel
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MILESTONES 1873
1911
1926
1930
1954
1961
1963
1965
1968
1992
the birmingham tour
Contained within a four-block area on the western corner of Downtown Birmingham is a virtual Mecca of AfricanAmerican history and culture. This area, formally known as the Birmingham Civil Rights and Fourth Avenue Business Districts, stands as a milestone in American History. Furthermore, it is also an invaluable resource to the present and a beacon to the future. Several of the sites have been revitalized and stand as a testimony to the firm place in history the entire district possesses.
THE SITES YOU WILL SEE . . . SIXTEENTH STREET BAPTIST CHURCH
Although founded in 1873, the current church was designed by Black architect Wallace A. Rayfield and built by the Windham Brothers Construction Company in 1911.
A.G. GASTON MOTEL
Now referred to as the A.G. Gaston Gardens, this facility opened in 1954 and for many years provided Birmingham’s only first-class lodging for African Americans and served in the 1960s as a gathering place for civil rights leaders.
OLD FEDERAL EDERAL COURTHOUSE
ALABAMA JAZZ HALL OF FAME
On October 24, 1961, U.S. District Judge H.H. Grooms ordered desegregation of city-operated facilities in Birmingham by January 15, 1962. His chamber was located in this building.
This facility makes its home in the historic Carver Theatre for the Performing Arts. The museum honors great jazz artists with ties to the state of Alabama.
KELLY INGRAM PARK
FOURTH AVENUE BUSINESS DISTRICT
BIRMINGHAM CIVIL RIGHTS INSTITUTE
Distinguished as “A Place of Revolution And Reconciliation,” historic Kelly Ingram Park serves as the threshold to the Civil Rights District and was the site of the 1963 demonstrations.
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The neighborhood along Fourth Avenue from 15th to 18th Streets developed as the city’s Black business district in the early part of the 1900s.
The Institute’s permanent exhibitions are a self-directed journey through the Birmingham Civil Rights Movement and human rights struggles worldwide. BCRI opened November 1992.
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