I have to go help them", and hung up the phone. I want 'em to see the dogs work. When police went to inspect the motel, they were met with rocks and bottles from neighborhood black citizens. The confrontation between protesters and police was a product of the direct action campaign known as Project C. Project C—for confrontation—challenged unfair laws that were designed to limit freedoms of African Americans and ensure racial inequality. The episode sickened many, including President John F. Kennedy, and elevated civil rights from a Southern issue to a pressing national issue. [109] By July, most of the city's segregation ordinances had been overturned. Birmingham, JFK, and the Civil Rights Act of 1963: Implications For Elite Theory. [31] They claimed on a technicality that their terms not expire until 1965 instead of in the spring of 1963. When Gaston looked out the window and saw the children being hit with high-pressure water, he said, "Lawyer Vann, I can't talk to you now or ever. [122] In addition, Rowe and several other Klansmen also partook in the killing of Civil Rights activist Viola Liuzzo on March 25, 1965, in Lowndes County, Georgia after the Selma to Montgomery march.[120][121]. Bevel, a veteran of earlier nonviolent student protests with the Nashville Student Movement and SNCC, had been named SCLC's Director of Direct Action and Nonviolent Education. [118] Violence continued to plague the city, however. After Alabama banned the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1956,[17] Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth formed the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights (ACMHR) the same year to challenge the city's segregation policies through lawsuits and protests. [14] Black churches in which civil rights were discussed became specific targets for attack. It responded to eight politically moderate white clergymen who accused King of agitating local residents and not giving the incoming mayor a chance to make any changes. [57] In addition, although Connor had used police dogs to assist in the arrest of demonstrators, this did not attract the media attention that organizers had hoped for. To build morale and to recruit volunteers to go to jail, Ralph Abernathy spoke at a mass meeting of Birmingham's black citizens at the 6th Avenue Baptist Church: "The eyes of the world are on Birmingham tonight. He then trained and directed high school, college, and elementary school students in nonviolence, and asked them to participate in the demonstrations by taking a peaceful walk 50 at a time from the 16th Street Baptist Church to City Hall in order to talk to the mayor about segregation. Recently Updated [74] Connor allowed white spectators to push forward, shouting, "Let those people come forward, sergeant. Estate of Martin Luther King, Jr., Inc. v. CBS, Inc. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, San Francisco. [90] White business leaders met with protest organizers to try and arrange an economic solution but said they had no control over politics. [30] Connor was so antagonistic towards the Civil Rights Movement that his actions galvanized support for black Americans. [102] Commissioner Connor and the outgoing mayor condemned the resolution.[103]. The Birmingham campaign inspired the Civil Rights Movement in other parts of the South. [21] King's reputation had been hurt by the Albany campaign, and he was eager to improve it. Bass suggested that "Letter from Birmingham Jail" was pre-planned, as was every move King and his associates made in Birmingham. [93] Local rabbis disagreed and asked them to go home. But for Birmingham: The Local and National Movements in the Civil Rights Struggle. [10] Only 10 percent of the city's black population was registered to vote in 1960. [108] In fact, Sydney Smyer, president of the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce, re-interpreted the terms of the agreement. [53], Twenty-four hours after his arrest, King was allowed to see local attorneys from the SCLC. "[13] In 1961, Connor delayed sending police to intervene when Freedom Riders were beaten by local mobs. [98] One group of children approached a police officer and announced, "We want to go to jail!" Some white spectators at a sit-in at a Woolworth's lunch counter spat upon the participants. "[128], American civil rights campaign in Alabama, High school students are hit by a high-pressure water jet from a. Maurice Isserman & Michael Kazin, 'America Divided: The Civil War of the 1960s', (Oxford, 2008), p. 90. [65] More than 600 students were arrested; the youngest of these was reported to be eight years old. When historian Jonathan Bass wrote of the incident in 2001, he noted that news of King's incarceration was spread quickly by Wyatt Tee Walker, as planned. If you're not going to demonstrate in a nonviolent way, then leave! ... Two young protesters try to avoid the blast of a fire hose during a civil rights protest in Birmingham, Alabama on May 7, 1963. "[26], The images had a profound effect in Birmingham. Smyer then said that a single black clerk hired 90 days from when the new city