[United States Statutes at Large, Volume 131, 115th Congress, 1st Session]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

 
Proclamation 9565 of January 12, 2017

Establishment of the Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

The A.G. Gaston Motel (Gaston Motel), located in Birmingham, Alabama,
within walking distance of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, Kelly
Ingram Park, and other landmarks of the American civil rights

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movement (movement), served as the headquarters for a civil rights
campaign in the spring of 1963. The direct action campaign--known as
``Project C'' for confrontation--challenged unfair laws designed to
limit the freedoms of African Americans and ensure racial inequality.
Throughout the campaign, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Reverend Ralph
David Abernathy of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC),
Reverend Fred L. Shuttlesworth of the Alabama Christian Movement for
Human Rights (ACMHR), and other movement leaders rented rooms at the
Gaston Motel and held regular strategy sessions there. They also staged
marches and held press conferences on the premises. Project C succeeded
in focusing the world's attention on racial injustice in America and
creating momentum for Federal civil rights legislation that would be
enacted in 1964.
The Gaston Motel, the highest quality accommodation in Birmingham in
1963 that accepted African Americans, was itself the product of
segregation. Arthur George (A.G.) Gaston, a successful African American
businessman whose enterprises addressed the needs of his segregated
community, opened the motel in 1954 to provide ``something fine that . .
. will be appreciated by our people.'' In the era of segregation,
African Americans faced inconveniences, indignities, and personal risk
in their travels. The conveniences and comforts of the Gaston Motel were
a rarity for them. The motel hosted many travelers over the years,
including business and professional people; celebrities performing in
the city; participants in religious, social, and political conferences;
and in April-May 1963, the movement leaders, the press, and others who
would bring Project C to the world stage. During Project C, King and
Abernathy occupied the motel's main suite, Room 30, located on the
second floor above the office and lobby, and they and their colleagues
held most of their strategy sessions in the suite's sitting room.
The events at the Gaston Motel drew attention to State and local laws
and customs that--a century after the Civil War--promoted racial
inequality. In January 1963, incoming Alabama Governor George Wallace
declared, ``Segregation now! Segregation tomorrow! Segregation
forever!'' Birmingham, Alabama's largest city, was a bastion of
segregation, enforced by law, custom, and violence. The city required
the separation of races at parks, pools, playgrounds, hotels,
restaurants, theaters, on buses, in taxicabs, and elsewhere. Zoning
ordinances determined where African Americans could purchase property,
and a line of demarcation created a virtual wall around the Fourth
Avenue business district that served the African American community.
Racial discrimination pervaded housing and employment. Violence was
frequently used to intimidate those who dared to challenge segregation.
From 1945 to 1963, Birmingham witnessed 60 bombings of African American
homes, businesses, and churches, earning the city the nickname
``Bombingham.''
By early 1963, civil rights activism was also well established in
Birmingham. Civil rights leaders had been spurred into action in 1956
when the State of Alabama effectively outlawed the National Association
for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). A sheriff served
Shuttlesworth, Membership Chairman of the NAACP's Alabama chapter, with
an injunction at the organization's regional headquarters in
Birmingham's Masonic Temple, where many African American professionals
and organizations had their offices. In swift response, Shuttlesworth
formed the ACMHR in June 1956, and established its

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headquarters at his church, Bethel Baptist. Shuttlesworth and the ACMHR
spearheaded a church-led civil rights movement in Birmingham: they held
mass meetings every Monday night, pursued litigation, and initiated
direct action campaigns. The ACMHR and Shuttlesworth established ties
with other civil rights organizations, and developed reputations as
serious forces in the civil rights movement. As the primary Birmingham
contact during the 1961 Freedom Rides, Shuttlesworth and his deacons
rescued multiple Freedom Riders, sheltering them at Bethel Baptist
Church and its parsonage. Shuttlesworth also worked to cultivate other
local protest efforts. In 1962, he supported students from Miles College
as they launched a boycott of downtown stores that treated African
Americans as second class citizens. A year later some of the same
students would participate in Project C.
Shuttlesworth encouraged the SCLC to come to Birmingham. By early 1963,
King and his colleagues decided that the intransigence of Birmingham's
segregationist power structure, and the strength of its indigenous civil
rights movement, created the necessary tension for a campaign that could
capture the Nation's--and the Kennedy Administration's--attention, and
pressure city leaders to desegregate. In the words of King, ``As
Birmingham goes, so goes the South.''
The plan of the Birmingham campaign was to attack Birmingham's
segregated business practices during the busy and lucrative Easter
shopping season through nonviolent direct action, including boycotts,
marches, and sit-ins. On April 3, 1963, Shuttlesworth distributed a
pamphlet entitled ``Birmingham Manifesto'' to announce the campaign to
the press and encourage others to join the cause. Sit-ins at downtown
stores began on April 3, as did nightly mass meetings. The first march
of the campaign was on April 6, 1963. Participants gathered in the
courtyard of the Gaston Motel and started to march toward City Hall, but
the police department under the command of Commissioner of Public Safety
T. Eugene ``Bull'' Connor stopped them within three blocks, arrested
them, and sent them to jail. The next day, Birmingham police, assisted
by their canine corps, again quickly stopped the march from St. Paul
United Methodist Church toward City Hall, containing the protesters in
Kelly Ingram Park.
Over the next few days, as the possibility of violence increased, some
local African American leaders, including A.G. Gaston, questioned
Project C. In response, King created a 25-person advisory committee to
allow discussion of the leaders' different viewpoints. The advisory
committee met daily at the Gaston Motel and reviewed each day's plan.
On April 10, the city obtained an injunction against the marches and
other demonstrations from a State court, and served it on King,
Abernathy, and Shuttlesworth in the Gaston Motel restaurant at 1:00 a.m.
on April 11. During the Good Friday march on April 12, King, Abernathy,
and others were arrested. King was placed in solitary confinement,
drawing the attention of the Kennedy Administration, which began to
monitor developments in Birmingham. While jailed, King wrote his famous
``Letter from a Birmingham Jail.'' His letter was a response to a
statement published in the local newspaper by eight moderate white
clergymen who supported integration but opposed the direct action
campaign as ``unwise and untimely.'' They believed that negotiations and
legal processes were the appropriate means to end seg

