I 

114TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4817 

To establish the Birmingham Civil Rights National Historical Park in Birmingham, Alabama, as a unit of the National Park System, and for 

other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 21, 2016 

Ms. SEWELL of Alabama (for herself, Mr. BYRNE, Mrs. ROBY, Mr. ROGERS

of Alabama, Mr. ADERHOLT, Mr. BROOKS of Alabama, and Mr. PALMER) 

introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 

Natural Resources 

A BILL 

To establish the Birmingham Civil Rights National Historical 

Park in Birmingham, Alabama, as a unit of the National 

Park System, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Birmingham Civil 

5 Rights National Historical Park’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) The Birmingham Civil Rights District is an 

2 area of downtown Birmingham, Alabama, where sig3 nificant events in the American Civil Rights Move4 ment of the 1950s and 1960s took place. Many sites 

5 in this area are listed on the National Register of 

6 Historic Places, including the A.G. Gaston Motel, 

7 Kelley Ingram Park, 16th Street Baptist Church, 

8 Bethel Baptist Church, the 4th Avenue Historic Dis9 trict, and the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute. 

10 (2) In the 1960s, Birmingham was regarded as 

11 one of the most segregated cities in the South. 

12 Parks, pools, playgrounds, hotels, theaters, and ele13 vators were segregated by race. Discrimination ex14 tended to public housing and employment. Despite 

15 some change in the early 1950s, segregation re16 mained firmly in place and violence was frequently 

17 used to maintain the status quo. 

18 (3) From 1945 to 1963, Birmingham witnessed 

19 60 bombings of African-American homes, businesses, 

20 and churches designed to intimidate Civil Rights ad21 vocates. The violence earned the City the nickname 

22 ‘‘Bombingham’’. In early 1963, Alabama Governor 

23 George Wallace declared, ‘‘Segregation Now! Seg24 regation tomorrow! Segregation Forever!’’. 


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1 (4) In the spring of 1963, Reverend Fred 

2 Shuttlesworth requested that the Southern Christian 

3 Leadership Conference (SCLC) make the City of 

4 Birmingham the epicenter for an ambitious new 

5 Civil Rights campaign. ‘‘Project C’’ (C for con6 frontation) was designed to eliminate segregation 

7 through mass protests, marches, and sit-ins. The 

8 A.G. Gaston Motel served as headquarters for 

9 Project C, and was home base for much of the 

10 SCLC leadership including Dr. King. 

11 (5) The A.G. Gaston Motel opened in 1954 and 

12 was regarded as a ‘‘historic monument to black en13 trepreneurship’’ in a time of racial segregation. The 

14 Motel was built and owned by Arthur George Gaston 

15 (1892–1996), a prominent African-American busi16 nessman, and is listed on the National Register of 

17 Historic Places. 

18 (6) The Project C campaign began on April 6, 

19 1963, when police arrested 45 protestors who 

20 marched from the A.G. Gaston Motel to downtown 

21 Birmingham. One week later, during the Good Fri22 day march, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was ar23 rested and jailed by Birmingham police. While in 

24 prison, Dr. King wrote his famous ‘‘Letter from a 

25 Birmingham Jail’’. He wrote the letter as a response 


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1 to the ‘‘Call to Unity’’ statement from eight White 

2 Alabama clergymen who opposed segregation. They 

3 believed that the battle for equality should be fought 

4 in the courts, not by outsiders trying to stir up civil 

5 unrest. As a response, Dr. King wrote ‘‘I am in Bir6 mingham because injustice is here.’’. 

7 (7) Phase two of Project C began in May of 

8 1963 with a series of mass protests in which chil9 dren played a leading role. On May 2, 1963, over 

10 900 children were arrested by police, overwhelming 

11 the capacity of the City’s jails. In response, Bir12 mingham Commissioner of Public Safety Bull Con13 nor ordered firefighters and police to prevent new 

14 waves of marchers from leaving Kelly Ingram Park. 

15 (8) On May 3, 1963, youth protestors in Kelly 

16 Ingram Park were violently dispersed by police dogs 

17 and powerful water cannons. Images of the brutal 

18 police response to peaceful protestors spread across 

19 the country, shocking the conscience of the Nation 

20 and the world. 

21 (9) Fearing civil unrest and unrepairable dam22 age to the City’s reputation, the Birmingham busi23 ness community and local leaders agreed to release 

24 the peaceful protestors, integrate lunch counters, 

25 and begin to hire African-Americans. On May 10, 


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1 1963, the A.G. Gaston Motel served as the site to 

2 announce this compromise between local White lead3 ers and civil rights advocates. The Motel was 

4 bombed later that day. 

5 (10) Amid continued racial tensions, on Sep6 tember 15, 1963, a bomb detonated at the 16th 

7 Street Baptist Church as children were entering the 

8 basement on their way to worship. Addie Mae Col9 lins, Carole Robinson, and Cynthia Wesley, who 

10 were all 14, and Denise McNair, 11, were tragically 

11 killed. The explosion injured 22 others and left sig12 nificant damage to the church. Dr. Martin Luther 

13 King, Jr., travelled to Birmingham to deliver the eu14 logy for the four little girls. This act of domestic ter15 rorism shocked the conscience of the Nation and the 

16 world, and became a galvanizing force for the pas17 sage of historic Civil Rights Act of 1964. 