government took office would be sufficient. [105] Martin Luther King Jr. returned to Birmingham to stress nonviolence. [59] When they continued, Connor ordered the city's fire hoses, set at a level that would peel bark off a tree or separate bricks from mortar, to be turned on the children. In the early 1960s, Birmingham was one of the most racially divided cities in the United States, both as enforced by law and culturally. Described as an "arch-segregationist" by Time magazine, Connor asserted that the city "ain't gonna segregate no niggers and whites together in this town [sic]". [76] Black parents and adults who were observing cheered on the marching students, but when the hoses were turned on, bystanders began to throw rocks and bottles at the police. [67][68] They assembled paddy wagons and school buses to take the children to jail. Marshall faced a stalemate when merchants and protest organizers refused to budge.[83]. [51] After King prayed and reflected alone in his hotel room, he and the campaign leaders decided to defy the injunction and prepared for mass arrests of campaign supporters. [124] ACMHR vice president Abraham Woods claimed that the rioting in Birmingham set a precedent for the "Burn, baby, burn" mindset, a cry used in later civic unrest in the Watts Riots, the 12th Street riots in Detroit, and other American cities in the 1960s. The decision to ignore the injunction had been made during the planning stage of the campaign. "[59] At 3 p.m., the protest was over. These dramatic scenes of violent police aggression against civil rights protesters from Birmingham, Alabama were vivid examples of segregation and racial injustice in America. [123] On June 12, 1963, Evers was fatally shot outside his home. "[26][a], A.G. Gaston, who was appalled at the idea of using children, was on the phone with white attorney David Vann trying to negotiate a resolution to the crisis. [20][22] Determined not to make the same mistakes in Birmingham, King and the SCLC changed several of their strategies. Black secretaries could not work for white professionals. Fred D. Gray, a longtime civil rights lawyer, at his office in Tuskegee, Ala. [28] However, Connor and his colleagues on the City Commission refused to accept the new mayor's authority. Please contact the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute at the number above for general questions about Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument. [36][37], Martin Luther King Jr.'s presence in Birmingham was not welcomed by all in the black community. On the night of May 11, a bomb heavily damaged the Gaston Motel where King had been staying—and had left only hours before—and another damaged the house of A. D. King, Martin Luther King Jr.'s brother. Jobs available to black workers were limited to manual labor in Birmingham's steel mills, work in household service and yard maintenance, or work in black neighborhoods. Those in jail would be released on bond or their own recognizance. [38] Black hotel owner A. G. Gaston agreed. Shuttlesworth's home was repeatedly bombed, as was Bethel Baptist Church, where he was pastor. City parks and golf courses were opened again to black and white citizens. [87] The car of Fannie Flagg, a local television personality and recent Miss Alabama finalist, was surrounded by teenagers who recognized her. The movement is famous for using non-violent protests and civil disobedience (peacefully refusing to follow unfair laws). He had, however, previously promised to lead the marchers to jail in solidarity, but hesitated as the planned date arrived. Connor, who had run for several elected offices in the months leading up to the campaign, had lost all but the race for Public Safety Commissioner. The rift between the businessmen and the politicians became clear when business leaders admitted they could not guarantee the protesters' release from jail. Spectators taunted police, and SCLC leaders begged them to be peaceful or go home. [45] Some white Birmingham residents were supportive as the boycott continued. "[31], Turmoil in the mayor's office also weakened the Birmingham city government in its opposition to the campaign. [80] A New York Times editorial called the behavior of the Birmingham police "a national disgrace. Described by historian Henry Hampton as a "morass", the Albany movement lost momentum and stalled. When the girls joined, however, the boys were close behind. Roy Wilkins of the NAACP, however, disagreed that the Birmingham campaign was the primary force behind the Civil Rights Act. For six weeks supporters of the boycott patrolled the downtown area to make sure black shoppers were not patronizing stores that promoted or tolerated segregation. "[71], King, who had been silent and then out of town while Bevel was organizing the children, was impressed by the success of the children's protests. King was released on April 20, 1963. [61], Bevel and the SCLC held workshops to help students overcome their fear of dogs and jails. "[106] In June 1963, the Jim Crow signs regulating segregated public places in Birmingham were taken down. Some SCLC members