Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church

Known for its years at the forefront of the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the Civil Rights movement, led by then-pastor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church proved how members of a black community could unite in resistance to segregation. It heralded a new era of "direct action."

Years before the boycott, Dexter Avenue minister Vernon Johns was an early change-seeker, sitting down in the whites-only section of a city bus. When the driver ordered him off, Johns urged other passengers to join him, thus instigating bus sit-ins that would propel the movement.