Kelly Ingram Park, Birmingham, Alabama

Our venue in Birmingham was Kelly Ingram Park (West Park) scene of some of the worst police violence against civil rights demonstrators on record in the 1960s.  Names like Bull Connor and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. are attached to the horrible events there.

The park is in the heart of Birmingham’s Civil Rights District.  That is a museum consisting of the park and buildings significant to the Civil Rights movement.  Among them is the 16th Street Baptist Church, the scene of a 1963 terrorist bombing by the Ku Klux Klan.

The 11 year old (lower right) and three 14 year old girls killed in the KKK terror bombing of Birmingham's 16th St Baptist Church

The 11 year old (lower right) and three 14 year old girls killed in the KKK terror bombing of Birmingham's 16th St Baptist Church

Could there be a better venue to celebrate our freedoms and rise to the defense of civil rights for all?  I hope that the symbolism is not lost on people but what happened there today would have to make Dr. King and the victims of  Bull Connor proud.

Kelly Ingram Park in 1963

Kelly Ingram Park in 1963

Kelly Ingram Park in 2009

Kelly Ingram Park in 2009

Somewhere along the line a walkway was added, featuring a series of sculptures marking those events, and through which the path leads walkers. For this old Civil Rights agitator it marks hallowed ground and is more than a little sobering.

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