The 16th Street Baptist Church was organized in 1873 as Birmingham’s first Black church. It became an important gathering place for the city’s African American community and the Civil Rights Movement, serving as a headquarters for civil rights meetings and demonstrations. On September 15, 1963, a Ku Klux Klan bombing killed four young girls at the church.
Since then, the church has been a leader of healing and promoting respect among people with different perspectives and beliefs.
The new 16th Street Education and Visitor Center honors the church’s history, the consequences of intolerance, and the potential for positive change.
The church sits in the heart of Birmingham’s Civil Rights District, directly beside Kelly Ingram Park, where thousands gathered during the 1963 Birmingham Campaign and faced police dogs, fire hoses, and mass arrests, and across from the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute and Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument.
The design creates a contemporary connection to the historic church through its proportion, scale, and color. Rather than hiding the new building behind the church as originally planned, the design aligns the facades so the buildings read as a unified campus.
Three raised building masses with recessed seams recall the modest homes that once occupied the site.
In the lobby, the River Wall marks the exact time of the bombing and transforms that moment into a call for action. Inspired by the sanctuary’s stained-glass window, its digital panels create an upward flow, inviting visitors to make a pledge to continue the pursuit of justice, equality, and unity.
Interior details like the curved gradated floor pattern represent the ripple effect that the Civil Rights Movement in Birmingham had on the world, blue restroom tiles reference the church’s iconic sign, and arched mirrors and acoustic panels recall the sanctuary windows.
Large windows connect visitors to the surrounding landscape, framing the sanctuary, parsonage, Kelly Ingram Park, and the memorial to the four girls across the street.
Four ring-shaped ceiling fixtures honor the four girls, symbolizing their halos and the light they continue to shine.
Other spaces include meeting rooms, a commercial kitchen, and support spaces for educational programming and community engagement.
Symbolizing the community’s journey from a dark past toward a future of hope and possibility, the new 16th Street Education and Visitor Center is a place to learn, reflect, and connect.
See footage from the 63rd Memorial Observance of the 16th Street Baptist Church Bombing & Grand Opening of the 16th Street Education and Visitor Center.
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Learn about the vision and mission behind the new 16th Street Education and Visitor Center.
Produced by: Joshua Jackson; Cinematography & Editing: Joshua Jackson; Project Partner: Sixteenth Street Baptist Church; Executive Interviewees: Rev. Arthur Price Jr. & Dr. Terrence Brown; Project Support: UAB Barefield Entrepreneurship Program; Featured: Mary Lynn Bailey & Essex Goodmon
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