Reflections on 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham


Reflections by Darlene Moreno
Walking into 16th Street Baptist Church, I didn’t know much except for what little I’d seen in the movie Selma. All I knew was a bomb went off killing four young girls, girls my age. I didn’t know if it was a hate crime towards the people of the church, or just for the hate of their skin color. So we started at the bottom of the church, walked around to look at the art, and read a little more about the church. Then they took us upstairs to the sanctuary. Our guide, a church member, talked to us about the heinous crime and the men who did it. One main thing that appalled me was the fact that the men were not convicted for their crime until many years later. While listening and touring the church, I genuinely felt sad for the church, particularly for the families of the girls. I saw the Holy Spirit working in the church members when they spoke about the crime. They were hurt, but they still believed that God was with them the whole way through, which I loved. The overall experience was amazing and very educational. I would love to do it again. 

Stained glass gifted by the people of Wales, designed by John Petts.
With one hand, Jesus pushes back injustice and hatred, with the other, Jesus extends forgiveness.

The explosion knocked out Jesus' face, which was later restored
Windows dedicated to the four girls killed in the church bombing


Reflections by Bredan Mwaura
On day 2 of our trip, July 22, we visited the 16th Street Baptist Church. We visited this church because it was the site of a bombing that killed four innocent little girls and also because it helped bring the Civil Rights movement to the attention of the world. While we were there, we got to walk around their mini-museum of pictures of the church right after it was bombed and also pictures and information of important civil rights leaders. After we got to walk around they took us up to the sanctuary of the church and we sat down and joined many other people and a church member talked to us about the history of the church and answered some questions. After that we got to watch a video that took us through how the bombing happened, how the city came together to rebuild, and also what happened to the individuals that set the bomb. 

The Sanctuary

The pastors who have served 16th Street Baptist

Front steps of the church

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