A civil rights icon, the 16th Street Baptist Church was the gathering place to hear Martin Luther King, Jr., Fred Shuttlesworth, and other leaders of the civil rights movement in Birmingham in the 1960’s. It was the building that was bombed in 1963, causing the deaths of innocent children, and prompting a turning point in the civil rights movement.

It was designed in 1911 by African American architect Wallace A. Rayfield, a past recipient of AAF’s Distinguished Architect Award. It is located across from the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, is still used as a church and has over 2000 visitors weekly.