The 60th Year Anniversary of the

Birmingham Movement
The Birmingham Movement in Alabama was one of the most important events of the American Civil
Rights Movement. It started in early 1963. By this time, the student sit-ins and the Freedom Rides
had some success in desegregating many public facilities in certain places of the mid and upper-South.
The South had rigid segregation still in many locations. The Southern Christian Leadership Conference
(SCLC) and SNCC (the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee) were heavily involved. The goal
of the movement was to end Jim Crow apartheid in the most segregated city of America (in that time
period) which was Birmingham, Alabama. It was a victory, but it has costs. The costs of babies and
kids were arrested, beat by dogs, and sprayed with water hoses from the local government are tragic
images that I will never forget in my mind. Some of the cruelest form of racism against black history
in all human history was on display in Birmingham back in 1963. The racism was so evil, that in
Birmingham (before Watts in 1965), there was a rebellion of black people using self-defense against
racists after the campaign was over. Dr. King, Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, Wyatt Tee Walker, Dorothy
Cotton, and other people worked together to fight injustice in Birmingham. Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth
of the ACMHR organized a boycott to pressure business leaders to open employment to people of all
races, and end segregation in public facilities, restaurants, schools, and stores.

When local business and governmental leaders resisted the boycott, the SCLC agreed to assist.
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. Later, kids were used by
the activists to protest discrimination and oppression. Eugene "Bull" Connor was the racist (with ties
to the Klan and many Klan members were in his police force as well) who used high pressure water
hoses and police attack dogs on children and adult bystanders. The movement led to ending racial
segregation in the South, desegregation of Birmingham, and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to be passed.
The twin movements in Birmingham and later in Selma (by 1965) help to end legalized Jim Crow
apartheid in American society. The heroic people led the change in a grassroots level. Sacrifice dealt
with the Civil Rights Movement and the overall black freedom struggle. Many human beings lost their
lives during the struggle for justice like Medgar Evers, Dr. King, Malcolm X, the four little girls of the
16th Baptist Church (in Birmingham, Alabama), and civil rights workers Andrew Goodman, James
Chaney, and Michael Schwerner in June of 1964. The Birmingham Campaign of 1963 had a clearly
established goal. As SNCC Chairman, and SCLC board-member, John Lewis put it:

“Our goal in Birmingham was larger than ending segregation in one

Southern city. It was our hope that our efforts in Birmingham would
dramatize the fight and determination of Afro-American citizens in
the Southern states and that we would force the Kennedy
administration to draft and push through Congress a comprehensive
Civil Rights Act, outlawing segregation and racial discrimination in
public accommodations, employment and education.” (From M.L.
King Research Institute at Stanford University).

— John Lewis

Rosa Parks John Lewis Coretta Scott King Virginia Foster Durr E. D. Nixon

Modern Events in the State of Alabama

Many GOP members in Alabama want to end
Section 2 of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. This is
evil plan and an affront to democracy. The Voting
Rights Act is one of the greatest forms of
legislation in human history, and MAGA
extremists want to end this sacrosanct law.
The Alabama Republicans refuse to adhere to the
recent Supreme Court decision to make a fair
representation of forming a second black
congressional district. This is in de ance of the
Supreme Court. Rep. Terri Sewell is a
Congresswoman from Alabama ghting for fair
representation in Alabama.
 The Beginning
As early as March 18, 1947, the racist "Dynamite" Bob Chamblis set off his first bomb in Birmingham
in trying to intimidate the black community. Other bombs exploded in the city trying to stop
desegregated housing in the community. The College Hills area of Birmingham was known as
"Dynamite Hill." One major organization that fought for liberation in Birmingham was Alabama
Christian Movement for Human Rights. Back then, the group's leader was Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth.
The Bethel Baptist Church (the headquarters of the ACMHR) was bombed on December 25, 1956.
From 1957 to 1962, there were at least 17 unsolved bombings of African American churches and
homes of civil rights leaders in Birmingham. That is why the nickname of the city was "Bombingham."
Even the great singer Nat King Cole was attacked by racist White Citizens Council members in 1956
at the Municipal Auditorium stage. The NAACP was once banned in Alabama. Reverend Shuttlesworth
and other civil rights activists continue to fight to end oppression in the Deep South. Students in
Birmingham organize the 1960 sit ins. Bull Connor resisted it. There was a temporary bus boycott in
Birmingham too. The sit-in movement existed in Birmingham by April of 1960. Connor and the Klan
resisted the movement, and Shuttlesworth was briefly jailed. On April 12, the New York Times carries
a page-one withering critique of conditions in Birmingham, entitled “Fear and Hatred Cripple
Birmingham.” Racists were angry and caused a libel lawsuit against NY Times for showing the truth.
The organization of SNCC was created at a conference at Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina.
The conference was attended by Rev. Shuttlesworth and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (who spoke at the
conference too). The Mother of SNCC was Ella Baker who wanted grassroots community organizing
to be the nucleus of social movements in favor of justice. It is no secret that the Birmingham police
worked with the Klan. They worked together with approval by Safety Commissioner Eugene "Bull"
Connor to allow the Klan terrorists to severely beat up Freedom Riders in Birmingham (Charles Person
and Jim Peck were almost killed by the terrorist mob). This was in May of 1961. Other Freedom Riders
like John Lewis were beaten in Montgomery.

