First Baptist Church in Selma, Alabama. Photo by Billy Brown.
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Discover the History of Alabama Civil Rights Sites, USA, on Google Arts & Culture

First Baptist Church in Selma, Alabama. Photo by Billy Brown.

Across the state of Alabama, homes, churches, and other places of civic engagement served as crucial organizing spaces for activists during the civil rights movement. These spaces oftentimes have histories stretching back to Black political organizing of the Reconstruction era. Today, many are privately owned, architecturally unassuming, and located in areas with the least economic investment. WMF began working with the Alabama African American civil rights Heritage Sites Consortium in 2018 to spotlight the efforts of the local community to preserve these socially significant places and their stories.

Take a virtual tour of Montgomery, a city often dubbed the birthplace of the movement whose civil rights heritage sites include a safe haven for Freedom Riders, a key political meetinghouse for Black women, and a church where Martin Luther King, Jr. once served as pastor.

Explore the historic sites of Birmingham, from the former headquarters of community organizers to safehouses where those fleeing police violence could seek refuge.

Learn about the history of civil disobedience in Selma, the site of three pivotal protest marches leading to the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

These exhibits are part of a larger collection devoted to Black heritage sites entitled The Black Atlantic.

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World Monuments Fund safeguards cultural heritage around the globe, ensuring our treasured places are preserved for present and future generations. 

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