18 (11) Located just south of 16th Street Baptist 

19 Church is the 4th Avenue Historic District. The dis20 trict was the center for Black-owned businesses, 

21 which served Black customers during the City’s long 

22 period of enforced segregation. Specifically, the dis23 trict was the home of one of the most well-known 

24 African-American owned radio stations in the state. 

25 Black radio stations and disc jockeys played a critVerDate Sep 11 2014 20:45 Mar 24, 2016 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4817.IH H4817

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1 ical role in mobilizing support for the civil rights 

2 movement. DJs sent coded messages as to the 

3 whereabouts of police, roadblock locations, and rally 

4 information. 

5 (12) Also located in Birmingham is Bethel Bap6 tist Church. Led by Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth, 

7 this church served as the headquarters for the Ala8 bama Christian Movement for Human Rights from 

9 1956 to 1961. It was also a place of refuge for dis10 placed and injured members of the 1961 Freedom 

11 Ride, and was the target of multiple bombings in the 

12 1950s and 1960s. Reverend Shuttlesworth’s church, 

13 as well as many other Birmingham Churches such 

14 as the New Pilgrim Baptist Church, hosted mass 

15 meetings leading up to many of the civil rights 

16 marches throughout the City. The students and fac17 ulty of Miles College, a Historically Black College in 

18 the Birmingham area, supplemented the efforts of 

19 the local churches. Miles College was one of the few 

20 institutions of higher education open to African21 Americans in the area, and produced many commu22 nity leaders. 

23 (13) In 1992, decades after the Civil Rights 

24 Movement, the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute 

25 opened its doors. The Institute stands at the center 


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1 of the Birmingham Civil Rights District, acting as 

2 a hub for children, students, adults, and scholars 

3 who come to learn about the American Civil Rights 

4 Movement. The 27,000-square-foot permanent gal5 lery within the Institute was designed to bring visi6 tors back to the 1950s when Birmingham was deep7 ly segregated. The Institute serves more than 

8 140,000 individuals each year, and encourages new 

9 generations to examine our country’s civil rights his10 tory, as well as issues such as equality and justice. 

11 (14) The preservation, historic interpretation, 

12 and management of the Birmingham Civil Rights 

13 National Historical Park’s important historical re14 sources require the collaboration of Federal and mu15 nicipal entities, as well as community organizations. 

16 SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF THE BIRMINGHAM CIVIL 

17 RIGHTS NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARK IN BIR18 MINGHAM, ALABAMA. 

19 (a) ESTABLISHMENT AND PURPOSE.—There is here20 by established Birmingham Civil Rights National Histor21 ical Park in Birmingham, Alabama, for the purposes of— 

22 (1) preserving and interpreting for the benefit 

23 of present and future generations the significant 

24 civil rights history in the Birmingham Civil Rights 

25 National Historical Park; 


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1 (2) coordinating preservation, catalyzing eco2 nomic revitalization, and facilitating interpretive ef3 forts by Federal, State, or local governmental enti4 ties, and/or private and nonprofit organizations; and 

5 (3) creating appropriate collaborative manage6 ment to ensure the preservation and interpretation 

7 of the park’s historical significance. 

8 (b) BOUNDARIES.—The Park shall consist of those 

9 lands and interests in lands, including buildings, within 

10 the areas generally depicted as ‘‘Bethel Baptist Church’’ 

11 and ‘‘Birmingham Civil Rights Historic District’’ on the 

12 map entitled ‘‘Civil Rights District’’ and dated March 2, 

13 2016. 

14 (c) ACQUISITION OF LAND.—The Secretary may ac15 quire additional buildings, assets, and lands and interests 

16 in lands for addition to the park by donation, transfer, 

17 or exchange only. At no time shall the park consist of more 

18 than 11 acres. 

19 SEC. 4. ADMINISTRATION. 

20 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall administer 

21 the Park in accordance with this Act and laws generally 

22 applicable to units of the National Park System. Nothing 

23 in this Act shall modify any authority of the United States 

24 to carry out Federal laws on Federal land located within 

25 the Park. 


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1 (b) COOPERATIVE AGREEMENT.—The Secretary may 

2 enter into cooperative agreements with Federal, State, 

3 City, or other public and non-profit institutions under 

4 which the Secretary may identify, interpret, and provide 

5 assistance for the preservation of non-Federal properties 

6 within the Park and at sites in close proximity to the 

7 Park, including providing for placement of directional and 

8 interpretive signage, exhibits, and technology-based inter9 pretive devices. 

10 (c) MANAGEMENT PLAN.—Not later than 3 fiscal 

11 years after the date on which funds are first made avail12 able to carry out this Act, the Secretary, in consultation 

13 with the City, shall complete a general management plan 

14 for the Park in accordance with applicable laws, including 

15 section 100502 of title 54, United States Code. 

16 SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS. 

17 For the purposes of this Act: 

18 (1) CITY.—The term ‘‘City’’ means the city of 

19 Birmingham, Alabama. 

20 (2) PARK.—The term ‘‘Park’’ means the Bir21 mingham Civil Rights National Historical Park. 

22 (3) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

23 the Secretary of the Interior. 

Æ 


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