Birmingham officials and residents were passionate in their desire for a National Historical Park during a public meeting Thursday at the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church.

Mayor William Bell, U.S. Congresswoman Terri Sewell U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell and National Park Service Director Jonathan Jarvis presided over the meeting where several dozen people spoke on behalf of a national park designation for Birmingham civil rights landmarks such as Bethel Baptist Church, Sixteenth Street Baptist Church and the A.G. Gaston Motel.

“The story of Birmingham is the story of America,” Bell said. “It’s the story of struggle. It’s the story of survival. It’s the story of resolution.”

Lisa McNair, sister of Denise McNair, one of the four girls killed during the 1963 bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, spoke favoring a national park designation.

“When I learned about the opportunity for this to be a national park, I was thrilled, and so were my parents, who are the only parents still alive from that fateful day,” McNair said. “The stories of the people in this area and the sacrifices they made need to be told so that young people and all people will know. There are stories of people who fought bravely, honestly and peacefully for American rights as American citizens. I’m praying that this will happen and happen very soon.”

At the public meeting were, (from left) Birmingham Mayor William Bell, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell, National Parks Director Jonathan B. Jarvis and U.S. Congresswoman Terri Sewell. The public spoke in support of a national park designation in Birmingham. (Reginald Allen, for The Birmingham Times)

Sewell said Birmingham’s sacrifices have helped America. “It’s because of the sacrifices of this community, those known and unknown, that we have an African-American president,” she said. “It’s because of the sacrifices of this community that America has had to live up to its ideals of justice and democracy and equality for all.”

The federal officials were impressed by what they saw and heard.

“We do believe that there’s a story here that needs to be told, not just here, not just nationally, but internationally as well,” Jewell said.

Jarvis said the A.G. Gaston Motel should be nationally recognized because of its pivotal role as a meeting house for leaders like the Revs. Martin Luther King Jr., Fred Shuttlesworth and Ralph Abernathy.

“This is a great piece of the story that is not well told,” he said about the motel and Gaston, an iconic businessman during the civil rights era.

Others who spoke on behalf of the park designation included Odessa Woolfolk, chair emerita of the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, who said visitors from around the world see Birmingham as an important link to the  broader human rights movement.

“The value of being a tourist in Birmingham is that you can meet and interact with the very people who made the history we commemorate,” she said.

Joyce Vance White, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama, spoke at the public meeting. (Reginald Allen, for The Birmingham Times)

Several area faith leaders gave their support to the park designation.

The Rev. Arthur Price Jr. of Sixteenth Street Baptist Church said the story of Birmingham’s civil rights movement isn’t just a local or national one; it’s a holy one. “It’s … the story of Jesus Christ,” he said. “It’s the story of suffering, sacrifice and service.”

The Rev. Thomas Wilder of Bethel Baptist Church said, “Bethel as well as Sixteenth Street and some of the other churches were pivotal points” in the civil rights movement. “This is a place where people came to meet … and get things done. Bethel was one of the first places that was bombed. It has been bombed three times” during the movement.

The Rev. Calvin Woods, president of the Birmingham Metropolitan Chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, said he was elated about the possibility of a national park designation and called what happened in Birmingham during the 1960s “a move of almighty God. … Many of them died so that we might be free.”

Former U.S. Attorney Doug Jones, who led the successful prosecution of two of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church bombers, said the creation of a national park in Birmingham would help all citizens grapple with the turbulence occurring in America.

“I truly believe we live in a connect-the-dots moment in time where we have to connect the dots of history to what we see happening in this country today, not just in this city, but from one end of this country to another,” he said. “Unless we tell the story … on a national scale, that is the only way that we as a country can connect the dots of history to our present and, more importantly, to our future.”

“Birmingham has led the way for so many years,” he said. “We want to continue to lead the way for that dialogue for the country and the world.”

This story originally appeared in The Birmingham Times.