16th Street Baptist Church is a Baptist church in Birmingham , Alabama , that is frequented predominantly by African Americans . In 1963 , the church was the target of the racially motivated bombing that killed four young girls in the midst of the Civil Rights Movement . The church is still in operation and is a central landmark in the Birmingham Civil Rights District . It was designated as a National Historic Landmark in 2006 . Since 2008 , it has also been on the UNESCO list of tentative World Heritage Sites
racially motivated bombing
16th Street Baptist Church bombing
16th Street Baptist Church