I was born in Birmingham, AL less than a decade after it became ground zero for the civil rights movement (my mother was briefly a teacher at Parker HS during the short time we lived there).

It's actually hard to find a lot about Birmingham that happened my year, but I find myself drawn to the subject. For some reason something today urged me to have another look.

I found two separate newspaper clippings digitized at the Birmingham Public Library - one before and one after I was born (12/4) - about the really great "Black Christ" stained-glass mosaic at the 16th St Baptist Church, bombed in 1963:

https://cdm16044.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p4017coll2/id/618/rec/1

https://cdm16044.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p4017coll2/id/638/rec/1

Neat stuff! Not entirely sure of the context, and why these stories went up. I think there was some other rioty thing that was happening in the city at the time, so says my mother anyway.

Anyway I'm atheist but this is my heritage, so I can say I love the modern design with all the curves and the greatly more accurate depiction of jesus as not a white person.

#BirminghamAL #CivilRightsMovement #BlackChrist