The 16th Street Baptist Church was organized as the First Colored Baptist Church of Birmingham in 1873. It became the first African-American church to be organized in Birmingham. A site was soon acquired on 3rd Avenue North between 19th and 20th Street for a dedicated building. In 1880, the church sold that property and built a new church on the present site on 16th Street and 6th Avenue North. The new brick building was completed in 1884, but in 1908 the city condemned the structure and ordered it to be demolished. Many of the civil rights protest marches that took place in Birmingham during the 1960s began at the steps of the 16th Street Baptist Church, which had long been a significant religious center for the city’s black population, in 1842 it became the first black Baptist church in Birmingham. During the civil …show more content…
The city’s police leader, Eugene “Bull” Connor, was also notorious for his willingness to use brutality in combating radical demonstrators, union members, and blacks. The night of the bombing there man angry black protestors. Governor Wallace sent out hundreds of policeman and state troopers to break up the large angry crowd. 2 others were killed that night one by police and the other by racist white thugs.
Upon learning of the bombing at the Church, Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. sent a telegram to Alabama Governor George Wallace, a staunch and vocal segregationist, stating bluntly: 'The blood of our little children is on your hands." The brutal attack and the deaths of the four little girls shocked the nation and drew international attention to the struggle of violence in Birmingham. Many whites were as outraged by the incident as blacks and offered services and condolences to the families. Over, 8,000 people attended the girls ' funeral service at Reverend John Porter 's Sixth Avenue Baptist