A.G. Gaston Motel opens exhibit ahead of Sixteenth Street Baptist Church bombing 60th commemoration

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. —

Tours of the newly remodeled A.G. Gaston Motel are bringing people from all over the country downtown. Work on the civil rights landmark has been years in the making.

Visitors are getting a first look at a new exhibit at the motel. It opened the same week as the 60th anniversary of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church bombing. The motel was opened by the businessman in 1954 and offered luxury accommodations for Black travelers during the Civil Rights Movement. It became the home of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, which carried out boycotts and marches.

Oscar Huey is one of many people who experienced the new A.G. Gaston Motel exhibit. He grew up just across the street from the site.

“Dr. A.G. Gaston did a great thing when he opened this motel,” he said, “because a lot of Black people couldn’t stay in the other hotels, but this was a very elegant place. It was top of the line during its heyday.”

The Birmingham native said visiting the exhibit brought back memories of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Muhammad Ali, Jackie Wilson and James Brown all staying in the motel.

“It’s very nostalgic for me,” Huey said.

Huey said some people, like his then neighbor, legendary broadcaster and civil rights pioneer, Tall Paul, saw the motel as more than just a place to sleep while traveling but a piece of belonging and acceptance.

“He was very critical of the Temptations because they wouldn’t stay here, but they would stay at other hotels,” Huey said. “He was like, ‘Why not support your own? Don’t take your money and take it downtown. Keep it uptown.”

Ann Gray Huey visited Memphis to see the historic sites there just two weeks ago. She said her visit to the Birmingham site is the last piece of her own civil rights trail.

“You connect Memphis and Montgomery and the Civil Rights Museum it all makes sense,” Ann said. “It just comes together. You have to see this, you have to see this. Birmingham just brings it all in a nutshell.”

Participants of the “Balm in Gilead: Healing from the Events of 1963” conference took full advantage of the tours as well. They came from across the country for conversations about healing. A teacher from California was excited to take what she learned back to her classroom.

“Being here gives us the full sense experience of seeing the place and really about teaching the importance of place,” conference participant Bonnie Belsche said. “We can look at a photograph and I can see the photographs, but for me to understand the perspective, I feel like I really need to walk the steps myself to be able to share that with my students.”

Breonne Murray, another teacher and conference participant, learned about Gaston when she visited Birmingham this summer. She toured the motel Tuesday and said it was a surreal experience.

“When we came over the summer, we learned about A.G. Gaston and his contribution to the Civil Rights Movement in terms of paying bail for the people who had been imprisoned,” she said. “It’s also important because this is where we spent time strategizing what is our next move. Having a place to come see and visit to say this is where it actually happened and where they planned is important.”

The A.G. Gaston Motel is open from Thursday to Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. but will be open all week as the city prepares to commemorate the 60th year of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church bombing.