Organized in 1873 as the First Colored Baptist Church of Birmingham, Alabama. Sixteenth Street was the first black church in Birmingham.
The church was designed by Wallace Rayfield, the state’s only Black architect, under the supervision of T.C. Windham, a black contractor from Birmingham, and completed in 1911.
September 15, 1963, at 10:22 a.m., the church became known around the world when a bomb planted by Ku Klux Klan members exploded, killing four young girls attending Sunday School (Four girls, Addie Mae Collins (age 14, born April 18, 1949); Carol Denise McNair (age 11, born November 17, 1951); Carole Robertson (age 14, born April 24, 1949); and Cynthia Wesley (age 14, born April 30, 1949).More than 20 additional people were injured in the explosion, one of whom was Addie Mae's younger sister, 12-year-old Sarah Collins. Later that same evening, in different parts of town, a black youth was killed by police and one was murdered by a mob of white men.
All but one of the church's stained-glass windows were destroyed in the explosion. The sole stained-glass window largely undamaged in the explosion depicted Christ leading a group of young children.
Within the 16th Street Baptist Church, there still stands the Welsh Window donated by artist John Petts, the stained-glass window depicts a black Christ with his arms outstretched; his right arm pushing away hatred and injustice, the left extended in an offering of forgiveness.
Petts then elaborated that the inspiration for the stained-glass image was a verse from the Gospel of Matthe: "Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me." The Welsh Window bears the inscription, "Given by The People of Wales". #ourhistory #WednesdayWonders #Alabama #Birmingham #cvilrightstrail #historiclandmark #historicchurch
Sumner, Mississippi, was the home of one of the most pivotal cases of the Civil Rights Movement – the Emmett Till murder trial. Sumner and the town of Money, about 30 miles south, became national focal points after Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam brutally murdered 14-year-old Till and were later acquitted of any charges at their trial at the Sumner courthouse. Till became an emblem of the Civil Rights Movement because his story shed light on the horrific treatment of African-Americans in Mississippi and the South. Today, his memory is preserved in these cities through historical markers, an interpretive center and various initiatives in his honor.
The Emmett Till Interpretive Center is your next stop. About 35 minutes from Money, Sumner was home to the murder trial that ended in the acquittal of Till’s killers. The Tallahatchie County Courthouse has been rehabilitated and made into a permanent memorial to Emmett Till and an educational site about the fight for civil rights in Mississippi. - civilrightstrail.com
We exist to tell the story of Emmett Till in a way that moves people forward. We use art and story-telling to help process past pains and imagine new possibilities for the future. - emmett-till.org
#civilrightstrail #Sumner #Mississippi #EmmettTill #historiclandmark #fightforcivilrights #civilrightsmovement #reconciliation #truthtelling
Bryant's Grocery & Meat Market in Money, MS can be seen in the photos with vines and weeds overtaking the crumbling structure. It was where Emmett Till was falsely reported to have wolf-whistled at Carolyn Bryant.
The store’s owners are the children of the late Ray Tribble, who voted with other jurors to acquit Till’s killers in a 1955 trial. “They just want history to die,” said Sherron Wright, 59, whose great-uncle, Moses Wright, identified Till's kidnappers at trial. “They just want history erased. I know it’s a sore spot, but at the same time, it can be used as a teaching tool instead of using it for hatred.” The owners asking for $4 million for the store “is a hostage situation,” she said. “They’re saying, ‘We're going to hold this building hostage, and once it crumbles, it’s no good to nobody.’” #UShistory #blackhistory365
#summerlearning #experientiallearning #myteachingsummer #all50statesjourney
