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yesterday

16th Street Baptist Opens Education Center on 63rd Anniversary of Bombing

The center is meant to preserve survivor testimony and counter efforts to erase truthful accounts from public institutions.

The 16th Street Education and Visitor Center is seen Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2026, in Birmingham, Ala. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
This photo taken with a smartphone shows members of the congregation and guests bowing their heads during a commemoration service in honor of the 63rd anniversary of the church's bombing at 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala., Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Kim Chandler)
This photo taken with a smartphone shows Rev. Arthur Price, Jr., left, and Bryan Stevenson, the founder and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative, attending a commemoration service in honor of the 63rd anniversary of the church's bombing at 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala., Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Kim Chandler)
The 16th Street Education and Visitor Center is seen Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2026, in Birmingham, Ala. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

Overview

  • The church held its 63rd commemoration on Tuesday, Sept. 15, and publicly opened a new Education & Visitor Center to expand exhibits, oral histories and community programming.
  • Speakers at the service included Equal Justice Initiative founder Bryan Stevenson and Denise McNair’s sister Lisa McNair, who urged faith communities to confront racism and warned that voting rights face current threats.
  • The center will host exhibits, artist residencies, quilting projects, a public speaker series and oral history initiatives so visitors can learn the facts of the 1963 bombing and hear firsthand testimony.
  • The bombing in 1963 killed Denise McNair, Addie Mae Collins, Cynthia Wesley and Carole Robertson and helped build momentum for the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act; three Ku Klux Klan members were later convicted in separate trials.
  • Church leaders say the center aims to make history feel immediate for visitors and to spur civic action, which could shape local education, tourism to Birmingham’s civil rights sites and public debates over how the past is presented.