New civil rights exhibit to open at Vulcan Park and Museum

Vulcan Park and Museum is preparing to unveil a new exhibition that explores Birmingham’s Fourth Avenue District in commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of the 1963 Civil Rights Movement. A Place of Our Own: The Fourth Avenue District, Civil Rights, and the Rise of Birmingham’s Black Middle Class opens Friday, April 12.

As Jim Crow laws took effect in the early 1900s, a separate black business district emerged as a haven for local African-American entrepreneurs in Birmingham. The Fourth Avenue District became home to the enterprises of A. G. Gaston and William Pettiford, the architecture of Wallace Rayfield, and a wealth of businesses, entertainment venues and cultural institutions that united blacks from across the city. A Place of Our Own illustrates how the Fourth Avenue District grew into the cultural center of Birmingham’s African American community.

The exhibit will include oral histories of black entrepreneurs gathered by W.E.B. Du Bois, interviews with Fourth Avenue District locals, coverage of churches and neighbors, and an introduction to leaders such as A.H. Parker and Carrie Tuggle.

The exhibition will run through Sept. 30. Entrance to the exhibition is included with general admission to Vulcan Park and Museum. Adults are $6 (plus tax), seniors $5 (plus tax), children 5 – 12 $4 (plus tax), and children under 4 and Vulcan Members free. Vulcan Center Museum is open Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. and Sunday from 1 p.m. – 6 p.m.  Admission also includes entrance to Vulcan’s Observation Tower.

For more information, visit visitvulcan.com or call 205.933.1409.