On May 2, 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King, Reverend Abernathy and Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth lead a protest march in Birmingham, Alabama.
At that time, Birmingham had been one of the most racially segregated cities in the U.S.
The march was the culmination of several weeks' previous activities. The march and protest itself lasted several weeks, into most of May.
The Southern Christian Leadership Conference helped organize the march, which consisted mainly of children less than 18 years of age.
One aim of the march was to fill the prisons with students in an effort to embarrass Birmingham city officials.
Protestors were met with policemen and dogs. Birmingham Police Chief Eugene "Bull" Connor arrested the student protestors; within days, the police attacked the protestors with Billy clubs, fire hoses and police dogs.
News of this on TV incited many Northerners to march.
Many who joined the march in Birmingham were beaten or killed.
King, Abernathy and Shuttlesworth were jailed.
King was held in solitary confinement for three days, during which time he wrote "Letter from Birmingham Jail", about the necessity of non-violence as resistance to unjust laws.
On May 4th, Chief Connor ordered police and firemen to forcefully instill order in the protestors, but the police and firemen refused.
Negotiations were under way for public facilities such as water fountains to be integrated within the next 90 days.
When the Ku Klux Klan heard of this impending integration, riots began.
The KKK firebombed the Gaston Motel where most protestors were staying, and President Kennedy was forced to call in federal troops to quell the riots and reinstate order.
This article is part of the ongoing series, "The Sixties", a series of vignettes that were in the news during the 1960s.
This series, "The Sixties" is published Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.
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Comments: 26
The march on Birmingham was before my time. But you may know by now that I grew up in the Hippie era: http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474976750901
There were a lot of amazing things taking place at that time, and much of it was intensely political. But it wasn't all sunshine and roses - not by a long shot. As kid who lived in a car and traveled across the country with no structure and even less security, I can say firsthand that many (certainly not all) of the Hippies needed to take some responsibilty for their lives.
But times of great challenge, bring people together, and it was the community feeling of shared values what was so important in the civil rights movement and was one of the greatest things to come from this time.
But still, the movie 'The Doors' made me completely nauseaus - a feeling that I had for my entire childhood. I have written about my experiences as a child in this time, but have been very hesitant to share it all publicly. It is far more complicated than one can express in short sound-bites, and is far too easy to take out of context.
Still, I am interested to hear what your series will be saying, and maybe I will chime in at a certain point.
"The Doors" movie made a lot of us nauseaus. Val Kilmer?
I was born in 1951; for me, things came alive after the Bay of Pigs. Really, they came alive in 1963, with that earthshaking event which will soon be talked about here in this series. The popular culture was important, but the social chages were more important. The popular culture was a reflection of some of the social changes that were made. I do believe our decade now is poised for some change. Let us hope we can continue to make good.
Thanks, Erik, for enjoying this series. I'm getting to work on Thursdays piece or pieces.
Would you happen to know where I can track down photos taken during this time? My father (deceased now) was one of the marchers from NY.