"You just remember the seeds your father and mother planted in you..."

 "You just remember the seeds your father and mother planted in you..."

Those are the words of Mr. Aldrich Gunn (above--taken inside Bethel Baptist Church) who spoke to us in the historic Bethel Baptist Church this afternoon.  Mr. Gunn is 87, and a "foot soldier" of the civil rights movement.  He was a close associate of Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, who was the true leader of the Birmingham civil rights movement when he was pastor at Bethel.  This is a church that was bombed by the KKK three times--the first time was on Christmas Day and blew up under the porch of the parsonage right next to the church.  The second was a year or so later on the other side of the church, discovered by a woman walking in the neighborhood, and removed by Colonel Stone Johnson--bodyguard for Rev. Shuttlesworth.  The third was planted several years later after Shuttlesworth left Birmingham for Cincinnati, so that his children could attend high school safely. Mr. Gunn became the first black city councilman in Birmingham after her served in Korea, the front lines of the civil rights movement and the Post Office for 28 years. It was truly an honor to listen to him and stand next to him.
In the morning we met Dr. Horace Huntley who talked about writing the stories of the foot soldiers.He told of Rev. Shuttlesworth calling Sheriff Bull Connor one night, and telling him that if he wanted to be part of history he should meet them at a given corner the next morning--of course there was going to be a major demonstration, and Shuttlesworth wanted to demonstrate that he did not fear Connor (he's the monster who ordered the dogs and fire hoses to be loosed on the children).
In the afternoon we had a driving tour of the city, including Dynamite Hill.  This was along Center St, a street which divided black and white Birmingham by zoning ordinances.  When whites began to "flee" in the early 1960's, blacks began to buy homes on the "white" side of the street--a move that was unacceptable to the KKK.  So they began bombing houses of leading activists.  Dynamite was used because there was lots of it in this coal mining town.
Finally, we drove past the Municipal Auditorium.  This was the site of at least three major events:  In 1938 a major group of black and white liberals, opposed to segregation met there to hear an address by Eleanor Roosevelt.  Bull Conner tried to break up the integration by putting a line down the middle to separate blacks and whites--Mrs. Roosevelt moved her chair right on the line.  Then, in 1948, the southern Democrats who bolted and formed the Dixiecrat Party met there to nominate Strom Thurmond for President. And, in 1956, Nat King Cole was attacked by 3 klan members and beaten in the middle of a performance.  Quite a history.
I have posted some photos below.

Can you read what Rev. Shuttlesworth told the KKK after they bombed his house?  "Tell your Klan brothers that if God could save me through this, they'll have to come up with something better. So the fight's on."

The new Bethel parsonage, across the street from the one destroyed on Christmas Day.

Look at the indentation in the white mortar on the right--that is from the bomb blast that destroyed the parsonage

Rev. Shuttlesworth standing in front of the broken church windows

Mr. Aldrich Gunn inside Bethel Baptist Church

This house was next to the new parsonage, and purchased by the church as a guard house. Colonel Stone Johnson remarked that he would guard Rev. Shuttlesworth with his very "non-violent Colt 45."

Center Street--whites to the right; blacks to the left--Dynamite Hill straight ahead

Angela Davis grew up in this house on Dynamite Hill.  She was friends with the 4 girls killed in the 1963 bombing, saying that event radicalized her.