Birmingham Civil Rights Heritage Trail Award Greater Alabama Council, Boy Scouts of America

Award Requirements:

Either with your family or unit visit the following 6 sites and the 6 sculptures located in Kelly Ingram Park. This is a walking tour that starts at the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute.

Recognition: Each Scout that completes the Trail is eligible to purchase the Birmingham Civil Rights Heritage Trail Award patch from the Greater Alabama Council. Patch can be ordered by submitting the application form and $6.00 for each patch.

About the Trail The Birmingham Civil Rights Heritage Trail winds through downtown Birmingham, marking significant locations along the 1963 Civil Rights march routes. Designed as a self-guided tour, the route directs Scouts along this historic pathway by maps at each location. The trail speaks to the valor of both common people and to the spiritual leaders who spearheaded the fight against segregation and other forms of racism.

There are multiple sites and routes along the trail an in the Historic Civil Rights District. Only the following 6 sites are requirements for the patch.

Itinerary

Site # 1: Birmingham Civil Rights Institute

Address: 520 16th Street North, Birmingham, Alabama 35203 Website: bcri.org Notes: Check the website for details on hours, tickets Parking: Free parking for cars and buses behind our building off of Fifteenth Street North

Requirement: Each scout to complete this requirement will be required to go through the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute tour.

Site #2: 16th Street Baptist Church

Address: 1530 6th Avenue North, Birmingham, Alabama 35203 Website: 16thstreetbaptist.org Notes: During the civil rights movement of the 1960s, the 16th Street Baptist Church served as an organizational headquarters, site of mass meetings and rallying point for African Americans protesting widespread institutionalized racism in Birmingham, Alabama, and the South.

On Sunday, September 15, 1963, Thomas Blanton, Bobby Frank Cherry and Robert Edward Chambliss, members of the Ku Klux Klan, planted 19 sticks of dynamite outside the basement of the church. At 10:22 a.m., they exploded, killing four young girls - Addie Mae Collins, Carole Robertson, Cynthia Wesley and Denise McNair.

Tours can be arranged via the church website.

Requirement: Visit the outside of the church and discuss with your leaders and\or parents the significance of this important site.

Site # 3: St. Paul United Methodist Church

Address: 1500 6th Ave. North, Birmingham, AL 35203 Website: stpaulbham.org Notes: Founded in 1869, St. Paul is one of the oldest African-American churches in Birmingham. Its current building was erected in 1904. In 1956, St. Paul was the site of one of the earliest meetings in Birmingham during the direct action campaign to integrate the city’s buses.

During the demonstrations in 1963, St. Paul hosted mass meetings as well as held training sessions in nonviolent civil disobedience for the young demonstrators who participated in the Children’s Crusade marches. Rev. Dr. Joseph Lowery, a founder along with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, was one of the pastors at St. Paul during the Civil Rights Movement.

Tours by appointment only

Requirement: Visit the outside of the church and discuss with your leaders and\or parents the significance of this important site.

Site # 4: Kelly Ingram Park

Address: 500 17th Street North, Birmingham, Alabama 35203 Notes: Kelly Ingram Park, formerly West Park, is a 4 acres (1.6 ha) park located in Birmingham, Alabama. It is bounded by 16th and 17th Streets and 5th and 6th Avenues North in the Birmingham Civil Rights District. The park, just outside the doors of the 16th Street Baptist Church, served as a central staging ground for large-scale demonstrations during the American Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s.

Requirement: Visit the park and explore the and discuss with your leaders and\or parents the significance of this important site and Visit each of the following sculptures in the park:

• Central fountain • Commemorative statue of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. • Commemorative statue of Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth • Foot Soldier Monument • Four Spirits, tribute to the four girls killed in the 16th Street Baptist Church Bombing • Freedom Walk, three sculptures by James Drake along a circular path.

The Greater Birmingham Convention & Visitors Bureau developed an audio tour of the park. The dial-in number for the tour is 205-307-5455.

Site # 5: Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Alabama

Address: 319 17th St N #220, Birmingham, AL 35203 Notes: The Colored Masonic Temple (officially the Masonic Temple Building) is an 8-story Renaissance-Revival style building located at 1630 4th Avenue North. It was constructed for the Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge, Free & Accepted Masons of Alabama and is a contributing structure to the 4th Avenue Historic District.

Throughout its history the building has housed the offices of notable African- American professionals, businesses and organizations, and a popular drug store and soda fountain on the ground floor. Its auditorium, with a capacity of 2,000, was used for meetings, ceremonies, concerts, dances, cotillions, mass meetings and other special events. The Duke Ellington Orchestra and Count Basie's big bands played regularly in the Temple ballroom.

The building is currently under renovation, expected to reopen in 2022.

Site # 6: The A.G. Gaston Motel and the Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument Address: 1510 5th Ave N, Birmingham, AL 35203 Website: https://www.nps.gov/articles/ag-gaston-motel-birmingham-civil-rights- monument.htm Notes: The A.G. Gaston Motel, built by prominent African American businessman and entrepreneur, Arthur George Gaston (1892-1996), provided first-class lodging and dining in Birmingham, Alabama, to African American travelers. Designed by Birmingham-based architect Stanley B. Echols, the motel opened in 1954 and occupies a 0.88-acre parcel at 1510 Fifth Avenue North within the city center.

The A.G. Gaston Motel, a significant site of civil rights activities in 1963 that served as the headquarters of the campaign to desegregate public accommodations in Birmingham, Alabama. From the motel, leaders made critical decisions that advanced the cause of civil rights locally and shaped events and legislation nationally.

Recognizing the significance of the property, the City of Birmingham acquired the former motel in 2015 with the plan to incorporate it into the larger Birmingham Civil Rights Historic District. Today, the A.G. Gaston Motel is jointly owned by the National Park Service (NPS) and the City of Birmingham and is a part of Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument. The monument was created by presidential proclamation on January 12, 2017, to honor the nonviolent protestors that fought against discriminatory state and local laws and practices in the 1950s and 1960s.

Map

Birmingham Civil Rights Heritage Trail Award To order online visit 1bsa.org

Name: ______Phone: ______

E-mail: ______

Council Name: ______

Unit Type: □ Pack □ Troop □ Crew □ Post

Unit #: ______

Date Scouts completed the Heritage Trail: ______

Patches (Limit of 4 per Scout/Scouter)

# of Patches: ______x $6.00 = Total $______

□ Pick up at Birmingham Scout Office

□ Please ship to the following address:

Address: ______

City: ______State: _____ Zip: ______