For more than fifty years the Birmingham Public Library has collected and preserved the documentary history of Birmingham’s civil rights struggle. Beginning in the 1950s, BPL librarians compiled scrapbooks, acquired items from the community and created large newspaper clipping files relating to civil rights activities and activists. This effort accelerated in 1976 with the establishment of the library's Department of Archives and Manuscripts. The new department systematically collected the records of local, city and county government, area civic and civil rights organizations, individuals and the news media. In 1984, a major grant from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission allowed the Archives to survey and preserve City of Birmingham records. This project rescued many civil rights related treasures, including the papers of former Birmingham city commissioner Eugene ‘Bull’ Connor, discovered in the attic of an abandoned fire station. Without the library’s efforts much civil rights and local history material would have been lost or destroyed. The Archives’ civil rights collections now contain more than one million documents, and the BPL Archives is recognized around the world for holding one of the most comprehensive and heavily used research collections on the Civil Rights Movement.

The Collections

Alabama. Tenth Judicial Circuit Court

State of Alabama vs. Robert E. Chambliss Trial Transcript, 1977

(AR 85)

On the morning of Sunday, September 15, 1963 a bomb planted by members of the Ku Klux Klan exploded outside the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, an African American church, in Birmingham, Alabama. The blast did extensive damage to the church building and killed four girls inside. Several other members of the congregation also suffered injuries. This collection contains a transcript of the trial of Robert E. Chambliss, the first person convicted for the bombing.

Size: 1 reel microfilm Guide to Collection

American States’ Rights Association

Assorted Documents, 1954-1956

(AR 416)

Memorandum and other material dealing with the groups support for racial segregation. Includes two items relating to Asa Carter.

Size: 1 box

Birmingham, Ala. City Commission

Minutes, 1911-1963

(AR 1647)

Since the founding of the city in 1871, Birmingham has operated under three successive forms of municipal government. The city was established with a mayor and board of aldermen. Before 1896 aldermen were elected at large. Each alderman represented a ward. After 1896 aldermen were elected directly by wards. In 1911 the form of government for the city was changed by referendum (held in 1910) to a five-member (later changed to a three-member) city commission. The president of the commission also held the title “mayor” and commissioners were responsible individually for various city services. The city commission was replaced in 1963, again by referendum, with a mayor and nine-member city council. Members of the council are elected by district. This collection contains the minutes of the meetings of the Birmingham City Commission for the period April 11, 1911 to May 21, 1963.

Size: 59 reels microfilm

Birmingham, Ala. City Council

Minutes, 1963-1999

(AR 1648)

Since the founding of the city in 1871, Birmingham has operated under three successive forms of municipal government. The city was established with a mayor and board of aldermen. Before 1896 aldermen were elected at large. Each alderman represented a ward. After 1896 aldermen were elected directly by wards. In 1911 the form of government for the city was changed by referendum (held in 1910) to a five-member (later changed to a three-member) city commission. The president of the commission also held the title “mayor” and commissioners were responsible individually for various city services. The city commission was replaced in 1963, again by referendum, with a mayor and nine-member city council. Members of the council are elected by district.

Size: 126 reels microfilm

Birmingham, Ala. City Council

Scrapbooks, 1962-1969

(AR 491)

Newspaper clippings relating to the council and Birmingham city government. Topics include the 1963 mayoral election and civil rights demonstrations, desegregation, bombings, annexation, the hiring of African American police officers, city council elections, the construction of the Birmingham-Jefferson Civic Center and city finances.

Size: 6 reels microfilm

Birmingham, Ala. Law Department

Civil Rights Files

(AR 987)

Office files and court papers relating to civil rights demonstrations, pornography, prostitution, voting rights and civil rights leader Rev. Fred L. Shuttlesworth.

Size: 2 boxes

Birmingham, Ala. Law Department

Opinions of City Attorneys, 1910-1921

(AR 1190)

City attorneys issue opinions, or interpretations of law at the request of city officials. These opinions relate to racial segregation, taxation, bawdy houses, Sunday movies and a wide variety of other topics.

Size: 2 boxes

Birmingham, Ala. Police Department

Photographs of Martin Luther King, Jr. Jail Cell

(AR 1391)

Photographs of the cell at the Birmingham jail where King was held in 1963. It was during this incarceration that King wrote the first draft of his Letter from Birmingham Jail.

Size: 1 box

Birmingham, Ala. Police Department

Surveillance Files, 1947-1980

(AR 1125)

These files contain memoranda, correspondence, photographs, newspaper clippings, interviews, and other material relating to a variety of individuals, organizations, and events. Individuals and organizations represented in the files include civil rights activists, white supremacists, anti-war protestors, and

individuals involved in criminal activities. Events represented in the files include Birmingham area bombings and civil rights protests.

Size: 14 reels microfilm

Birmingham News and Associated Press

Civil Rights Photographs, 1961-1963

(AR 1076)

This collection contains photographs taken by photographers for the Birmingham News newspaper and the Associated Press news service showing Freedom Riders from May 1961, civil rights demonstrations in Birmingham during April and May 1963, anti-integration protests at Birmingham schools and the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church bombing during September 1963.

Size: 103 photographs

Birmingham Post-Herald

Civil Rights Photographs

(AR 827)

This collection contains photographs taken by photographers for the Birmingham Post-Herald newspaper showing various civil rights related individuals and events including lunch counter sit-ins, bomb damage to Bethel Baptist Church and the home of attorney Arthur Shores, police dogs, and events surrounding the implementation of the Voting Rights Act.

Size: 65 photographs

Birmingham World

Office Files

(AR 1102)

This collection contains an extensive body of correspondence, clippings, publications, photographs and other material collected and created by the staff of the Birmingham World, the city’s longest running African American newspaper. Topics include civil rights organizations and their activities, sports, music, education, and politics.

Size: 62 boxes

term as mayor. The papers contain a significant amount of material relating to urban and economic development and civil rights activities in Birmingham.

Size: 41 boxes

next> go to page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7