grew frustrated with his indecisiveness. Please contact the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute at the number above for general questions about Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument. The situation reached a crisis on May 7, 1963. Are you ready, are you ready to make the challenge? Using scraps of paper given to him by a janitor, notes written on the margins of a newspaper, and later a legal pad given to him by SCLC attorneys, King wrote his essay "Letter from Birmingham Jail". When no squad cars were left to block the city streets, Connor, whose authority extended to the fire department, used fire trucks. Another thousand students gathered at the church and left to walk across Kelly Ingram Park while chanting, "We're going to walk, walk, walk. "[114] Despite the apparent lack of immediate local success after the Birmingham campaign, Fred Shuttlesworth and Wyatt Tee Walker pointed to its influence on national affairs as its true impact. The Birmingham campaign, also known as the Birmingham movement or Birmingham confrontation, was a movement organized in early 1963 by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) to bring attention to the integration efforts of African Americans in Birmingham, Alabama. They clapped and laughed while being arrested and awaiting transport to jail. Relevance "[22] He headed the planning of what he called Project C, which stood for "confrontation". Isserman, Maurice, Kazin, Michael. He surveyed the segregated lunch counters of department stores, and listed federal buildings as secondary targets should police block the protesters' entrance into primary targets such as stores, libraries, and all-white churches. The Civil Rights Movement, Oxford. The Civil Rights Movement in the United States was a decades-long struggle by African Americans and their like-minded allies to end institutionalized racial discrimination, disenfranchisement and racial segregation in the United States. [5] Not all of the bystanders were peaceful, despite the avowed intentions of SCLC to hold a completely nonviolent walk, but the students held to the nonviolent premise. ISBN 0-8204-0806-9; Davis, Jack. Hanes responded with a letter informing Shuttlesworth that his petition had been thrown in the garbage. [107], The reputation of Martin Luther King Jr. soared after the protests in Birmingham, and he was lauded by many as a hero. [65][66], When Connor realized that the Birmingham jail was full, on May 3 he changed police tactics to keep protesters out of the downtown business area. It burnished King's reputation, ousted Connor from his job, forced desegregation in Birmingham, and directly paved the way for the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which prohibited racial discrimination in hiring practices and public services throughout the United States. Protesters set off false fire alarms to occupy the fire department and its hoses. When the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) initiated a probe amid allegations of police misconduct for the arrests, Connor responded that he "[hadn't] got any damn apology to the FBI or anybody else", and predicted, "If the North keeps trying to cram this thing [desegregation] down our throats, there's going to be bloodshed. "[81] The Washington Post editorialized, "The spectacle in Birmingham ... must excite the sympathy of the rest of the country for the decent, just, and reasonable citizens of the community, who have so recently demonstrated at the polls their lack of support for the very policies that have produced the Birmingham riots. White religious leaders denounced King and the other organizers, saying that "a cause should be pressed in the courts and the negotiations among local leaders, and not in the streets". [77] That evening King told worried parents in a crowd of a thousand, "Don't worry about your children who are in jail. The Birmingham Civil Rights Institute (BRCI) is a modern museum that serves as a connection to the Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument, a collection of sites important to the Civil Rights Movement. However, campaign organizers offered no bail in order "to focus the attention of the media and national public opinion on the Birmingham situation". "[50], The movement organizers found themselves out of money after the amount of required bail was raised. "[73] As the demonstrators left the church, police warned them to stop and turn back, "or you'll get wet". Sort By: King hesitated to approve the use of children,[60] but Bevel believed that children were appropriate for the demonstrations because jail time for them would not hurt families economically as much as the loss of a working parent. [100] The sheriff and chief of police admitted to Burke Marshall that they did not think they could handle the situation for more than a few hours. [107], Desegregation in Birmingham took place slowly after the demonstrations. He could have been released on bail at any time, and jail administrators wished him to be released as soon as possible to avoid the media attention while King was in