“Let us all hope that the dark clouds of racial prejudice will soon pass away and the deep fog of misunderstanding will be lifted from our fear-drenched communities, and in some not too distant tomorrow the radiant stars of love and brotherhood will shine over our great nation with all their scintillating beauty.” These are the words penned by The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. as he sat behind these bars in a Birmingham jail in 1963. And today we’re here to learn and explore this story and others like it at the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute.

The institute got its start in 1992 to honor Birmingham’s role in the struggle for racial equality. In the eyes of many, this Alabama city was ground zero in the civil rights movement sweeping the American South.

Here, they humanize a period of our history that can often seem so big and so distant. This is where exploration results in learning and realizing that the struggles that took place in this city more than half a century ago echo through the decades, and challenge us to do better today.

And it’s in the here and now that the institute exists not just as a museum, but as a living entity giving back to the community, and supporting and educating the youth of Birmingham.

As you walk the halls of the institute, you are surrounded by the voices of history… touchstones of our past that inform our present and speak to our future. It’s a humbling, heartbreaking, and hopeful experience – one where the bravery of our forebearers inspires us to this day.