GPS City GuideMontgomeryHolt Street Baptist Church

Stop 22 of 26 · Montgomery audio walking tour

Holt Street Baptist Church

Montgomery · 1955 · Bus Boycott Organizing Hub

What you'll hear here: about 90 seconds of narration about Holt Street Baptist Church, and how it fits Montgomery, written to be listened to on the spot rather than read at home.

Holt Street Baptist Church, a historic Baptist church in Montgomery, Alabama, sits on the corner ahead of you. Established in 1909 and with the building completed in 1913 at the corner of Holt Street and Bullock Street, this congregation gathered under its first reverend, I.S. Fountain, and later under Charles Kenzie Steele from 1939 until 1952. The church closed in 1998 when the congregation moved to a new location in Montgomery.

During the Montgomery bus boycott this building served as a meeting place for Montgomery's black community. On Thursday, December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks was arrested after refusing to give up her seat on a Montgomery bus; in response the Women's Political Council organized a boycott and a leaflet distributed to thousands read: "don't ride the bus to work, to town, to school, or anyplace Monday, December 5". The final sentence of that leaflet called people to action: "come to a mass meeting Monday at 7:00 pm at the Holt Street Baptist Church for further instructions...

That leaflet's final call, come to a mass meeting Monday at 7:00 pm at the Holt Street Baptist Church, still points to this corner of Holt Street and Bullock Street.

Where it is

Coordinates
32.36472, -86.32028
Area
Montgomery
Era
1955 · Bus Boycott Organizing Hub
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Three stops free. No account needed. The audio plays itself as you walk.