Wales Window for Alabama

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The Wales Window for Alabama is a stained-glass window by the artist John Petts created in response to the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing which took place in 1963. Petts, who was based in Carmarthenshire, initiated a campaign in Wales to raise money to fund a stained-glass window to replace one of the windows destroyed in the bombing. The window was installed in the 16th Street Baptist Church, Birmingham, Alabama, in 1965. [1]

Contents

History of the window

The appeal for funds was conducted through the Western Mail . Petts visited Alabama and opted to construct a stained-glass image of a Black Christ. Donations from the Welsh public paid for the construction of the art work in Wales, and its delivery and installation at the 16th Street Baptist Church. According to Theodore Debro, a former chair of 16th Street Baptist Church, the church was initially reluctant to receive the artwork but ultimately agreed to accept it. [2]

John Petts died in 1991 at the age of 77. In a 1987 interview focusing upon his recollections of the bombing, Petts recollected: "Naturally, as a father, I was horrified by the deaths of those children." Petts then elaborated that the inspiration for the stained-glass image was a verse from the Gospel of Matthew: "Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me." [3] The Wales Window of Alabama bears the inscription, "Given by The People of Wales". [4]

Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, Birmingham, Alabama LCCN2010636939.jpg

In 2023 Vaughan Gething, the first black minister in the Welsh Government, visited Birmingham for the 60th anniversary of the bombing. [5]

Conservation of the designs and the window

In 1970, the designs for the window were donated to the National Library of Wales in Aberystwyth. [6] In 2013, to mark the 50th anniversary of the bombing, Petts's original designs were displayed at the National Library of Wales. [7] In September 2018, it was reported that the church was concerned that Alabama's stormy weather would destroy the window and appealed to the public to raise funds to preserve it. [8]

References

  1. ↑ Prior, Neil (March 10, 2011). "Alabama Church Bombing Victims Honoured by Welsh Window". BBC News . Retrieved May 28, 2019.
  2. ↑ Poitevien, Jessica (Winter 2025). "A Chance to Heal: The Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument Reflects the Alabama City's Turbulent Past". Preservation Magazine. National Trust for Historic Preservation.
  3. ↑ Younge, Gary (March 6, 2011). "American civil rights: the Welsh connection". The Guardian . Retrieved May 28, 2019.
  4. ↑ Younge, Gary. "The Wales Window of Alabama". BBC Radio 4. Retrieved May 28, 2019.
  5. ↑ "Welsh Government marks 60th anniversary of 16th Street Baptist Church bombing and reaffirms historic friendship between Wales and Birmingham, Alabama". 14 September 2023.
  6. ↑ "National Library of Wales Blog | The Wales window, Birmingham, Alabama". 12 September 2013. Retrieved 6 October 2015.
  7. ↑ "Artist's designs for Alabama church bombing window on display". BBC News. 19 September 2013. Retrieved 6 October 2015.
  8. ↑ "The black Christ of Alabama, Heart and Soul Gathering, Heart and Soul". BBC World Service. 26 September 2018. Retrieved 30 September 2018.
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