New Documentary Reveals Legacy of Black Architect Wallace A. Rayfield in Birmingham, Alabama, US

Allen Durough discovered 411 printing plates belonging to Wallace Augustus Rayfield, the Black architect who designed the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in downtown Birmingham, in his dilapidated barn in 1993. Rayfield, who is believed to be the second formally educated and practicing Black architect in the United States, designed several historic sanctuaries in Birmingham, including the original Sixth Avenue Baptist Church and Harmony Street Baptist Church. Documentary filmmaker Dwight Cammeron used Durough’s research to produce the documentary Finding the Cornerstone: The Wallace A. Rayfield Story, which premiered at Birmingham’s 2020 Sidewalk Film Festival and will be televised on Alabama Public Television on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Rayfield has around 10 remaining structures still standing in Birmingham, including the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church. He was born in Georgia in 1874 and had an impressive educational background, including degrees from Howard University, Pratt Institute, and Columbia University. He worked at the Tuskegee Institute before starting his own architectural company and played a significant role in the Civil Rights Movement as many of his church buildings served as meeting places during that time. Cammeron aims to share Rayfield’s legacy with a wider audience through the documentary.