By November 7, 1961, segregationist Art Hines narrowly defeated moderate Tom King in the election
for mayor. The white community in the city has become polarized: reformers vs. segregationists,
business community vs. city hall. On November 12, 1961, after city commissioners (including Bull
Connor) voted to close city parks rather than desegregate them (effective January 1, 1962),
moderates in the business community publish “Some Facts to Face” in the Birmingham News. The
statement opposed resistance to desegregation. Terrorism continued. In January 1962, dynamite
bombs severely damaged three black Birmingham churches, one of them associated with Reverend
Fred Shuttlesworth. Reverend Shuttlesworth has filed a lawsuit to desegregate public parks, golf
courses, the zoo, and public swimming pools; on January 15, a judge rules that those facilities must
open to all citizens. By March 2, 1962, Reverend Shuttlesworth was released after 36 days in jail–and
accepts a new pastorate in Cincinnati. Meanwhile, Lucius Pitts, president of Miles College, takes on
additional leadership in the black community: he initiates a boycott of white businesses downtown
to achieve desegregation of drinking fountains, elevators, and lunch counters, and demands the
hiring of black clerks. The SCLC wants to fight in Birmingham to liberate people from injustice by May
of 1962. They would ally with Shuttlesworth's Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights. Early
Birmingham, Alabama activists were John Henry Thomason, Isiah Welch, and Robert Benjamin.

Activism Grows
In September 1962, Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth invited Dr. King to help him desegregate
Birmingham (via the program of Project C. C stands for Confrontation). Dr. King accepts the challenge
after a three-day retreat near Savannah, Georgia. From September 25-28, 1962, even as a crisis
emerges at the nearby University of Mississippi, the SCLC holds its annual convention in Birmingham,
including 300 delegates and Dr. King. (At the final session of the SCLC meeting, on September 28, King
addressed the group from Hall Auditorium–where he is attacked physically by a young Nazi). To
discourage demonstrations, city leaders temporarily desegregate downtown department stores. (The
Whites Only signs reappear after the SCLCers leave town). The showdown continues. George Wallace
was elected governor of Alabama on November 6, 1962. He vowed to continue segregation forever,
but he failed. There is a new council plus mayor system being approved in Birmingham as a means of
trying to neutralize Bull Connor's segregationist control. Bethel Baptist Church was bombed on
December 14, 1962. SCLC Vice President Reverend Joseph Lowry agreed to follow Project C too.

The year of 1963 would change Birmingham, Alabama forever. By January 10, 1963, at a meeting in
Dorchester, South Carolina (near Savannah), SCLC leaders commit to a campaign to desegregate
Birmingham. By January 16, 1963, George Wallace was inaugurated as governor of Alabama pledging
“segregation today, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever!” Concurrent with the inaugural
observances is a National Conference on Religion and Race (January 14-17), chaired by Benjamin
Mays, that brings together 647 Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish leaders. (Dr. King was one of the
presenters). This conference was about diverse religious leaders coming together to fight racism.
January 17, 1963, was when eleven Birmingham clergy publish a statement in the main Birmingham
newspaper that implores the community to desegregate. March 1963 was when Wyatt Tee Walker
and James Bevel tutored people on nonviolent resistance. March 5th was when the mayoral election
in Birmingham pits Bull Connor against Albert Boutwell and his associate Tom King. No one gets 50%
of the vote, so Boutwell and Connor will face one another in an April 2 runoff election. The SCLC again
decides to delay activities until the election is decided, preferring to deal with Boutwell rather than
Connor. The segregationist rally at Municipal Auditorium in support of Bull Connor existed on March
8. On the last day of March of 1963, Dr. King goes to New York City with singer Harry Belafonte and
other Northern supporters to raise money for bail money and organize political support to pressure
President Kennedy and Congress to advance federal civil rights legislation.
 Civil rights activists Martin Luther King Jr. and Fred Shuttlesworth held a press
conference at the start of the Birmingham Campaign, in May 1963. (The source of the
image is from Frank Rockstroh/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images).

