16th Street Baptist Church Opens New Visitor Center on Bombing Anniversary

Sixty-three years after dynamite planted by Ku Klux Klan members ripped through the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, killing four young girls, the church on Tuesday marked the anniversary by opening a new visitor center.

The new center is intended to educate the public about one of the most horrific events of the Civil Rights Movement and to encourage a renewed commitment to the ongoing struggle for justice, church leaders said.

Hundreds of people attended the annual memorial service, where guest speaker Bryan Stevenson, founder of the Equal Justice Initiative, spoke about the current political climate. Stevenson noted that the remembrance occurs at a time when politicians are attempting to remove historical content from museums, challenge the Voting Rights Act, and promote divisive ideologies.

"We’re in a critical moment in America. There is a narrative struggle. There are people who are preaching the politics of fear and anger, and they want to govern through fear and anger,” Stevenson said, drawing parallels between the past and present.

Stevenson, who has been involved in creating memorials and museums that trace the legacy of slavery in the United States, stated that a "whole network of elected officials" bore responsibility for the climate that led to the 1963 bombing, not just the Klan members. "And today we have those same voices, and we have to stand against those voices by being committed to truth and justice,” he added.

On Sept. 15, 1963, Klansmen placed dynamite outside the church, which exploded at 10:22 a.m. as the girls were gathering in a downstairs washroom for Sunday services. The blast killed Denise McNair, 11, and Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson, and Addie Mae Collins, all 14. Sarah Collins Rudolph, Addie Mae’s sister, was also in the room, severely injured but survived.

Three Ku Klux Klan members were eventually convicted in connection with the bombing: Robert Chambliss in 1977, Thomas Blanton in 2001, and Bobby Frank Cherry in 2002.

The opening of the education center coincides with discussions about how history is presented in national parks and museums. An executive order signed in 2025 by then-President Donald Trump aimed to defund museum exhibits and programs perceived as promoting "divisive narratives."

The 16th Street Baptist Church is part of the National Park Service's civil rights monument in Birmingham, an area that includes a park where Black protesters faced police dogs and fire hoses during the Civil Rights Movement. However, the church operates the new visitor center independently.

The center will feature exhibits, oral history initiatives, artist residencies, community quilting projects, and a public speaker series. Church leaders hope it will serve as a space for reflection and historical understanding.

"I want them to take away that history is not just in the past. History is also present, and that there’s still work to do,” said the Rev. Arthur Price Jr., pastor of 16th Street Baptist. "When we talk about the challenges in our country, when we talk about the injustice, the inequity, and the inequality, there’s still a whole lot of work for us to do.”

Lisa McNair, whose sister Denise was among those killed, emphasized the importance of remembering the past. "It’s part of our shared American history, and if we don’t know our history, we’re destined to repeat it,” she said at the event.