Bethel Baptist Church, Parsonage, and Guard House

Bethel Baptist Church, Parsonage, and Guard House

Bethel Baptist Church is a historic church at 3200 28th Avenue North in the Collegeville neighborhood of Birmingham, Alabama.

The church served as headquarters from 1956 to 1961 for the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights (ACMHR), which was led by Fred Shuttlesworth and active in the Birmingham during the Civil Rights Movement.

The ACMHR focused on legal and nonviolent direct action against segregated accommodations, transportation, schools and employment discrimination. It played a crucial role in the 1961 Freedom Ride that resulted in federal enforcement of U.S. Supreme Court and Interstate Commerce Commission rulings to desegregate public transportation.

The church's complex during the historic events of the 1950s and 1960s, located nearby on 29th Avenue North, was added to the Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage on November 13, 1996.

It was then added to the National Register of Historic Places and declared a National Historic Landmark on April 5, 2005.