By April 2, 1963, the less extreme Albert Boutwell, widely considered to be willing to consider changes
to Birmingham’s segregation policies, narrowly defeated Eugene “Bull” Connor in a large-turnout run-
off mayoral election, thanks in part to African American voters. However, Connor and his supporters,
instead of stepping down, decide to contest the election (contending, in part, that Connor’s elected
terms as Commissioner only when his term was up in 1965) so that two functioning rival city
governments operate simultaneously in Birmingham for months until the matter is adjudicated;
meanwhile, Connor continues to control the local police. Bull Connor acted like Trump in denying
democracy. On Wednesday, April 3rd, over the signature of Fred Shuttlesworth and N.H. Smith,
ACHMR publicly issues the Birmingham Manifesto setting forth the Black community's demand for
an end to the oppression of segregation and their determination to immediately begin a freedom
campaign of nonviolent direct action. April 4, 1963, was the important "B Day" when the SCLC started
to have sit-ins and released the Birmingham Manifesto. The manifesto was mostly ignored. That day,
the campaign is launched with a series of mass meetings and sit-ins at Birmingham lunch counters
and bus stations, marches on City Hall, direct actions, and the beginnings of a boycott of all downtown
merchants. Citizens are encouraged to avoid shopping at downtown stores during one of the busiest
shopping periods, the Easter season, until reforms are instituted.

Dr. King spoke to black inhabitants of Birmingham about methods and philosophies of nonviolence,
and actions expand over the next week to include sit-ins at the library, “kneel-ins” at churches, and a
march on the county building to forcibly register voters. Hundreds are arrested during this week;
many whites (and more than a few African Americans) wish that what whom they called “outside
agitators” from Atlanta would leave town. Yet, SCLC staff members James Lawson, James Bevel, Diane
Nash Bevel, Dorothy Cotton, Andrew Young, and Bernard Lee also provide workshops on nonviolence.
On April 6, 1963, the police arrest 45 protesters who are marching on City Hall. The next day, Palm
Sunday, police dogs are set loose on a young protester. Meanwhile, daily demonstrations and the
economic boycott continue. On Palm Sunday, April 7, 1963, more people are arrested. A 19-year-old
protester (who was a teenage kid) Leroy Allen is set upon by police dogs. By April 10, 1963, the city
gets an injunction against the demonstration from a judge. Demonstrators are now subject to
arrest. The next day, Thursday, April 11, King, Shuttlesworth, and other Movement leaders
denounced the injunction. States Dr. King: "We cannot in good conscience obey such an injunction
which is an unjust, undemocratic and unconstitutional misuse of the legal process." They announce
that they intend to defy the injunction by marching the next day — Good Friday.

In response to the protests, Judge W.A. Jenkins, Jr. issued an order preventing Reverends King, Ralph
Abernathy, Shuttlesworth, and other civil rights leaders from organizing demonstrations. Dr. King and
Abernathy debate whether protesters should continue to submit to arrest; as money available for
posting bail runs thin, leaders cannot guarantee that those arrested will be released. Dr. King’s
services at a fundraiser to replenish funds are desperately needed, but he feels his credibility might
be undermined if he refused to submit to arrest so he decides to violate the injunction and accept
arrest. Divisions are apparent in the African American community. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had no
choice but to continue in the movement after the failure of the Albany movement. By April 12, on
Good Friday, local clergy (eight of the eleven who wrote on January 17) compose a public letter,
published in Birmingham newspapers on April 13, condemning the protests and King’s role in them,
and asking Dr. King to call off the demonstrations.

On the same symbolic day, Good Friday the 12th, Dr. King joined the demonstrations and was
arrested along with Ralph Abernathy after violating the injunction against protesting, in accordance
with the agenda of “Project C,” which had intended that King be arrested on that date all along. While
in custody, he begins composing his “Letter from Birmingham Jail” which, among other subjects,
justifies his ignoring the injunction. Dr. King's Letter from a Birmingham Jail is one of the greatest
notes in history refuting the clergy people who opposed demonstrations. Back, the Northern media
didn’t initially mention the letter until after the campaign had a victory. Diane Nash, James Bevel,
Bernard Lee, and Dorothy Cotton were active in the Birmingham campaign. The note mentioned that
unjust law is no law at all, and that freedom shouldn't be constrained by time. In other words,
oppressed people shouldn't wait for liberty to come. Liberty should come ASAP without compromise.

