I 
114TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 4817 
To establish the Birmingham Civil Rights National Historical Park in Bir-
mingham, 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. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Birmingham Civil 
Rights National Historical Park’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
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(1) The Birmingham Civil Rights District is an 
area of downtown Birmingham, Alabama, where sig-
nificant events in the American Civil Rights Move-
ment of the 1950s and 1960s took place. Many sites 
in this area are listed on the National Register of 
Historic Places, including the A.G. Gaston Motel, 
Kelley Ingram Park, 16th Street Baptist Church, 
Bethel Baptist Church, the 4th Avenue Historic Dis-
trict, and the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute. 
(2) In the 1960s, Birmingham was regarded as 
one of the most segregated cities in the South. 
Parks, pools, playgrounds, hotels, theaters, and ele-
vators were segregated by race. Discrimination ex-
tended to public housing and employment. Despite 
some change in the early 1950s, segregation re-
mained firmly in place and violence was frequently 
used to maintain the status quo. 
(3) From 1945 to 1963, Birmingham witnessed 
60 bombings of African-American homes, businesses, 
and churches designed to intimidate Civil Rights ad-
vocates. The violence earned the City the nickname 
‘‘Bombingham’’. In early 1963, Alabama Governor 
George Wallace declared, ‘‘Segregation Now! Seg-
regation tomorrow! Segregation Forever!’’. 
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(4) In the spring of 1963, Reverend Fred 
Shuttlesworth requested that the Southern Christian 
Leadership Conference (SCLC) make the City of 
Birmingham the epicenter for an ambitious new 
Civil Rights campaign. ‘‘Project C’’ (C for con-
frontation) was designed to eliminate segregation 
through mass protests, marches, and sit-ins. The 
A.G. Gaston Motel served as headquarters for 
Project C, and was home base for much of the 
SCLC leadership including Dr. King. 
(5) The A.G. Gaston Motel opened in 1954 and 
was regarded as a ‘‘historic monument to black en-
trepreneurship’’ in a time of racial segregation. The 
Motel was built and owned by Arthur George Gaston 
(1892–1996), a prominent African-American busi-
nessman, and is listed on the National Register of 
Historic Places. 
(6) The Project C campaign began on April 6, 
1963, when police arrested 45 protestors who 
marched from the A.G. Gaston Motel to downtown 
Birmingham. One week later, during the Good Fri-
day march, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was ar-
rested and jailed by Birmingham police. While in 
prison, Dr. King wrote his famous ‘‘Letter from a 
Birmingham Jail’’. He wrote the letter as a response 
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to the ‘‘Call to Unity’’ statement from eight White 
Alabama clergymen who opposed segregation. They 
believed that the battle for equality should be fought 
in the courts, not by outsiders trying to stir up civil 
unrest. As a response, Dr. King wrote ‘‘I am in Bir-
mingham because injustice is here.’’. 
(7) Phase two of Project C began in May of 
1963 with a series of mass protests in which chil-
dren played a leading role. On May 2, 1963, over 
900 children were arrested by police, overwhelming 
the capacity of the City’s jails. In response, Bir-
mingham Commissioner of Public Safety Bull Con-
nor ordered firefighters and police to prevent new 
waves of marchers from leaving Kelly Ingram Park. 
(8) On May 3, 1963, youth protestors in Kelly 
Ingram Park were violently dispersed by police dogs 
and powerful water cannons. Images of the brutal 
police response to peaceful protestors spread across 
the country, shocking the conscience of the Nation 
and the world. 
(9) Fearing civil unrest and unrepairable dam-
age to the City’s reputation, the Birmingham busi-
ness community and local leaders agreed to release 
the peaceful protestors, integrate lunch counters, 
and begin to hire African-Americans. On May 10, 
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1963, the A.G. Gaston Motel served as the site to 
announce this compromise between local White lead-
ers and civil rights advocates. The Motel was 
bombed later that day. 
(10) Amid continued racial tensions, on Sep-
tember 15, 1963, a bomb detonated at the 16th 
Street Baptist Church as children were entering the 
basement on their way to worship. Addie Mae Col-
lins, Carole Robinson, and Cynthia Wesley, who 
were all 14, and Denise McNair, 11, were tragically 
killed. The explosion injured 22 others and left sig-
nificant damage to the church. Dr. Martin Luther 
King, Jr., travelled to Birmingham to deliver the eu-
logy for the four little girls. This act of domestic ter-
rorism shocked the conscience of the Nation and the 
world, and became a galvanizing force for the pas-
sage of historic Civil Rights Act of 1964. 