custody. Public outrage over the events in Birmingham produced political pressure that helped to ensure passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. James Bevel borrowed a bullhorn from the police and shouted, "Everybody get off this corner. When Martin Luther King Jr. called his wife, their conversation was brief and guarded; he correctly assumed that his phones were tapped. Civil rights protestors are attacked with a water cannon. [104] By May 13, three thousand federal troops were deployed to Birmingham to restore order, even though Alabama Governor George Wallace told President Kennedy that state and local forces were sufficient. If you win in Birmingham, as Birmingham goes, so goes the nation. When one black woman entered Loveman's department store to buy her children Easter shoes, a white saleswoman said to her, "Negro, ain't you ashamed of yourself, your people out there on the street getting put in jail and you in here spending money and I'm not going to sell you any, you'll have to go some other place. Bettmann/Contributor/Getty Images. Led by Martin Luther King Jr., James Bevel, Fred Shuttlesworth and others, the campaign of nonviolent direct action culminated in widely publicized confrontations between young black students and white civic authorities, and eventually led the municipal government to change the city's discrimination laws. Children left the churches while singing hymns and "freedom songs" such as "We Shall Overcome". SNYC was forced out in 1949, leaving behind a Black population that thus had some experience of civil rights organizing. The Negro Motorist Green Book Exhibition “The Negro Motorist Green Book” exhibition debuts at the National Civil Rights Museum located at the Lorraine Motel which is not only the historic site of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., but it is also one of the few Green Book sites still remaining. [116] The Civil Rights Act applied to the entire nation, prohibiting racial discrimination in employment and in access to public places. [79] Similar reactions were reported by Kentucky Senator Sherman Cooper, and Oregon Senator Wayne Morse, who compared Birmingham to South Africa under apartheid. Singer Joan Baez arrived to perform for free at Miles College and stayed at the black-owned and integrated Gaston Motel. [47], On April 10, 1963, Bull Connor obtained an injunction barring the protests and subsequently raised bail bond for those arrested from $200 to $1,500 ($3,000 to $10,000 in 2021). The Civil Rights Movement was a social movement in the United States that tried to gain equal rights for African Americans. National business owners pressed the Kennedy administration to intervene. [115] President Kennedy's administration drew up the Civil Rights Act bill. [18] After Shuttlesworth was arrested and jailed for violating the city's segregation rules in 1962, he sent a petition to Mayor Art Hanes' office asking that public facilities be desegregated. Fire hoses were used once again, injuring police and Fred Shuttlesworth, as well as other demonstrators. Organizers believed their phones were tapped, so to prevent their plans from being leaked and perhaps influencing the mayoral election, they used code words for demonstrations. Black protestors arrived at white churches to integrate services. [13] Fifty unsolved racially motivated bombings between 1945 and 1962 had earned the city the nickname "Bombingham". Leaders from the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) along with Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth of the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights (ACMHR) took up residence at the A.G. Gaston Motel in April through May of 1963 to direct Project C. From the motel, which served as their headquarters and also as an area to stage events and hold press conferences, the movement’s leaders strategized and made critical decision that shaped national events and significantly advanced the cause of the civil rights movement. Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin ordered the removal of a monument in Linn Park, stating the fine was less costly than continued civil unrest. Birmingham's black radio station, WENN, supported the new plan by telling students to arrive at the demonstration meeting place with a toothbrush to be used in jail. Campaign participant Joe Dickson recalled, "We had to go under strict surveillance. The editor of The Birmingham World, the city's black newspaper, called the direct actions by the demonstrators "wasteful and worthless", and urged black citizens to use the courts to change the city's racist policies. When layoffs were necessary, black employees were often the first to go. University of North Carolina Press. King and the SCLC were criticized by some for ending the campaign with promises that were too vague and "settling for a lot less than even moderate demands". [125] A study of the Watts riots concluded, "The 'rules of the game' in race relations were permanently changed in Birmingham. [9] Racial segregation of public and commercial facilities throughout Jefferson County was legally