The image above showed Black Americans marching on the corner of 16th Street and 5th
Avenue in Birmingham, Alabama, at the start of the Birmingham Campaign, in May 1963. (The
source of this image is from Frank Rockstroh/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images).
Some parts of the letter have the following words from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.:

“…My friends, I must say to you that we have not made a single gain in civil
rights without legal and nonviolent pressure. History is the long and tragic
story of the fact that privileged groups seldom give up their privileges
voluntarily. Individuals may see the moral light and give up their unjust
posture; but as Reinhold Niebuhr has reminded us, groups are more immoral
than individuals. We know through painful experience that freedom is never
voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.
Frankly I have never yet engaged in a direct action movement that was “well
timed,” according to the timetable of those who have not suffered unduly from
the disease of segregation. For years now I have heard the word “Wait!” It
rings in the ear of every Negro with a piercing familiarity. This “wait” has
almost always meant “never.” It has been a tranquilizing Thalidomide,
relieving the emotional stress for a moment, only to give birth to an ill-formed
infant of frustration. We must come to see with the distinguished jurist of
yesterday that “justice too long delayed is justice denied.” We have waited for
more than 340 years for our constitutional and God-given rights. The nations
of Asia and Africa are moving with jetlike speed toward the goal of political
independence, and we still creep at horse and buggy pace toward the gaining
of a cup of coffee at a lunch counter… “

“…I guess it is easy for those who have never felt the stinging darts of
segregation to say wait. But when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your
mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim; when
you have seen hate-filled policemen curse, kick, brutalize, and even kill your
black brothers and sisters with impunity; when you see the vast majority of
your 20 million Negro brothers smothering in an airtight cage of poverty in the
midst of an affluent society; when you suddenly find your tongue twisted and
your speech stammering as you seek to explain to your six-year-old daughter
why she can’t go to the public amusement park that has just been advertised
on television, and see the tears welling up in her little eyes when she is told
that Funtown is closed to colored children, and see the depressing clouds of
inferiority begin to form in her little mental sky, and see her begin to distort her
little personality by unconsciously developing a bitterness toward white
people; when you have to concoct an answer for a five-year-old son who is
asking in agonizing pathos: “Daddy, why do white people treat colored people
so mean?” when you take a cross country drive and find it necessary to sleep
night after night in the uncomfortable corners of your automobile because no
motel will accept you; when you are humiliated day in and day out by nagging
signs reading “white” men and “colored” when your first name becomes
“n____” and your middle name becomes “boy” (however old you are) and
your last name becomes “John,” and when your wife and mother are never
given the respected title of “Mrs.” when you are harried by day and haunted
by night by the fact that you are a Negro, living constantly at tip-toe stance,
never quite knowing what to expect next, and plagued with inner fears and
outer resentments; when you are forever fighting a degenerating sense of
“nobodiness”—then you will understand why we find it difficult to wait. There
 comes a time when the cup of endurance runs over, and men are no longer
willing to be plunged into an abyss of injustice where they experience the
bleakness of corroding despair. I hope, sirs, you can understand our
legitimate and unavoidable impatience….”

“…I hope this letter finds you strong in the faith. I also hope that circumstances
will soon make it possible for me to meet each of you, not as an integrationist
or a civil rights leader, but as a fellow clergyman and a Christian brother. Let
us all hope that the dark clouds of racial prejudice will soon pass away and
the deep fog of misunderstanding will be lifted from our fear-drenched
communities and in some not too distant tomorrow the radiant stars of love
and brotherhood will shine over our great nation with all of their scintillating
beauty…”

Dr. King wrote his note from April 12-20, 1963. It originally circulates only in mimeographed copies
throughout Birmingham before becoming public on April 18 and being distributed more widely (but
often in excerpts) later that year through pamphlets from the American Friends Service Committee
and periodicals like Christian Century, New Republic, Christianity and Crisis, the New York Post, and
Ebony magazine. Part of the letter is even introduced into testimony by Representative William Fitts
Ryan (D-NY) and published in the Congressional Record, before King revised and prints it as a chapter
of his 1964 memoir Why We Can’t Wait. (Consequently, there are differences in the various versions
of Dr. King’s famous Letter). Dr. King wants to call his wife, Coretta Scott King, but his request is
denied. Coretta Scott King just given birth to a new child days earlier. She contacted the Kennedy
administration, which intervened to get Birmingham officials to let Dr. King to call home. Bail money
becomes available, and Dr. King was released from jail on April 20.

