Kelly’s Park became Ground Zero for the Civil Rights protests in Birmingham…1957 – 1967. The park is set in the middle of what white Birminhgamers called ‘Nigger Town’. ‘Nigger Town’ was the African American district. It was completely segregated from the White part of town. Birmingham was by all accounts the most segregated and racist town in America in the Fifties and Sixties.
Between 1950 and 1970 there were over fifty unsolved bombings of African American homes, businesses and churches in what became known as ‘Bombingham’.
The 16th Street Baptist Church sits on one corner.
Bombingham was ruled by the notorious racist Sheriff Bull Connor. There were no African American policemen on his force in the 1950’s and most of the 1960’s. His response to peaceful protests by African Americans were attack dogs and water canons.
The African American leader of the Bombingham protests was the Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth. Every year from 1957 onward he attempted to enroll his children in the white schools of Bombingham. Every year he received a beatdown of some sort for his efforts. He held peaceful protests demanding the right to vote in city elections, a desegregated police force and fire department, desegregated businesses and busses. Bull Conor responded with the harshest and most violent methods available.
In 1963 Reverend Fred appealed to the children of Birmingham. Martin Luther King advised against this tactic. Reverend Fred reasoned that the authorities would not attack and incarcerate ten, twelve, fourteen, sixteen, eighteen year old children the way they attacked and incarcerated adults…he was wrong.
Attack dogs and Fire Department water hoses, turned into high pressure water canons, met the Children’s March. Children as young as ten years old, too small to stand up to the hoses, were knocked into buildings and held there by the pounding force of the water as policemen and white Bombinghamers enjoyed the moment.
The 16th Street Baptist church, across the street from Kelly Ingram Park, was bombed in 1963, the year of the Children’s March, causing the deaths of four young black girls. Later that day two young black boys out riding their bicycles were gunned down in Bombingham for no reason other than they were black.
Our good friend Katie is a born and raised white Birminghamer. Katie treats all…black, white, brown, gay, poor, homeless, downtrodden…the way she would like to be treated. Living a true Christ-like life.
Peace…Wanderers in Wonder.
Wanderers in Wonder 
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