The Ballard House

OUR STORY

We are a community that does not know enough about it history. This is likely true of most of us, no matter where we live. In Birmingham, there exists a cultural space, dedicated to honoring the heritage and voices of Birmingham’s African-American community. If the walls of an 83 year old, historic building in Birmingham, Alabama could talk, what would they tell us today about decades of persistence and resistance movements in the city’s history in the contributions of the African-American community?  
 
The Ballard House Project, Inc. is a non-profit organization dedicated to gathering, documenting, and sharing this history with children and adults within our community, state, and beyond. Located in the Birmingham Civil Rights Historic District, the Ballard House is a site engaged in informing, engaging and inspiring residents and visitors about how people of color lived, worked, socialized, and served their communities across the Magic City, while creating bonds of persistence and resistance to the continual injustice they experienced in the decades leading to demonstrations on sidewalks, at lunch counters, in the courts, and on the streets of the 1950’s and ’60’s national and world stage.  
 
Many facets of Birmingham’s African-American history, from its founding in 1871 to the mid-20th century are rich, vibrant, and invaluable for our diverse community. Lessons learned serve to educate and inspire today. The Ballard House shares a tapestry of historic facts and good works within the area’s rich legacy. The building has a storied legacy that highlights what life was like in the African-American community during decades leading to, and including, the Birmingham Civil Rights Movement. It is a significant story that provides hope, opportunity, and inspiration for generations. The Ballard House Project, works to restore and program this historic site, designated by the Jefferson County Historical Society as an historical property in the city; the U.S. Department of Interior as a contributing structure within the Birmingham Civil Rights Historic District; member of the National Park Service African American Civil Rights Network; and named one of “20 Alabama Civil Rights Sites To Watch” in 2018 by the World Heritage Fund. 
  
At The Ballard House Project, Inc., we document, preserve, and celebrate stories of the past, which are relevant to present and future generations. As the present-day home of ongoing research, data gathering, workshops, and the documentation of community oral histories, programs convey stories of a rich community legacy that is certain to give you pause. In Birmingham, the Ballard House, a 1930’s-40’s era structure, is one of few surviving buildings in the historic Civil Rights District that played a pivotal role in that transformational movement of equality and justice. As the present-day home base of ongoing research, cultural events, dialogic engagement of community collective memories and insights, the walls of the Ballard House tell the story of a rich African American legacy.
 
As we restore this cultural space & gardens in ways that honor the history of Birmingham’s community from the turn of the 20th century through the Civil Rights Movement, the mission of the Ballard House Project continues to educate and inspire, enhance community identity, enrich dialogue and understanding, bridge areas of discord, and contribute to Birmingham’s cultural economy. 
 
The Ballard House serves as a modern-day cultural space, connecting historical threads that served to weave a tapestry of good works and a rich legacy in Birmingham, across Alabama and the Southeast. As caretakers of a facet of Birmingham’s history, we share this treasure with residents and visitors through workshops, exhibits, oral histories, community conversations, special events, a planned community garden, and thematic programs. It is the re-envisioning and re-creation of an historic cultural space – a cultural storehouse in Birmingham – that celebrates the rich bonds and shared history of our community. 
MORE HISTORY

Meet the individuals behind the history within this building

E. H. Ballard, MD

Having been constructed as a family residence and medical office in 1940 by Dr. Edward Ballard, a successful African-American Birmingham physician, the Ballard House was situated among a host of thriving, Black businesses throughout this Birmingham, Alabama, community enclave. The existing structure was built by Leroy S. Gaillard, an African-American contractor, upon the foundation of the family’s former home and medical office.

The Ballard family’s former live-work residence, existing on the same property foundation. Built between 1899 and 1915, it was owned by other families before it became the live-work residence of Dr. and Mrs. Ballard in the late 1920’s.

Mrs. Jessie Perkins (Ma Perkins)

After Dr. Ballard moved his family to California in the early 1950’s,  the property was acquired by Jesse Perkins and served as the  “hotspot for civic meetings and social events” in the 1950’s, 60’s, and well into the 70’s.

Mrs. Perkins was an African-American woman of color and entrepreneur who made a significant economic and cultural impact well before her time.

As a result of segregation in Birmingham, which made many places off limits to the “Negro” population, the Ballard House became a  significant and pivotal gathering and meeting place for the  community of color, and a central backdrop for the chartering and meeting of numerous African‐American  clubs and community organizations.

Before the opening of the A.G. Gaston Motel, the Ballard House was considered one of few destinations for boarding visiting Black  entertainers and musicians, as well as for hosting receptions, teas, and holiday parties in the Black community.

Dodson Curry, MD

The Ballard House first floor medical office space was leased by  Mrs. Perkins to Dr. Dodson Curry in the early 1950’s and then to  Dr. Herschell Lee Hamilton in the late 1950’s.

Herschell L. Hamilton, MD

As a physician, trained at Meharry Medical College and Homer G.  Phillips Hospital in St. Louis, Dr. Herschell Lee Hamilton was the first board certified, African-American general surgeon to practice at UAB and in Alabama.

Arriving in Birmingham in 1959, Dr. Herschell L. Hamilton set up his medical practice at the Ballard House.  He devoted himself to his patients and to the cause of equal rights. Dr. Hamilton was beloved for his acts of humanitarianism, treating Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth,  and numerous foot soldiers injured during the Birmingham Civil Rights Movement marches and demonstrations.

Because of his skill and dedication to the fight for Civil Rights, Dr. Hamilton quickly became known throughout Birmingham and  Alabama as “Battle Surgeon” and “The Dog Bite Doctor.” He also  supported the Movement generously with his personal resources.

The Ballard House continued its legacy, rapidly becoming a  designated meeting space to discuss strategy for those involved in  the Civil Rights struggle in Birmingham.

The Hamilton family later purchased the Ballard House from Mrs. Perkins.

As a practicing general surgeon for more than 40 years, Dr. Hamilton continued his commitment to his community by treating patients and mentoring  young African-American physicians in a  successful medical practice at The Ballard House.