Civil Rights protesters were walking in the streets demanding justice in the Southern city of
Birmingham, Alabama on April 12, 1963. ese human beings shown true determination.
 Using Children
The controversial Children's Crusade from the SCLC existed from May 2-5, 1965. SCLC organizer James
Bevel had proposed using young children in demonstrations, and he recruited youngsters during the
last week of April. Many children had a passion for freedom found in Parker High and other black
schools of Birmingham and Bessemer. So, on May 2, the Children’s Crusade began (The decision to
use children in the demonstrations is debated at length, Dr. King finally agreed after expressing
misgivings). More than 1,000 African American students marched into downtown Birmingham, and
hundreds of them are arrested. Many of the children arrested are freed on May 3, only to be sent out
again to protest and be re-arrested. When hundreds more gather on May 3 and jails are becoming
filled to capacity, Bull Connor directed local officials to use force to halt their demonstrations, causing
images of children being blasted by fire hoses and attacked by police officers and dogs to appear on
television and in newspapers around the world. Those tactics continued on May 4 and on May 5
(“Miracle Sunday”). The images, published in newspapers and magazines and carried on television,
swing public opinion within Birmingham and across the nation. The crooked police and Connor using
water hoses and dogs on black children was one of the evilest acts in world history.

Connor was a racist, a liar, a coward, and not a real man to assault babies and children with water
hoses. During the evening of May 5, Dr. King encouraged the parents of children protesters that they
will be fine, and they did this for American and for all in humanity. On May 6, 1963, Attorney General
Robert Kennedy sent Burke Marshall, his chief civil rights assistant, to Birmingham to facilitate
negotiations between the Senior Citizens Council (SCC, the city’s business leadership) and the black
American leaders. Fred Shuttlesworth was hospitalized after sustaining injuries from being hit with
the full force of a fire hose: demonstrations and marches are continuing. Civil rights activist Dick
Gregory, having come in from Chicago to help, is among those jailed. Joan Baez (who is a famous rock
and folk singer) has also arrived to encourage demonstrators, along with Guy Carawan; she offers a
concert at Miles College on May 5. There is an early May 1963 image of the Parker High School student
named Walter Gadsden being attacked by dogs.

The Climax
Despite decades of disagreements, when the photos were released, "the black community was
instantaneously consolidated behind King", according to David Vann, who would later serve as mayor
of Birmingham. Horrified at what the Birmingham police were doing to protect segregation, New York
Senator Jacob K. Javits declared, "the country won't tolerate it", and pressed Congress to pass a civil
rights bill. Similar reactions were reported by Kentucky Senator Sherman Cooper, and Oregon Senator
Wayne Morse, who compared Birmingham to South Africa under apartheid. A New York Times
editorial called the behavior of the Birmingham police "a national disgrace." 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. The
authorities who tried, by these brutal means, to stop the freedom marchers do not speak or act in
the name of the enlightened people of the city." President Kennedy sent Assistant Attorney General
Burke Marshall to Birmingham to help negotiate a truce. Marshall faced a stalemate when merchants
and protest organizers refused to budge.

The image to the le showed Ma e Howard

Harris, as a teenager, being arrested during the
1963 Birmingham Children’s Crusade. She
helped to defend a child being beaten by a dog.
Also, she said that, “The police officers were
sicking the dogs on Jessie and I didn’t like it
because they kept on going and the kid was
down.” She said that one officer cursed at an
older black man in the protest rally. The picture
is found in the LA Sen nel as a courtesy photo.
By May 8, 1963, Dr. King told negotiators that he would accept an interim compromise that grant
some of the black leaders' demands while ending demonstrations and trying to make other demands
later. Fred Shuttlesworth was angry, because he wasn't present at the negotiations, and he felt that
Dr. King should not speak for the black population of Birmingham on his own. Dr. King announced the
proposed compromise to the city anyway, but wants demonstrations if negotiations fail. President
Kennedy on the same say spoke about the developments in Birmingham. On May 10, 1963, Reverends
Shuttlesworth, Abernathy, and King join together to read the prepared statement outlining the
settlement. Its details include removing “Whites Only” and “Negroes Only” signs in certain venues, a
plan to desegregate lunch counters and all downtown stores, the release of jailed protestors, an
ongoing program to upgrade black American employment, and the formation of a biracial committee
to monitor the implementation of the agreement. Protests were suspended. This victory was not
perfect, but it was a significant victory in the Civil Rights Movement. On Friday the 10th, as the prison
doors open and the children stream out, Shuttlesworth announces to the world press: "The city of
Birmingham has reached an accord with its conscience." Though it is to be phased in slowly over 60
days, the agreement amounts to a sweeping Movement victory, its main points include promises to
desegregate public facilities in Birmingham, nondiscriminatory hiring practices, and ongoing public
meetings between Black and white leaders.

