From The Tribune staff reports
BIRMINGHAM — A grand opening was held on Wednesday, August 24, for the Civil Rights at Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport. The event was a huge success, with nearly 75 guests in attendance who listened to community leaders speak about the importance of celebrating Birmingham’s rich civil rights history.
Civil Rights Trail Market. (Photo courtesy of Casey Stark)
The Civil Rights at Birmingham was developed in collaboration with Hudson, the leading North American travel retailer, the Civil Rights Trail Market is the first store of its kind, serving as a resource for Birmingham travelers who may be interested in learning more about the local civil rights movement and the broader impact it had on the national movement.
“You often get a first impression from a city based on what you see at the airport,” Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin said. “Every city airport I’ve visited recently has found a way to acknowledge its past and how far they have come. They acknowledge their heroes and those who have made an impact in their community. It’s great to see Birmingham in a position to be able to acknowledge our own heroes like Fred Shuttlesworth and recognize our rich civil rights history to educate visitors in the future.”
The store features the Official U.S. Civil Rights Trail Book, Civil Rights Trail branded merchandise, and a mural that walks travelers through the national and local movements.
“As you’re preparing to leave on your flight, travelers can read the timeline on the wall in Terminal C about what happened in the 1950s and 1960s that led to the civil rights movement,” Lee Sentell, Alabama Tourism Director and author of the Official U.S. Civil Rights Trail Book said. “What happened during this time was one of the most meaningful parts of American history, and the majority of those major events took place in Alabama. It’s our job to tell our own story, because if we don’t, then someone else will.”
Civil Rights Trail Market. (Photo courtesy of Casey Stark)
Similar to the Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport, other airports across the U.S. highlight the nation’s civil rights history through educational exhibits, such as the Martin Luther King Jr. exhibit at the Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport, and honorable recognitions of local activists, like Mississippi’s largest airport being renamed the Jackson-Medgar Wiley Evers International Airport in honor of the prominent civil rights leader Medgar Evers.
“An airport can be one of two things. It can be a physical building with security lines and departure gates, or it can tell a story about the destination where you have either landed or taken off from,” Hunter Williams, Chair of the City Council Economic Development Committee, Birmingham District 2, said. “The Civil Rights Trail Market helps show where Birmingham has been, and while we may not be proud of it, it shows where we have gone and where we are going. Birmingham will continue to push for equality for all people, and I think this is an important part of that.”
The U.S. Civil Rights Trail is a collection of churches, courthouses, schools, museums, and other landmarks in the American South and beyond where fearless activists played pivotal roles in advancing social justice in the 1950s and 1960s. The trail encompasses 135 plus landmarks across 15 Southern states, including eight cities along Alabama’s Civil Rights Trail.
Birmingham was the epicenter of the civil rights movement. The city is home to many significant civil rights landmarks, including the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, 16th Street Baptist Church, Bethel Baptist Church, and Kelly Ingram Park.
“After traveling to photograph nearly every landmark and state along the U.S. Civil Rights Trail, it helped put into perspective all of the notable civil rights landmarks we have in our own backyard in Birmingham and across Alabama,” Art Meripol, photographer of the Official U.S. Civil Rights Trail Book, said. “It has been incredible seeing our work come to life through the trail’s website, the official companion book, and now Civil the Civil Rights Trail Market here in Birmingham. This has been the most meaningful projects of my career.”
(Image courtesy of Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport)
Beyond Birmingham, Alabama’s Civil Rights Trail includes well-known landmarks throughout Montgomery and Selma like Edmund Pettus Bridge, Rosa Park Museum, Freedom Rides Museum, The National Memorial for Peace and Justice and Legacy Museum.
Named in honor of local civil rights activist and minister Fred Shuttlesworth, the Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport has operated in the Birmingham community for more than 90 years.
“A vision without a plan, without execution, without funding is a dream…and we can dream for free,” Ron Mathieu, President and CEO of Birmingham Airport Authority, said. “We come here to work every day to get closer and closer to excellence. We are reimagining what this airport looks like and how it will represent the community that we love.”
Fred Shuttlesworth was a key player in the Alabama civil rights movement. A founding member of the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights and the Southern Leadership Conference, Shuttlesworth led protests and demonstrations that drew national attention while also serving as a minister at Bethel Baptist Church, now a historic landmark on the U.S. Civil Rights Trail.
In Martin Luther King Jr.’s memoir of the Birmingham Campaign, he praised “the fiery words and determined zeal of Fred Shuttlesworth, who had proved to his people that he would not ask anyone to go where he was not willing to lead.”