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regation, and without directly naming him, portrayed King as an outsider
trying to stir up civil unrest. In response, King wrote, ``I am in
Birmingham because injustice is here.''
While King was in jail, the campaign lost momentum. Upon King's release,
James Bevel, a young SCLC staffer, proposed what would become known as
the ``Children's Crusade,'' a highly controversial strategy aimed at
capturing the Nation's attention. On May 2--dubbed D-Day--hundreds of
African American teenagers prepared to march from the Sixteenth Street
Baptist Church to City Hall. With a crowd of bystanders present, police
began arresting young protesters in Kelly Ingram Park. Overwhelmed by
the number of protesters, estimated at 1,000, Commissioner Connor called
for school buses to transport those arrested to jail. On May 3--Double-D
Day--Connor readied his forces for another mass march by stationing
police, canine units, and firemen at Kelly Ingram Park. As the young
protesters entered the park, authorities ordered them to evacuate the
area; when they did not leave, firemen trained their water cannons on
them. The high-pressure jets of water knocked them to the ground and
tore at their clothing. Connor next deployed the canine corps to
disperse the crowd. Police directed six German shepherds towards the
crowd and commanded them to attack. Reporters documented the violence,
and the next day the country was confronted with dramatic scenes of
brutal police aggression against civil rights protesters. These vivid
examples of segregation and racial injustice shocked the conscience of
the Nation and the world.
The marches and demonstrations continued. Fearing civil unrest and
irreparable damage to the city's reputation, on May 8 the Birmingham
business community and local leaders agreed to release the peaceful
protesters, integrate lunch counters, and begin to hire African
Americans. On May 10, 1963, the Gaston Motel served as the site to
announce this compromise between local white leaders and civil rights
advocates. The motel was bombed around midnight. The bomb blasted a
door-sized hole into the reception area below King's second story suite
and damaged the water main and electrical lines. King was not in
Birmingham at the time. His brother, A.D. King, whose own home in
Birmingham had been bombed earlier in the day, worked to calm outraged
African Americans and avoid an escalation of violence.
Despite the negotiated peace, African Americans in Birmingham continued
to face hostile resistance to integration. That fall, Governor Wallace,
in violation of a Federal court order, directed State troopers to
prevent desegregation of Alabama public schools. When a Federal court
issued injunctions against the troopers, the Governor called out the
National Guard. To counter that action, President John F. Kennedy
federalized and withdrew the National Guard, thereby allowing
desegregation. In response, on September 15, 1963, white supremacists
planted a bomb at the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church. Addie Mae
Collins, Carole Robertson, and Cynthia Wesley, all of whom were 14, and
Denise McNair, 11, were killed. The explosion injured 22 others and left
significant damage to the church. King traveled to Birmingham to deliver
the eulogy for the little girls. This act of domestic terrorism again
shocked the conscience of the Nation and the world.
Public outrage over the events in Birmingham produced political pressure
that helped to ensure passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which
President Lyndon Johnson signed into law on July 2, 1964. Later that
year, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed the constitutionality of the