Racists and segregationists wanted revenge. On May 11, 1963, the home of Dr. King's brother, A. D.
King, was bombed, and another bomb damaged the Gaston Motel, a headquarters for the SCLC
leadership. So, President Kennedy ordered 3,000 federal troops into position and prepares to
nationalize the Alabama National Guard. KKK Imperial Wizard Robert “Bobby” Shelton addressed a
Klan rally to resist integration.

Black people in Birmingham later used outright self-defense against white racists. When police went
to inspect the motel, they were met with rocks and bottles from neighborhood black citizens. The
arrival of state troopers only further angered the crowd; in the early hours of the morning, thousands
of black people rebelled, numerous buildings and vehicles were burned, and several people, including
a police officer, were stabbed. This happened at Kelly Ingram Park. 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. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
returned to Birmingham to stress nonviolence along with Wyatt Walker, A.D. King, Bernard Lee, and
other human beings.

The Birmingham Board of Education announced plans to suspend or expel all students who took place
in the recent protests and demonstrations. Meanwhile, Dick Gregory delivered a speech at St. John’s
Baptist Church. Medgar Evers offered a televised address on civil rights in Jackson, Mississippi (on
May 20). By May 22, the SCLC and NAACP take the Board of Education’s decision to the local federal
district court. The judge initially upholds the Board of Education’s decision, only to have the decision
reversed by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals that same day.

The Aftermath
On May 23, the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that Albert Boutwell’s election as mayor of
Birmingham should stand, ousting Bull Connor. A few days later, Dr. King attends a celebratory rally
in Los Angeles: his speech concludes with a recitation from “The Battle Hymn of the Republic”–“Mine
eyes have seen the glory!” By July, Duke begins to perform his “King Fit the Battle of Alabam,”
immortalizing the events of Birmingham between Connor and King. August 5th was when Johnny
Mathis, James Baldwin, Ray Charles, and Nina Simone were among those who entertained at a free,
peaceful, and integrated concert at Miles College in Birmingham. Resistance to progress continued
through September 1963. Four months after the Birmingham campaign settlement, someone
bombed the house of NAACP attorney Arthur Shores, injuring his wife in the attack. Most Birmingham
institutions were desegregated. A Labor Day rally of Klansmen attracted George Wallace and Bull
Connor as speakers; and several bombings were pulled off by Klansmen, especially because schools
are opening around Labor Day under a judge’s desegregation order. One of the saddest days in
American history was on September 15, 1963, when four black children were killed when a bomb is
set off in Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham. Bombings continued. The four little black
American girls just wanted to worship God, but racists ended their lives. The bomb, apparently
planted under the church steps the night before, detonated at 10:19 a.m. as the children were
assembling for closing prayers following Sunday school classes. The four girls were in the church
basement when the blast occurred, and their bodies were found underneath the rubble—mangled
by the explosion's impact. Some 400 people, including 80 children, were at the church at the time,
and many were injured by flying glass as the blast blew out the building's windows.

Scholars believe that Klans members including FBI informant Gary Thomas Rowe were involved in the
murder of four little girls. Gary T. Rowe (a wicked FBI informant), who later admitted his involvement
in violent assaults on black human beings. Robert Chambliss was Rowe's superior in the Klan. Rowe
later told the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence that the FBI knew and condoned his activities.
Rowe admitted to taking part in the 1961 attack on Freedom Riders at the Birmingham bus station in
1961; shooting and killing an unidentified black man in a riot in Birmingham in 1963; and being
involved in the 1965 murder of Viola Liuzzo, a 39-year-old civil rights activist from Detroit. In 1980,
the Justice Department admitted that the FBI had known about Rowe's involvement in these racially
motivated attacks, but claimed they had no evidence to link him to the 16th Street Baptist Church
bombing.