(11) Located just south of 16th Street Baptist 
Church is the 4th Avenue Historic District. The dis-
trict was the center for Black-owned businesses, 
which served Black customers during the City’s long 
period of enforced segregation. Specifically, the dis-
trict was the home of one of the most well-known 
African-American owned radio stations in the state. 
Black radio stations and disc jockeys played a crit-
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ical role in mobilizing support for the civil rights 
movement. DJs sent coded messages as to the 
whereabouts of police, roadblock locations, and rally 
information. 
(12) Also located in Birmingham is Bethel Bap-
tist Church. Led by Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth, 
this church served as the headquarters for the Ala-
bama Christian Movement for Human Rights from 
1956 to 1961. It was also a place of refuge for dis-
placed and injured members of the 1961 Freedom 
Ride, and was the target of multiple bombings in the 
1950s and 1960s. Reverend Shuttlesworth’s church, 
as well as many other Birmingham Churches such 
as the New Pilgrim Baptist Church, hosted mass 
meetings leading up to many of the civil rights 
marches throughout the City. The students and fac-
ulty of Miles College, a Historically Black College in 
the Birmingham area, supplemented the efforts of 
the local churches. Miles College was one of the few 
institutions of higher education open to African- 
Americans in the area, and produced many commu-
nity leaders. 
(13) In 1992, decades after the Civil Rights 
Movement, the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute 
opened its doors. The Institute stands at the center 
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of the Birmingham Civil Rights District, acting as 
a hub for children, students, adults, and scholars 
who come to learn about the American Civil Rights 
Movement. The 27,000-square-foot permanent gal-
lery within the Institute was designed to bring visi-
tors back to the 1950s when Birmingham was deep-
ly segregated. The Institute serves more than 
140,000 individuals each year, and encourages new 
generations to examine our country’s civil rights his-
tory, as well as issues such as equality and justice. 
(14) The preservation, historic interpretation, 
and management of the Birmingham Civil Rights 
National Historical Park’s important historical re-
sources require the collaboration of Federal and mu-
nicipal entities, as well as community organizations. 
SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF THE BIRMINGHAM CIVIL 
RIGHTS NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARK IN BIR-
MINGHAM, ALABAMA. 
(a) ESTABLISHMENT AND PURPOSE.—There is here-
by established Birmingham Civil Rights National Histor-
ical Park in Birmingham, Alabama, for the purposes of— 
(1) preserving and interpreting for the benefit 
of present and future generations the significant 
civil rights history in the Birmingham Civil Rights 
National Historical Park; 
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(2) coordinating preservation, catalyzing eco-
nomic revitalization, and facilitating interpretive ef-
forts by Federal, State, or local governmental enti-
ties, and/or private and nonprofit organizations; and 
(3) creating appropriate collaborative manage-
ment to ensure the preservation and interpretation 
of the park’s historical significance. 
(b) BOUNDARIES.—The Park shall consist of those 
lands and interests in lands, including buildings, within 
the areas generally depicted as ‘‘Bethel Baptist Church’’ 
and ‘‘Birmingham Civil Rights Historic District’’ on the 
map entitled ‘‘Civil Rights District’’ and dated March 2, 
2016. 
(c) ACQUISITION OF LAND.—The Secretary may ac-
quire additional buildings, assets, and lands and interests 
in lands for addition to the park by donation, transfer, 
or exchange only. At no time shall the park consist of more 
than 11 acres. 
SEC. 4. ADMINISTRATION. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall administer 
the Park in accordance with this Act and laws generally 
applicable to units of the National Park System. Nothing 
in this Act shall modify any authority of the United States 
to carry out Federal laws on Federal land located within 
the Park. 
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(b) COOPERATIVE AGREEMENT.—The Secretary may 
enter into cooperative agreements with Federal, State, 
City, or other public and non-profit institutions under 
which the Secretary may identify, interpret, and provide 
assistance for the preservation of non-Federal properties 
within the Park and at sites in close proximity to the 
Park, including providing for placement of directional and 
interpretive signage, exhibits, and technology-based inter-
pretive devices. 
(c) MANAGEMENT PLAN.—Not later than 3 fiscal 
years after the date on which funds are first made avail-
able to carry out this Act, the Secretary, in consultation 
with the City, shall complete a general management plan 
for the Park in accordance with applicable laws, including 
section 100502 of title 54, United States Code. 
SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS. 
For the purposes of this Act: 
(1) CITY.—The term ‘‘City’’ means the city of 
Birmingham, Alabama. 
(2) PARK.—The term ‘‘Park’’ means the Bir-
mingham Civil Rights National Historical Park. 
(3) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 
the Secretary of the Interior. 
Æ 
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