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public accommodation provisions (Title II) of the Act. Several Southern
politicians announced that laws must be respected, and across the South
outward signs of segregation began to disappear.
Partially as a result of the Federal legislation outlawing
discrimination in public accommodations, business at the Gaston Motel
suffered. African Americans had more choices in motels and dining. When
King returned to Birmingham for an SCLC conference in 1964, he and three
dozen colleagues checked into the Parliament House, then considered
Birmingham's finest hotel. A.G. Gaston modernized and expanded his motel
in 1968, adding a large supper club and other amenities, but business
continued to fall through the 1970s. In 1982, Gaston announced that the
motel would be converted into housing for the elderly and handicapped.
The use of the property for this purpose ceased in 1996, and the former
Gaston Motel has sat vacant ever since.
Although some people continued to resist integration following the
events of the early 1960s, the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964,
and its enforcement by the Department of Justice, had the effect of
eliminating official segregation of public accommodations. Today, the
Gaston Motel, the Birmingham Civil Rights Historic District in which the
motel is located, the Bethel Baptist Church, and other associated
resources all stand as a testament to the heroism of those who worked so
hard to advance the cause of freedom.
Thus, the sites of these events contain objects of historic interest
from a critical period in American history.
WHEREAS, section 320301 of title 54, United States Code (known as the
``Antiquities Act''), authorizes the President, in his discretion, to
declare by public proclamation historic landmarks, historic and
prehistoric structures, and other objects of historic or scientific
interest that are situated upon the lands owned or controlled by the
Federal Government to be national monuments, and to reserve as a part
thereof parcels of land, the limits of which shall be confined to the
smallest area compatible with the proper care and management of the
objects to be protected;
WHEREAS, the Birmingham Civil Rights Historic District (Historic
District) was listed in the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP)
in 2006, as a nationally significant property associated with the climax
of the civil rights struggle during the 1956-63 period; and the Historic
District contains three key areas and the streets that connect them,
covering 36 acres throughout the city; and the Gaston Motel, located in
the African American commercial and cultural area known as Northside, is
deemed a ``major significant resource'' in the Historic District;
WHEREAS, many other Birmingham places have been listed and recognized
for their historic roles in the Birmingham civil rights story, including
by designation as National Historic Landmarks;
WHEREAS, the City of Birmingham has donated to the National Trust for
Historic Preservation fee and easement interests in the Gaston Motel,
totaling approximately 0.23 acres in fee and 0.65 acres in a historic
preservation easement;
WHEREAS, the National Trust for Historic Preservation has relinquished
and conveyed all of these lands and interests in lands associated with
the Gaston Motel to the Federal Government for the purpose of
establishing a unit of the National Park System;

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WHEREAS, the designation of a national monument to be administered by
the National Park Service would recognize the historic significance of
the Gaston Motel in the Birmingham civil rights story and provide a
national platform for telling that story;
WHEREAS, the City of Birmingham and the National Park Service intend to
cooperate in the preservation, operation, and maintenance of the Gaston
Motel, and interpretation and education related to the civil rights
struggle in Birmingham;
WHEREAS, it is in the public interest to preserve and protect the Gaston
Motel in Birmingham, Alabama and the historic objects associated with it
within a portion of the Historic District;
NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of
America, by the authority vested in me by section 320301 of title 54,
United States Code, hereby proclaim the objects identified above that
are situated upon lands and interests in lands owned or controlled by
the Federal Government to be the Birmingham Civil Rights National
Monument (monument) and, for the purpose of protecting those objects,
reserve as a part thereof all lands and interests in lands owned or
controlled by the Federal Government within the boundaries described on
the accompanying map, which is attached to and forms a part of this
proclamation. The reserved Federal lands and interests in lands
encompass approximately 0.88 acres. The boundaries described on the
accompanying map are confined to the smallest area compatible with the
proper care and management of the objects to be protected.
All Federal lands and interests in lands within the boundaries described
on the accompanying map are hereby appropriated and withdrawn from all
forms of entry, location, selection, sale, or other disposition under
the public land laws, from location, entry, and patent under the mining
laws, and from disposition under all laws relating to mineral and
geothermal leasing.
The establishment of the monument is subject to valid existing rights.
If the Federal Government acquires any lands or interests in lands not
owned or controlled by the Federal Government within the boundaries
described on the accompanying map, such lands and interests in lands
shall be reserved as a part of the monument, and objects identified
above that are situated upon those lands and interests in lands shall be
part of the monument, upon acquisition of ownership or control by the
Federal Government.
The Secretary of the Interior (Secretary) shall manage the monument
through the National Park Service, pursuant to applicable legal
authorities, consistent with the purposes and provisions of this
proclamation. The Secretary shall prepare a management plan, with full
public involvement and in coordination with the City of Birmingham,
within 3 years of the date of this proclamation. The management plan
shall ensure that the monument fulfills the following purposes for the
benefit of present and future generations: (1) to preserve and protect
the objects of historic interest associated with the monument, and (2)
to interpret the objects, resources, and values related to the civil
rights movement. The management plan shall, among other things, set
forth the desired relationship of the monument to other related
resources, programs, and organizations, both within and outside the
National Park System.

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The National Park Service is directed to use applicable authorities to
seek to enter into agreements with others, including the City of
Birmingham, the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, the Sixteenth Street
Baptist Church, and the Bethel Baptist Church, to address common
interests and promote management efficiencies, including provision of
visitor services, interpretation and education, establishment and care
of museum collections, and preservation of historic objects.
Nothing in this proclamation shall be deemed to revoke any existing
withdrawal, reservation, or appropriation; however, the monument shall
be the dominant reservation.
Warning is hereby given to all unauthorized persons not to appropriate,
injure, destroy, or remove any feature of this monument and not to
locate or settle upon any of the lands thereof.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twelfth day of
January, in the year of our Lord two thousand seventeen, and of the
Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and forty-
first.
BARACK OBAMA


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