Today, we have more information on this injustice of the murder of four little girls. On September 15,
1963, a group of white supremacists (who were four members of a local KKK chapter) planted 19
sticks of dynamite attached to a timing device beneath the steps located on the east side of the 16 th
Street Baptist Church. The bombing murdered four innocent little girls and injured between 14 and
22 human beings. Although the Federal Bureau of Investigation had concluded in 1965 that the
bombing had been committed by four known KKK members and segregationists: Thomas Edwin
Blanton Jr., Herman Frank Cash, Robert Edward Chambliss, and Bobby Frank Cherry, no prosecutions
were conducted until 1977. This was when Robert Chambliss was tried by Attorney General of
Alabama Bill Baxley and convicted of the first-degree murder of one of the victims, 11-year-old Carol
Denise McNair. As part of a revival effort by states and the federal government to prosecute cold
cases from the civil rights era, the state placed both Blanton Jr. and Cherry on trial, who were each
convicted of four counts of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment in 2001 and 2002,
respectively. Future United States Senator Doug Jones successfully prosecuted Blanton and Cherry.
Herman Cash died in 1994, and was never charged with his alleged involvement in the bombing. Bill
Baxley wrote in the Times, “I was astonished to learn that the F.B.I. had tapes recordings of Mr.
Blanton from the 1960's that incriminated both of them. I was also livid.”

By September 16, 1963, Charles (Chuck) Morgan (who was a white man) criticized many members of
the white community its complicity in the segregation policies that resulted in the deaths of the four
little girls. “We did it” is his lament. He later published A Time to Speak about the incident and spends
his career furthering social justice. Dr. King delivered the eulogy of the four little girls at the joint
 funeral of three of the girls by September 18, 1963. Dr. King (on October 14, 1963) returned to
Birmingham to demand that the city hire black police officers, and at Sixth Avenue Baptist Church, he
encourages citizens to demand change, no matter the cost. Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, Dr. King, James
Bevel, Wyatt Tee Walker, Dorothy Cotton, and other human beings were key leaders in the
Birmingham Campaign. There would be no Civil Rights Act of 1964 without the 1963 Birmingham
campaign being a victory.

Some of the Results from the 1963 Birmingham Campaign

The 1964 Civil Rights Act was signed by President Lyndon The 1965 Voting Rights Act was signed by President
Johnson. This law started the beginning of the end of Jim Lyndon Johnson too. The Voting Rights Act contributed to
Crow apartheid. the growth of black voters and black political leaders being
elected in all levels of government.

More protests for civil rights continued from Georgia to
Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Velvalea Hortense Rodgers Phillips
(1924-2018) worked hard to advance civil rights in
Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She became the Secretary of State
of Wisconsin from 1979 to 1983.
The Fair Housing Act of 1968, as part of the overall Civil
Rights Act of 1968, banned discrimination concerning the
sale, rental, and nancing of housing based on race,
religion, national origin, and people with disabilities.

“Fight for what you

believe in...”
-Gloria Richardson
 This image above shows Birmingham, Alabama in the 21st century.

Lessons Learned
A very historic time existed during the Birmingham black freedom movement. It was a time that was
a turning point in the overall Civil Rights Movement. Many leaders of the freedom movement wanted
more victories, especially after the failure to have Albany, Georgia to have real change for black
Americans. Birmingham, back then in 1963, was the most segregated city of the South. It had an
overt, vicious, and intricate system of Jim Crow apartheid where the fundamental human rights of
black people were violated in a vicious fashion from employment to basic buying of resources. The
1963 Birmingham movement was a hard battle. Many men, women, and children were jailed for just
peacefully protesting for human rights. Also, children were assaulted by crooked Birmingham police
officers in a vindictive fashion (using dogs and water hoses). That cowardly action enraged people
worldwide, not just Americans. The Birmingham campaign was headed by many organizations like
SCLC (Southern Christian Leadership Conference), Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth's ACMHR organization,
and other human beings. Dr. King, Dorothy Cotton, James Bevel, Wyatt Tee Walker, and other leaders
contributed a lot in their sacrifice in making the Birmingham campaign a victory. Bull Connor lost in
his defense of oppression. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. used the Birmingham Letter to refute the lie of
moderates who wanted to wait for freedom and to end demonstrations. Direct action protests
caused the defeat of the hardline Connor faction, and this nonviolent direct action made the Boutwell
moderates to work in favor of the interests of the black people of Birmingham, Alabama. Victories
are caused by discipline and training. Jim Lawson and other SCLC leaders trained activists 2 months
before Project C was enacted.

