Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument

Established January 2017, Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument honors the nonviolent protestors that fought against the country’s racial discrimination laws and practices.

It was here, at the A.G. Gaston Motel in downtown Birmingham, where leaders from the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth of the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights took up residence in the spring of 1963 to strategize and make critical decisions that would propel the civil rights movement forward.

Known as “Project C,” the confrontation brought nationwide media attention as nonviolent protesters were threatened by unleashed police dogs and high-pressure hoses. The events that occurred in Birmingham resulted in political pressure that helped to ensure the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.