Shiloh Baptist Church stampede

On September 19, 1902, a stampede occurred at the Shiloh Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, resulting in the deaths of 115 people.

At the time of the crush, 3,000 people were gathered to hear Booker T. Washington address the National Convention of Negro Baptists.

The church was crowded with approximately 3,000 people to hear Booker T. Washington address the National Convention of Negro Baptists.

[2] Two men who were in the rear of the church when the rush began realized the seriousness of the situation and turned in a fire alarm after escaping.

The Fire Department answered quickly and the arrival of the wagons served to scatter the crowd which had gathered around the front of the church.

A squad of police was also hastened to the church, and with the firemen, finally succeeded in releasing the victims from their positions in the entrance.

Scores of them lost their footing in their haste and rolled down the long steps to the pavement suffering broken limbs and internal injuries.

[2] The church in which the convention was held is located just on the edge of the South Highlands, a then-fashionable residential section of Birmingham, and physicians living in that part of the town went to the aid of the injured.

[2] Booker T. Washington was quoted after the disaster as saying, "I had just finished delivering my lecture on 'Industry' and the singing had commenced when some woman back of me was heard to scream.