their lives in the struggle for racial
equality from 1955-1968. The
Memorial was unveiled November 5,
1989.
•Cole-Samford House
1524 St. John Street
One-story frame house was the
birthplace and early childhood home
of jazz pianist and singer Nat ‘King’
Cole (1919-1965).
•Dexter Avenue King
Memorial Baptist Church
454 Dexter Avenue
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. continued
his ministry and began his leadership
as the driving force behind the Civil
Rights Movement. A mural in the
basement of the church depicts
m apr events in the movement and
in King's life. It is also noted as the
birthplace of the Civil Rights
Movement and has been an example
of the role played by the Black
church in social reform.
Civil Rights Memorial
•Dorsett-Phillips House
422 Union Street
This house was purchased in 1886
•May 14, 1961
•Bethel Baptist Church
Alabama Freedom Riders test com­
2106 Mill Street
Montgomery's first Black physician.
pliance with bus desegregation
Although the present church was
He later became the Chief of Staff at
laws
built in 1977, Bethel’s congregation
Hale Infirmary.
by Dr. Cornelius N. Dorsett,
dates back to 1867 and today has
•August 28, 1963
one of the largest Black congrega­
•First Baptist Church
Alabamians p in 250,000 other
tions in the city.
347 North Ripley Street
Americans for march on
Land for the church was purchased
Washington, D.C.; Dr. Martin
•Beulah Baptist Church
by ex-slaves in 1864, design was by
Luther King, Jr. delivers “ I Have A
3703 Rosa Parks Avenue
Tuskegee architect W.T. Bailey. The
Dream" address
The church was incorporated in
present building replaced an earlier
1919, and like many area churches,
1912 frame church. It is the birth­
•July 2, 1964
has been used for meetings and ser­
place of the Baptist State Convention
President Lyndon B. Johnson signs
vices during the struggle for racial
(1868) and the National Baptist
Civil Rights Act of 1964
equality. The late singer Nat ’King’
Convention U.S.A.Jnc. (1880). The
Cole and his family attended church
church was also the .site of the first
•January 2, 1965
here when he was a boy. His father
baccalaureate service of Alabama
Martin Luther King, Jr. holds first
was one of the original members to
State University in Montgomery
mass meeting at Brown Chapel,
assist w it h the church's incorpora­
(1890) and the First Institute of
Selma
March 7th
tion, his mother played piano for the
Non-Violence and Social Change spon­
choir.
sored by the Southern Christian
Civil Rights March confrontation at
Edmund Pettus Bridge, Selma
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March 25th
Landmark Civil Rights march from
Intersection and vicinity of Jackson
Selma to Montgomery completed
and High Streets
July 9th
Congress passes Voting Rights Act
Named Centennial Hill because its
•Holt Street Baptist
Church
903 South Holt Street
On Monday, December 5, 1955, four
development began in 1876, this
days after Rosa Parks was arrested
area remains a prominent Black
for riding in the front of a Mont­
neighborhood today.
gomery city bus, the minister of Holt
of I96S
H IS T O R IC S IT E S
Street Baptist Church offered his
church as the site of a mass meeting
•Ben Moore Hotel
•Civil Rights Memorial
Comer of Jackson and High
Corner of Washington and Hull
that would determine how long the
Streets
Streets
community would abstain from riding
Built in the early 1950s. the hotel
was prominent during the bus
boycott of 1955-56. White city
officials and Black boycott leaders
A world of excitement. In one amazing place
Leadership Conference in 1957.
•Centennial Hill Historic
District
met in the roof garden restaurant.
Designed by Vietnam Memorial
artist, Maya Lin, the memorial chron­
icles key events in the Civil Rights
Movement and lists the names of
city buses, more than 5,000 area
Blacks attended. The church was
used many times for meetings and
rallies during the Civil Rights
approximately 40 people who gave
continued on page 14