The city's most important museum and the essential reason to visit Birmingham. The permanent exhibitions walk you through the civil rights struggle with power and restraint -- a replica segregated streetcar, a freedom bus, a "shotgun" house, and the story of how Birmingham became "Bombingham." The 16th Street Baptist Church, where four young girls were killed in a 1963 bombing, stands directly across the street.
Allow at least two hours. The institute, the church, and Kelly Ingram Park together form the Birmingham Civil Rights District, and you should see all three.