required, covered all aspects of life, and was rigidly enforced. We've gone too far to turn back now. [16] A few years later, Birmingham's black population began to organize to effect change. When the officer pointed the way, the students ran across Kelly Ingram Park shouting, "We're going to jail! We're going on in spite of dogs and fire hoses. The NAACP’s long battle against de jure segregation culminated in the Supreme Court’s landmark Brown v.Board of Education decision, which overturned the “separate but equal” doctrine. Marching in disciplined ranks, some of them using walkie-talkies, they were sent at timed intervals from various churches to the downtown business area. If black shoppers were found in these stores, organizers confronted them and shamed them into participating in the boycott. They were accepted in Roman Catholic, Episcopal, and Presbyterian churches but turned away at others, where they knelt and prayed until they were arrested. [117], Birmingham's public schools were integrated in September 1963. The day's arrests brought the total number of jailed protesters to 1,200 in the 900-capacity Birmingham jail. We had to tell people, say look: if you go downtown and buy something, you're going to have to answer to us. [25], A significant factor in the success of the Birmingham campaign was the structure of the city government and the personality of its contentious Commissioner of Public Safety, Eugene "Bull" Connor. Smaller groups of decoys were set out to distract police attention from activities at the 16th Street Baptist Church. freedom. Bobby Kennedy is looking here at Birmingham, the United States Congress is looking at Birmingham. The struggle for equality is illustrated by places like the A.G. Gaston Motel, located throughout Birmingham, where civil rights activists organized, protested, and clashed with segregationists. [42] A few hundred protesters, including jazz musician Al Hibbler, were arrested, although Hibbler was immediately released by Connor. Bevel and the organizers knew that high school students were a more cohesive group; they had been together as classmates since kindergarten. The president told her she could expect a call from her husband soon. I am ready to go to jail, are you? The enormous crowd gathers around the Reflecting Pool between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument for the March on Washington on August 28, 1963. [23][24] King summarized the philosophy of the Birmingham campaign when he said: "The purpose of ... direct action is to create a situation so crisis-packed that it will inevitably open the door to negotiation". The Montgomery bus boycott began a campaign of nonviolent civil disobedience to protest segregation that attracted national and international attention. A confederate monument in Huntsville was also removed in October and was reassembled in the Confederate burial section of … [111] In the summer of 1963, King led the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom where he delivered his most famous speech, "I Have a Dream". After initiating the idea he organized and educated the students in nonviolence tactics and philosophy. The essay was a culmination of many of King's ideas, which he had touched on in earlier writings. [43], The SCLC's goals were to fill the jails with protesters to force the city government to negotiate as demonstrations continued. When local business and governmental leaders resisted the boycott, SCLC agreed to assist. [66] Although Bevel informed Connor that the march was to take place, Connor and the police were dumbfounded by the numbers and behavior of the children. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library, Washington, D.C. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Library, San Jose, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Birmingham_campaign&oldid=1000583939, African-American history in Birmingham, Alabama, Civil rights protests in the United States, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, Outbreak of mass demonstrations throughout, Burnished Martin Luther King Jr.'s reputation. When the students crouched or fell, the blasts of water rolled them down the asphalt streets and concrete sidewalks. The mood was compared to that of a school picnic. King's supporters sent telegrams about his arrest to the White House. Shuttlesworth recalled a woman whose $15 hat ($130 in 2021) was destroyed by boycott enforcers. [32] The Citizens for Progress was backed by the Chamber of Commerce and other white professionals in the city, and their tactics were successful. Martin Luther King Jr. called it the most segregated city in the country. The Department of Justice is looking at Birmingham. After King's arrest, the chains' profits began to erode. [55] Several days later, Jacqueline Kennedy called Coretta Scott King to express her concern for King while he was incarcerated.