Bethel Baptist Church (Birmingham, Alabama)
{{short description|Historic church in Alabama, United States}}
{{use mdy dates |date=August 2019}}
{{Infobox NRHP
| name = Bethel Baptist Church, Parsonage, and Guardhouse
| nrhp_type = nhl
| image = Bethel Baptist Church.jpg
| caption = Bethel Baptist Church in 1993
| location = 3233, 3232 and 3236 29th Avenue North, Collegeville, Birmingham, Alabama
| coordinates = {{coord|33|33|06.5|N|86|48|07.3|W|display=inline,title}}
| locmapin = USA Alabama Birmingham#Alabama#USA
| area = less than one acre
| architect =
| architecture =
| added = April 5, 2005{{NRISref|version=2010a|dateform=mdy}}
| refnum = 05000455
| designated_other1_name = Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage
| designated_other1_abbr = ARLH
| designated_other1_color = #CDE5B2
| designated_other1_link = Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage
| designated_other1_date = November 13, 1996{{cite web|title=Properties on the Alabama Register of Landmarks & Heritage |url=http://preserveala.org/alabamaregister.aspx?sm=f_b |work=Alabama Historical Commission |publisher=www.preserveala.org |accessdate=October 25, 2012 |url-status=usurped |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120904152458/http://preserveala.org/alabamaregister.aspx?sm=f_b |archivedate=September 4, 2012 }}
}}
Bethel Baptist Church is a Baptist church in the Collegeville neighborhood of Birmingham, Alabama, United States. The church served as headquarters from 1956 to 1961 for the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights (ACMHR), which was led by Fred Shuttlesworth and active in the Birmingham during the Civil Rights Movement. The ACMHR focused on legal and nonviolent direct action against segregated accommodations, transportation, schools and employment discrimination. It played a crucial role in the 1961 Freedom Rides that resulted in federal enforcement of U.S. Supreme Court and Interstate Commerce Commission rulings to desegregate public transportation.
History
The church's historic building is located near a newer, modern church. The historic church is located at the southwest corner of 29th Avenue North and 33rd Street North, and its parsonage and guard house located across 29th Avenue North. The church was built in 1926, and is an architecturally eclectic mix of Gothic and Renaissance styles. The guard house and parsonage are vernacular ranch-style houses; the parsonage was built in 1957 as a replacement for the previous parsonage, which had stood next to the church and was destroyed by a bomb in 1956.{{cite web|url={{NRHP url|05000455}}|title=NRHP/NHL nomination for Bethel Baptist Church|publisher=National Park Service|accessdate=2019-11-28}}
Fred Shuttlesworth served as pastor from 1953 to 1961. The church buildings were bombed on three separate occasions, first on December 25, 1956, again on June 29, 1958,In 1980 J. B. Stoner was convicted in connection with this bombing. and lastly on December 14, 1962.{{cite news |date=December 26, 1956 |title=Bombing in Alabama Injures 5, Wrecks Negro Minister's Home |page=1 |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1956/12/26/archives/bombing-in-alabama-injures-5-wrecks-negro-ministers-home-blast-rips.html}}{{cite news |date=June 30, 1958 |title=Bomb Attempt Fails; Volunteer Removes Dynamite From Birmingham Church |work=New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1958/06/30/archives/bomb-attempt-fails-volunteer-removes-dynamite-from-birmingham.html}}{{cite news |last=Sitton |first=Claude |date=September 15, 1962 |title=Negroes Ask U.S. to Act in Third Bombing of Church |work=New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1962/12/18/archives/negroes-ask-us-to-act-in-third-bombing-of-church.html}}
The church's complex during the historic events of the 1950s and 1960s, located nearby on 29th Avenue North, was added to the Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage on November 13, 1996. It was then added to the National Register of Historic Places and declared a National Historic Landmark on April 5, 2005.{{Cite journal|title=Bethel Baptist Church, Parsonage, and Guardhouse |url= {{NHLS url|id=05000455}} |journal=National Historic Landmark Nomination |publisher=National Park Service}} On January 30, 2008, the US Government submitted it to UNESCO as part of an envisaged future World Heritage nomination (along with the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church and the 16th Street Baptist Church) and as such it is on the UNESCO 'Tentative List of World Heritage Sites'.{{cite web |work=UNESCO World Heritage Convention, Tentative Lists |title=Civil Rights Movement Sites |url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/5241/ |date=January 30, 2008 |accessdate=6 December 2016 }}
In 1997, the church opened a new building near the historic site.Nathan Turner Jr., [https://www.birminghamtimes.com/2017/02/despite-bombings-bethel-baptist-church-never-missed-a-service-and-played-pivotal-role-in-history/ Black History: Bethel Baptist Church in Birmingham played key role in Civil Rights Movement], birminghamtimes.com, USA, February 2, 2017
In 2017, the church was included in the newly created Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument.
See also
{{commons category|Bethel Baptist Church (Birmingham, Alabama)}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{official website|https://thehistoricbethel.org}}
- [http://www.bethelcollegeville.org/ Bethel Baptist Church Collegeville] website
- {{HABS |survey=Al-977 |id=al1126 |title=Bethel Baptist Church, 3233 Twenty-ninth Avenue, North, Birmingham, Jefferson County, AL |photos=13 |color=1 |dwgs=3 |data= |cap=2}}
{{Civil rights movement}}
{{Birmingham Landmarks}}
{{Protected areas of Alabama}}
{{National Register of Historic Places in Alabama}}
Category:National Historic Landmarks in Alabama
Category:National Register of Historic Places in Birmingham, Alabama
Category:Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in Alabama
Category:African-American history in Birmingham, Alabama
Category:Properties on the Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage
Category:Baptist churches in Birmingham, Alabama