Kelly Ingram Park
Kelly Ingram Park | |
Location | 5th Ave. N and 16th St., Birmingham, Alabama |
---|---|
Area | less than one acre |
Built | 1871 |
NRHP reference No. | 84000636[1] |
Added to NRHP | May 24, 1984 |
Kelly Ingram Park, formerly West Park,
Reverend James Bevel of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference directed the organized protest by students in 1963 which centered on Kelly Ingram Park.[3] It was here, during the first week of May 1963, that Birmingham police and firemen, under orders from Public Safety Commissioner Eugene "Bull" Connor, confronted the student demonstrators emerging from the 16th Street Baptist Church, almost all of them children and high school students, first with mass arrests and then with police dogs and firehoses. Images from those confrontations, broadcast internationally, spurred a public outcry which turned the nation's attention to the struggle for racial equality. The demonstrations in Birmingham brought city leaders to agree to an end of public segregation and helped to ensure the writing and then the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
The park was named in 1932 for local firefighter
The park is the setting for several pieces of sculpture related to the civil rights movement.
There is a central fountain and commemorative statues of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and some of the other heroes of the civil rights movement, as well as three installations by artist James Drake which flank a circular "Freedom Walk". They bring the visitor inside the portrayals of terror and sorrow of the 1963 confrontations. A limestone sculpture by Raymond Kaskey installed in 1992 depicts three ministers, John Thomas Porter, Nelson H. Smith, and A. D. King, kneeling in prayer.[4] A statue of Rev. Fred Suttlesworth by John Rhoden faces the park from in front of the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, across the street.[5]
The Four Spirits sculpture was unveiled at Kelly Ingram Park on September, 2013 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the
Additional monuments honor Pauline Fletcher, Carrie A. Tuggle, Ruth Jackson, Arthur Shores, Julius Ellsberry, and the "foot soldiers" and other "unsung heroes" of the Civil Rights Movement.
The park hosts several local family festivals and cultural and entertainment events throughout the year. The Civil Rights Institute provides audio-tour guides for the park which feature remembrances by many of the figures directly involved in the confrontations. Urban Impact, Inc. also provides guided tours by appointment.
See also
References
- ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
- ^ "We Shall Overcome -- West Park". nps.gov.
- ^ "James L. Bevel The Strategist of the 1960s Civil Rights Movement" by Randall L. Kryn, a paper in David Garrow's 1989 book We Shall Overcome, Volume II, Carlson Publishing Company
- ^ Treanor, Margaret (November 19, 2020). "Three Kneeling Ministers Statue at Kelly Ingram Park". Magic City Religion. Retrieved July 11, 2023.
- ^ Durden, Megan (November 17, 2020). ""Fred Shuttlesworth" by John Rhoden". Magic City Religion. Retrieved July 11, 2023.
- ^ Gray, Jeremy, "Memorial project for 16th Street Baptist Church bombing raises $200,000 of $250,000 goal", blog.al.com, September 2, 2013.
- ^ Gordon, Tom, "Four Spirits unveiled across from Sixteenth Street Baptist Church", WeldBirmingham.com, September 14, 2013.
- ^ a b Collins, Alan, Four Spirits sculpture unveiled to the public", WBRC Fox 6 News, September 15/22, 2013.