Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument

The Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument is a United States National Monument in Birmingham, Alabama established in 2017 to preserve and commemorate the work of the 1963 Birmingham campaign, its Children's Crusade, and other Civil Rights Movement events and actions. The monument is administered by the National Park Service. Civil rights protesters took to the streets of Birmingham, Alabama to fight in favor of Project C, a campaign against laws limiting African Americans freedoms. They were met with violent resistance from the police.

History
President Barack Obama signed a proclamation on January 12, 2017, which designated half of the Birmingham Civil Rights District as a U.S. National Monument. The purpose of this proclamation was to protect the history that came from the Reconstruction, tell stories, and illustrate how the Era redefined freedom. Other proclamations signed the same day established the Freedom Riders National Monument in Anniston and the Reconstruction Era National Monument in Beaufort County, South Carolina.

Scope
Birmingham was the site of the 1963 Birmingham campaign; Martin Luther King's Letter from Birmingham Jail; the Children's Crusade, with its images of students being attacked by water hoses and dogs; the bombing of the A.G. Gaston Motel – the movement's headquarters motel, now designated as part of the National Monument; and the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing.

Most of the national monument resides within the larger 36 acre Birmingham Civil Rights District, which was designated in 1992 by the City of Birmingham. Historic sites within the monument include the A.G. Gaston Motel, 16th Street Baptist Church, Kelly Ingram Park, and St. Paul United Methodist Church. The National Monument also includes the historic building of Bethel Baptist Church in Birmingham's Collegeville neighborhood.