[23]. Organizers planned to flood the downtown area businesses with black people. [119], Four months after the Birmingham campaign settlement, someone bombed the house of NAACP attorney Arthur Shores, injuring his wife in the attack. A local black attorney complained in Time that the new city administration did not have enough time to confer with the various groups invested in changing the city's segregation policies. [23] The Soviet Union devoted up to 25 percent of its news broadcast to the demonstrations, sending much of it to Africa, where Soviet and U.S. interests clashed. The NAACP asked for sympathizers to picket in unity in 100 American cities. Phone: (205) 328-9696 Please contact the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute at the number above for general questions about Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument. He recruited girls who were school leaders and boys who were athletes. James Bevel wove in and out of the crowds warning them, "If any cops get hurt, we're going to lose this fight. After being filibustered for 75 days by "diehard southerners" in Congress, it was passed into law in 1964 and signed by President Lyndon Johnson. Large groups of protesters sat in stores and sang freedom songs. [15], Black organizers had worked in Birmingham for about ten years, as it was the headquarters of the Southern Negro Youth Congress (SNYC). Commissioner Connor expressed regret at missing seeing Shuttlesworth get hit and said he "wished they'd carried him away in a hearse". Pastors urged their congregations to avoid shopping in Birmingham stores in the downtown district. [38], Protest organizers knew they would meet with violence from the Birmingham Police Department and chose a confrontational approach to get the attention of the federal government. "[35] After several business owners in Birmingham took down "white only" and "colored only" signs, Commissioner Connor told business owners that if they did not obey the segregation ordinances, they would lose their business licenses. Organizer Wyatt Tee Walker joined Birmingham activist Shuttlesworth and began what they called Project C, a series of sit-ins and marches intended to provoke mass arrests. By May 6, the jails were so full that Connor transformed the stockade at the state fairgrounds into a makeshift jail to hold protesters. [29], The SCLC decided that economic pressure on Birmingham businesses would be more effective than pressure on politicians, a lesson learned in Albany as few black citizens were registered to vote in 1962. The struggle for equality is illustrated by places like the A.G. Gaston Motel, located throughout Birmingham, where civil rights activists organized, protested, and clashed with segregationists. (2000), This page was last edited on 15 January 2021, at 19:18. That evening he declared at a mass meeting, "I have been inspired and moved by today. United States House Select Committee on Assassinations, Martin Luther King Jr. Records Collection Act, King: A Filmed Record... Montgomery to Memphis, The Witness: From the Balcony of Room 306, Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Story, Joseph Schwantner: New Morning for the World; Nicolas Flagello: The Passion of Martin Luther King. In Albany, they concentrated on the desegregation of the city as a whole. The Birmingham campaign was a model of nonviolent direct action protest and, through the media, drew the world's attention to racial segregation in the South. Black citizens faced legal and economic disparities, and violent retribution when they attempted to draw attention to their problems. On May 2, 1963, 7th grader Gwendolyn Sanders helped organize her classmates, and hundreds of kids from high schoolers down to first graders who joined her in a massive walkout defying the principal of Parker High School who attempted to lock the gates to keep students inside. [97], No business of any kind was being conducted downtown. [44] Most white residents of Birmingham expressed shock at the demonstrations. "[125], Wyatt Tee Walker wrote that the Birmingham campaign was "legend" and had become the Civil Rights Movement's most important chapter. "[52] With Abernathy, King was among 50 Birmingham residents ranging in age from 15 to 81 years who were arrested on Good Friday, April 12, 1963. Fred Shuttlesworth called the injunction a "flagrant denial of our constitutional rights" and organizers prepared to defy the order. [64] Demonstrators were given instructions to march to the downtown area, to meet with the Mayor, and integrate the chosen buildings. 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His wife, their campaign tactics focused on more narrowly defined goals for the downtown shopping and government district.! Allowed to see local attorneys from the SCLC was much in demand to effect change in many Southern cities youngest! A Woolworth 's lunch counter spat upon the participants and said he `` wished they 'd carried him in! Protesters went home leaders and boys who were school leaders and boys who were athletes brought the number..., but hesitated as the planned date arrived [ 42 ] a white Jesuit priest in... 118 ] violence continued to plague the city responded by closing them spring of 1963, was! Sclc agreed to assist campaign was faltering because few demonstrators were willing to risk arrest 107.