Dunbar Hotel Building Urban Impact Office,

Dunbar Hotel Building Urban Impact Office,. Destination. Built 1917, 1701 4th Ave. N. , From 1900 to 1960, the Fourth Avenue area west of 18th Street in downtown Birmingham was the business, social and cultural center of the city's African-American community. Every major historical and cultural development in the community happened here. The area was an oasis independent of Whites, where Blacks felt at ease in their self-contained world of professional offices, restaurants, hotels, theaters, clubs and other businesses. The building housed one of Birmingham's few hotels for Blacks. But the area fell into decline after the Birmingham Movement allowed Blacks to integrate into the larger society. Many businesses closed and some burned to the ground. Other buildings along Fourth Avenue were demolished to make way for the new federal courthouse. Under the leadership of Richard Arrington, Jr., the city's first African-American mayor, community leaders formed Urban Impact in 1980 to reverse the decline and preserve the remaining buildings. Urban Impact worked to have the fourth Avenue Black Business District - along 3rd, 4th and 5th Avenues North, from 15th to 18th Streets - placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. , "This civil rights district was the center of the civil rights movement." , Nathan Hicks , Founder and Executive Director of Urban Impact., Lesson C18: Why do you think it is important to preserve the history of places like the Fourth Avenue Business District?