Living in history

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The historic 16th Street Baptist Church serves two distinct purposes: a place of remembrance as a national civil rights landmark, and a place of worship, as the home of an active congregation’s weekly services and small groups.

Sometimes, one purpose tends to overshadow the other.

“Probably the most frequently asked question is: ‘Do y’all still have church here?’” Rev. Arthur Price Jr. said. “People are surprised that we’re still doing it because I guess the perception is after such a tragedy, how could a church come back together, rebound and continue to do what they do? But we have.”

Since his arrival in 2002, Price said, interest in 16th Street’s past has only grown, especially since the designation of the Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument by President Barack Obama in January 2017. But serving 50,000-75,000 annual visitors interested in the story of the church bombing and serving 350 or so people who show up every Sunday don’t have to conflict, Price said.

“I’ve learned to embrace what the church is and not to make it something it’s not. The church is going to be known for its history, but I want to make sure that the history is a part of the bigger ministry,” Price said.

16th Street Baptist Church is the oldest black church in Birmingham, first organized in 1873. However, the church’s role as an organizational headquarters for the civil rights movement in the 1960s landed it in the crosshairs of local members of the Ku Klux Klan.

Fifty-five years ago this month — on Sept. 15, 1963 — Klan members placed sticks of dynamite outside the church basement, and the explosion killed four girls — Addie Mae Collins, Carole Robertson, Cynthia Wesley and Denise McNair — and injured 22 people.

Today, that tragic history is very much woven into the church, from the museum area in the basement to the stained glass windows, including one gifted by the people of Wales after the bombing depicting a black Jesus and the inscription “You do it to me.”

“We understand who we are, and we don’t divorce ourselves from who we are,” Price said.

16th Street also has a tour ministry, Price said, with about 25 people who lead tours Tuesday through Saturday and tell the story of the church and the bombing. Some members of the tour ministry, Price said, were part of the church in September 1963.

Kathleen Bunton, who organizes the tour ministry, didn’t become a member until after the bombing, but recalled that she could hear the explosion from her home. When she arrived at the church, there was a crowd too thick to get to the bombing site itself, and everyone was almost unnaturally quiet.

“It was one of the saddest times of my life,” Bunton said.

Bunton said the tour ministry has “really blossomed out” over the years, and the tour leaders are most often asked about the girls who died, their families and how today’s church members feel about the bombing. Bunton said it can be hard for the many members who knew the four girls or their parents.

“Time has a way of healing, but you don’t forget. You can talk about it with less emotion,” she said.

Bunton said forgiveness is a hard but important lesson for those who still remember the day of the bombing. 16th Street was a symbol of hope during the civil rights movement, she said, and she hopes that story still encourages people to seek opportunities to make positive changes in the world.

“It also lends us a great opportunity to share our faith and how the church has played a role. … [We could] be on that corner telling the story, telling the story of forgiveness in spite of what happened,” Bunton said.

While the church plays host to hundreds or thousands of visitors every week, Price said the story of the civil rights movement and the bombing don’t factor into the congregation’s day to day activities. A Sunday service at 16th Street is a traditional Baptist service “with a little flair,” Price said.

“When you come to 16th Street, you’re going to get hymns, you’re going to get anthems, you’re going to get traditional gospel, you’re going to get contemporary gospel, you’re going to get some praise and worship music, but our core style of worship would probably be traditional Baptist, and we’re unashamed of that,” Price said.

When he came to 16th Street from a church in Buffalo, New York, in 2002, Price said his focus was on the needs of the modern day congregation.

“[I] wanted to introduce a Bible-centric ministry that was going to reach the lost, the lonely, the least of these,” Price said. “We wanted to make sure that the church was not just known for history but for telling ‘His’ story.”

In addition to Sunday mornings, Price said there is also a Wednesday night worship service, youth and adult small groups, choir rehearsals and ministries — such as an addiction ministry with Birmingham drug courts and a fatherhood ministry with family courts — that keep the church busy throughout the week.

“They want to know how the Bible is real and relevant in their lives today, and that’s what we do on Sunday morning,” he said.

And if the story of the bombing is what prompts visitors to come to a Sunday service or a tour, Price just sees that as a chance for 16th Street to share a message of grace and love to a far wider audience.

“What other people might have meant for evil, God turned around and made for good,” Price said.

Basement repairs, other restoration work continues

Each year, 16th Street Baptist Church estimates more than 200,000 visitors come to see the church, and in 2006, the church was officially dedicated as a National Historical Landmark. 

Over the years, groups from as far as Wales have gifted the church with funds or commemorative measures to contribute to renovations to keep the church in working order since the 1963 bombing.

However, the start of recent major renovations began in the spring of 2007 when Neal Berte, the former president of Birmingham-Southern College, co-chaired a fundraising effort with church member Carolyn McKinstry, who was a teenage member of the church at the time of the bombing, to raise $3.7 million. 

The funds were intended to restore 16th Street Baptist Church following serious water and structural damage over the years. Previously, the church struggled to find funding for repairs.

“Sixteenth Street Baptist Church represents sacred ground, not just in our community, but historically in terms of the impact on civil rights.” Berte said. “So it’s very important that we keep this church in good shape.”

It was a tremendous testimony to the impact that the church has, Berte said, when they were able to raise $3 million from individuals, foundations and corporate groups in the Birmingham community for the first phase of renovation. 

They were also able to work with the federal government to get an additional grant for the park built on 15th Street. The second phase — although they fell about $700,000 short of their goal — included exterior work on the church’s historic neon sign and installation of the memorial plaque.

The third phase of restorations commenced in 2017 with a $500,000 grant from the National Park Service’s African American Civil Rights Grant Program, with a commitment of $50,000 in matching funds from the city of Birmingham, for restoration of wooden pews and stained glass windows.

Current work includes more repairs on classrooms in the basement, as well as the belltower and cupola “getting a facelift,” 16th Street Baptist Church Rev. Arthur Price said, so they “can continue to make the church an attractive place [where] people want to be.” 

– ALYX CHANDLER