- Manufactured by
- Peters Cartridge Company, American, 1887 - 1944
- Subject of
- 16th Street Baptist Church, American, founded 1873
- Date
- September 1963
- Medium
- metal , brass (alloy) and cardboard
- Dimensions
- H x W x D: 2 11/16 × 1 × 7/8 in. (6.8 × 2.5 × 2.2 cm)
- Caption
- On September 15, 1963, just two weeks after the August 28th March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, white supremacists (members of the Ku Klux Klan) planted a bomb under the steps of hte 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. The explosion killed four young girls attending Sunday school. Within hours, a crowd of over two thousand individuals gathered at the church. According to the donor, local police fired their shotguns into the air to disperse this crowd, leaving shells on the ground. In the face of such violence, the determination to continue organizing intensified.
- Description
- A shotgun shell collected from the ground outside the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. The shell is comprised of blue roll-crimp paper with a brass head. Embossed on the brass head is "Peters H.V. 12GA," and "Made in USA." There is a closed legged P around the primer headstamp.
- Place collected
- Birmingham, Jefferson County, Alabama, United States, North and Central America
- Place made
- Warren County, Ohio, United States, North and Central America
- Classification
- Weapons and Ammunition
- Movement
- Civil Rights Movement
- Type
- shells (ammunition)
- Topic
- Baptist
- Children
- Civil rights
- Hate crimes
- Religion
- U.S. History, 1961-1969
- Violence
- White supremacy movements
- Credit Line
- Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift from the Trumpauer-Mulholland Collection
- Object number
- 2010.71.1.11
- Restrictions & Rights
- No Known Copyright Restrictions
- Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.




