Foot Soldiers Sculpture

This sculpture sits in Kelly Ingram Park and is dedicated to the foot soldiers of Birmingham, those non-violent men, women, boys, and girls who marched alongside Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, and other leaders of the Civil Rights movement. Confrontations between the foot soldiers and Bull Conner’s attack dogs and water cannons took place in Kelly Ingram Park. Images from these confrontations generated public outcry which shifted much of the world’s attention on the fight for racial equality. The park was first known as West End Park but was renamed in 1932 for Osmond Kelly Ingram, a sailor who was killed in World War I.