BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) - Parts of downtown Birmingham that saw some of the most significant, dramatic and tragic events of the U.S. civil rights movement would become part of the National Park system under a proposal introduced by an Alabama congresswoman.
The area includes the site of a 1963 church bombing that killed four young girls, and the park where protests that same year gave way to clashes with police who turned high powered water hoses and dogs on demonstrators.
Democratic U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell introduced a bill Monday to designate the area as a unit of the National Park Service system.
Birmingham’s Civil Rights District spans several key landmarks, including the 16th Street Baptist Church where the fatal bombing took place, Kelly Ingram Park and the A.G. Gaston building across the street from Birmingham Civil Rights Institute.
“The historic Civil Rights District in Birmingham holds so many stories of what was once regarded as one of the most segregated cities in America to the magic city that it is today,” Sewell said. She was flanked by Birmingham Mayor William Bell and others during an announcement Tuesday at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.
Making the area a national park could enable city officials to partner with the National Park Service in preservation efforts and could boost local tourism and encourage economic development nearby, Sewell said. It would also allow National Park Service rangers to give tours and technical assistance on preserving and renovating sites within the park, Bell’s spokeswoman, April Odom, said in an email.
“We expect to see a dramatic increase in destination travel to Birmingham and Alabama for visitors who wish to see firsthand the history there, and with the park’s designation comes much broader marketing and publicity,” said Andrea Taylor, director of the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute. “There are lots of really positive aspects of this, to say nothing of the increased education and awareness of the local community.”
The bill calls for the area to be named a national historical park, one of nearly 30 types of parks the service oversees, said National Park Service spokesman Jeffrey Olson. A national park on the edge of downtown Birmingham would likely have a subtle economic impact that could contribute to residential and commercial redevelopment happening nearby, Olson said.
“New national parks are usually a grassroots effort. They don’t usually happen unless there’s a lot of community support,” he said.
Six Republican members of Alabama’s congressional delegation co-signed the legislation.
“I just think it’s amazing that the entire delegation has signed on in the political climate we’re in right now,” said Alabama state Rep. Merika Coleman-Evans, who introduced a resolution Tuesday urging Congress to act on Sewell’s proposal. Coleman-Evans represents District 57, which includes parts of Birmingham and Jefferson County.
“I saw how huge this was going to be not only for the Birmingham-Jefferson County area, but the state of Alabama,” she said. “I just wanted to show that we at the state level are supporting the effort.”
Representatives from the National Trust For Historic Preservation and the National Parks Association were also on hand for the announcement. They said they’d work to ensure the designation becomes a reality.
“As a gathering place for activists and leaders in the civil rights movement, the sites within the proposed Birmingham civil rights landmark tell the unique story of the fight for equality and the end of segregation and separation in our country,” said Tom Cassidy, vice president of government relations and policy at the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
Theresa Pierno, president and CEO of the National Parks Conservation Association, said what happened in Birmingham’s civil rights district “opened up America’s eyes to the plight of so many in our country.” Including the area in the National Park system would help do justice to the preservation of pivotal moments in the fight for equality, she said.
“America’s history may not always be pleasant,” Pierno said, “But America’s history is important and it must be preserved and recounted for generations and generations to come.”
Martell Padgett, 31, of Meridian, Mississippi, visited Kelly Ingram Park with his family Tuesday and said he was surprised that Birmingham’s civil rights district wasn’t already included in the National Park system.
“There are people in the United States who don’t know about this place that need to,” Padgett said while relatives walked through a sculpture that depicts three large dogs leaping toward the path that passes through it.
“My son needs to bring his son here,” he said.
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