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This history sign commemorates the history of the Holt Street Baptist Church and its role in the Montgomery Bus Boycott. E. D. Nixon suggested that a new black minister in Montgomery, Martin Luther King, Jr., lead the Bus Boycott. Reverend King addressed the mass meeting at the Holt Street Baptist Church. |
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Martin Luther King, Jr., was serving as
the minister of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church at the time of the Bus
Boycott. The church is located in downtown Montgomery close to the
state capitol.
Rev. King was selected to head the Montgomery Improvement Association, an organization especially formed to oppose racial segregation on city buses. |
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The Montgomery Bus Boycott is considered
the first significant event in the Civil Rights Movement. Because
of Martin Luther King's key role in the Movement, the Dexter Avenue
Baptist Church is known as the birthplace of the Civil Rights
Movement. It symbolizes the importance of black churches in
effecting civil rights reforms.
In honor of Rev. King, the church was renamed Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church. |