Establishment of the Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument, 6151-6157 [2017-01342]

Agencies

• Executive Office of the President

[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 11 (Wednesday, January 18, 2017)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 6151-6157]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-01342]




                        Presidential Documents 



Federal Register / Vol. 82, No. 11 / Wednesday, January 18, 2017 / 
Presidential Documents

[[Page 6151]]


                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 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.''

[[Page 6152]]

                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 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 segregation, and without directly naming 
                him, portrayed King as an outsider

[[Page 6153]]

                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 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

[[Page 6154]]

                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;

                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

[[Page 6155]]

                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.

                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.

[[Page 6156]]

                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.
                
                
                    (Presidential Sig.)

Billing code 3295-F7-P


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[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TD18JA17.052


[FR Doc. 2017-01342
Filed 1-17-17; 11:15 a.m.]
Billing code 4310-10-C