Freedom is meant to be given to all by birth, not restricted based on time. By the 1960’s, there was
the pressure from mass struggle of the people that inspired President Johnson to sign progressive
legislation like the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, Medicare, etc. These laws
existed by the activism of working-class people, the
poor, black people, and conscious people of every color
working together in desiring the aim of liberty and
justice. The Great Migration of African Americans and
the black freedom struggle have a heavy role in the fight
against Jim Crow apartheid. The Birmingham campaign
ended with self-defense, nonviolent resistance, and it These women worked hard to
paved the way for the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to be defend civil rights and human rights
signed into law. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 banned in general. They are Coretta Scott
racial discrimination in hiring practices and public King, Juanita Abernathy, and Jean
services all over the United States of America. Young (the wives of Dr. Martin
Furthermore, the social and political tensions in
Luther King Jr, Ralph Abernathy,
America inspired the growth of the anti-Vietnam War
and Andrew Young.)
movement when tons of students, young people,
workers, and other human beings stood up against
Western imperialism.

The paradox of that time in the 1960’s and our time in

the 2020’s is that while legitimate laws existed in
dealing with voting, health care, and civil rights, but
economic inequality persists (when most of the
economic blessings benefit the upper middle class and
the wealthy while the poor working-class struggle to
survive despite record low unemployment in American
society). It is fine to eliminate apartheid segregation and
grant people the right to vote, but you also need social
equality and the opportunity for all workers (including
all human beings) to have a living wage to live on this
Earth too. Issues of gentrification, ecological problems,
sexism, racism, capitalist exploitation, police brutality,
historical revisionism (about the Maafa and the Shoah),
and other evils still plague our society, and we know of
modern-day heroes fighting such evils too.
Men, women, and children marched,
prayed, and used other forms of activism
to stand up against an unjust system. We
always acknowledge and appreciate the
heroes (both famous and unsung) who
risked their lives for us. Without these
gallant human beings, I wouldn’t be able
to eat where I want in Virginia, which was
home to Jim Crow decades ago too.
During this precious time of life, you must
live in your purpose and follow the duty of
almsgiving, stand up for truth, and believe
in integrity.

The new Quarter Dollar showing Maya Angelou is

historic. Maya Angelou was more than an educator and
one of the greatest authors of human history. Maya
Angelou was a great activist who was a friend to
Malcolm X, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, and other legends
sacrificed their lives for the freedom of black people. We
believe in liberty and justice for all people too.
 President Biden designated national monuments honoring Emmett Till and his
mother (whose name is Mamie Elizabeth Till-Mobley). These monuments will be in
Chicago and Mississippi. Emmett Till was an innocent child who was unjustly
murdered by racist terrorists in Mississippi. Emmett Till’s heroic mother wanted his
casket to be shown to the public, because she wanted the world to witness what
cowardly murderers did to her son. Emmett Till was from Chicago and visited
relatives in Mississippi. Vice President Kamala Harris gave passionate words about
how some reactionaries desire to even suppress black history in Florida (and in
other places of America) and how the Florida curriculum promoted the lie that
slavery caused skill benefits for black people (when black people in Africa were
scholars and great workers long before the Maafa existed. For some in FOX to
defend this racist view is typical of FOX News). President Biden gave his words to
acknowledge the pain of the Till family and expressed inspiration to fight back
against racism and all other forms of bigotry plaguing the world. Regardless of
what liars like MAGA extremists say, we will not back down. We will show real
black history, and we desire justice for all without delay.

Therefore, we should always remember the famous and unsung heroes who stood up for justice in
the Birmingham campaign (especially now with book bans in Florida, voter suppression laws
nationwide, reactionary Supreme Court decisions, and more laws violating the human rights of
Americans being widespread in 2023). Freedom is not anti-Blackness. Freedom is not tokenism or
acceptance in a white racist system. Freedom is about not expressing hatred of people (we reject
racism and bigotry of any sort) but being unapologetic in advancing our black interests and our
black humanity without debilitating compromise. Freedom relates to complete liberty and
independence without malice. In our time, we have a very long way to go in seeking that human
justice that we all seek. That is why we must use our influence, our power, and our voice to rectify
injustices conclusively and establish liberty across the globe comprehensively.

*After all these years, I still believe in the Dream.

By Timothy That means that we believe in democracy, the
protection and improvement of our environment, the
end to racism, the end to sexism, civil rights, voting
rights, religious freedom, equality and justice for all,
and the love of truth thoroughly.
 e ruggle Continues, but we wi be
Victorious in e End.

“The greatness of a community is

most accurately measured by the
compassionate actions of its
members."
Like Always, Peace

and Blessings Y’all.