Hundreds of people gathered at the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, to mark the 63rd anniversary of the 1963 bombing that killed four young Black girls. The bombing, carried out by members of the Ku Klux Klan, remains one of the most tragic events of the Civil Rights Movement. On Tuesday, the church opened a new visitors center aimed at educating the public about the bombing and the broader struggle for racial justice in America. The center is intended to serve as both a memorial and a call to action, emphasizing the ongoing need to address inequality and injustice. Bryan Stevenson, a prominent civil rights advocate and founder of the Equal Justice Initiative, delivered the keynote speech at the event. He highlighted the current political climate, where some leaders are trying to remove historical content from museums and undermining civil rights protections like the Voting Rights Act. “We’re in a critical moment in America,” Stevenson said. “There is a narrative struggle. There are people who are preaching the politics of fear and anger, and they want to govern through fear and anger.” The 1963 bombing occurred during the height of the Civil Rights Movement, just months after then-Governor George Wallace of Alabama declared his support for “segregation forever.” On September 15, 1963, at 10:22 a.m., a bomb placed by three Klansmen exploded outside the church, killing four girls—Denise McNair, Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson, and Addie Mae Collins—who were preparing for Sunday services. A fifth girl, Sarah Collins Rudolph, Addie Mae’s sister, was seriously injured but survived. The perpetrators were eventually convicted in separate trials over the following decades. The new visitors center opens amid growing uncertainty about how history is taught and preserved in public spaces. In 2025, President Donald Trump signed an executive order that sought to defund museum exhibits and programs that promote what he called “divisive narratives.” The 16th Street Baptist Church is located within the National Park Service's Civil Rights Monument in Birmingham, a site that includes the historic park where Black protesters were met with police dogs and fire hoses. However, the church operates the visitors center independently, offering exhibits, oral history projects, and community programs. Church leaders hope the center will inspire reflection and a renewed commitment to justice. “History is not just in the past,” said Reverend Arthur Price Jr., pastor of the church. “There’s still work to do.”