Fountain Heights in Birmingham in Jefferson County, Alabama — The American South (East South Central)

Paying the Ultimate Price

March Route Towards a Purposeful Life

— Birmingham Civil Rights Heritage Trail —

Paying the Ultimate Price Marker image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Mark Hilton, December 5, 2021

1. Paying the Ultimate Price Marker

Inscription. Rev. Shuttlesworth was not completely satisfied with the settlement Dr. King worked out with Birmingham's White power structure to end “Project C” while he lay injured at the hospital. Even so, Birmingham's African Americans finally won their demands to remove racial signs from water fountains and bathrooms; the hiring of Black clerks at department stores, and a few other victories. Their plan to desegregate public schools was revived in June 1963 when federal courts ordered Birmingham City Schools to integrate. Only a few brave parents attempted to enroll their children in all-White schools. Rev. Shuttlesworth himself led the two children of James Armstrong, a barber and ACMHR activist, to Graymont Elementary in September. But school integration was the last straw for the Ku Klux Klan, whose members developed their deadly plan to stop it.

Paired marker
September 15, 1963
On September 15, 1963, the Klansmen's bomb exploded at Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, one of the city's largest Black churches. It had been a central staging area for the spring demonstrations. Of all the many bombings in Birmingham

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that were meant to intimidate Black citizens, no one had been killed until this one took the lives of four girls. The sermon that day was “A Love That Forgives." Two Black boys, Virgil Ware and Johnny Robinson, were also killed in two separate incidents within a few hours of the bombing. The deaths of six innocent children stunned the city, the nation and the world, and shined a glaring spotlight on the evils of racism. The violence increased President Kennedy's resolve to create the country's strongest civil rights bill, which would completely integrate all public accommodations. Both Dr. King and Rev. Shuttlesworth spoke at the girls' funerals.

"The patience of an oppressed people cannot endure forever."
Birmingham Manifesto
a document announcing “Project C" in April1963.

Lesson E15: How do you think people in countries around the world viewed American democracy after a nonviolent movement produced such violent deaths?

Erected by the Birmingham Civil Rights Heritage Trail. (Marker Number E15.)

Topics and series. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: African Americans • Civil Rights.

Paying the Ultimate Price paired marker image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Mark Hilton

2. Paying the Ultimate Price paired marker

In addition, it is included in the Birmingham Civil Rights Heritage Trail series list. A significant historical month for this entry is June 1963.

Location. 33° 31.533′ N, 86° 48.894′ W. Marker is in Birmingham, Alabama, in Jefferson County. It is in Fountain Heights. It is on 19th Street North north of 11th Avenue North, on the right when traveling north. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: Birmingham AL 35203, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Regionally, this marker is in the American South

and specifically in the Deep South.

Globally, it is in North America,

a Gulf of Mexico state,

the Western Hemisphere,

the Western World,

and the Anglosphere.

Historically, it finds itself in what was once the territory of the Mississippian Culture,

one of the Confederate States of America,

and the Antebellum South.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker: Shuttlesworth Showdown (within shouting distance of this marker); Shuttlesworth Continues the Struggle (within shouting distance of this marker); Shuttlesworth in Selma (about 300 feet away, measured in a direct line);

Photographed by Mark Hilton, December 5, 2021

3. Paying the Ultimate Price Marker

Shuttlesworth after the Civil Rights Era (about 400 feet away); Oak Hill Cemetery (about 500 feet away); In Memory of the Pioneers (about 500 feet away); Shuttlesworth Returns to Birmingham (about 600 feet away); Death of an Icon (about 700 feet away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Birmingham.

Regarding Paying the Ultimate Price. The Civil Rights Activist Committee “Home of the Foot Soldiers“ is the Information Center for the Birmingham Civil Rights Heritage Trail.

Credits. This page was last revised on January 8, 2022. It was originally submitted on December 6, 2021, by Mark Hilton of Montgomery, Alabama. This page has been viewed 297 times since then and 39 times this year. Photos: 1, 2, 3. submitted on December 6, 2021, by Mark Hilton of Montgomery, Alabama.