The Campaign
In 1963, Birmingham, Alabama was one of the toughest holdouts to desegregation. In fact, it had aptly earned the nicknames “Bombington” and “A City of Fear” because of its violent response to civil rights activists. In part, this was because of Police Commissioner Eugene “Bull” Connor; it was Connor who controlled the city. When the Freedom Riders had arrived in 1961, Connor stood idly by as the Ku Klux Klan attacked them. Two years later, Connor was still a staunch segregationist who was determined to prevent integration in spite of white business owners who hoped to end the boycott of their stores.
Martin Luther King Jr. and the SCLC decided that Birmingham was the perfect place to bring their next campaign. Fred Shuttlesworth, the head of the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights, had encouraged King to come and was ready to head up a joint campaign. It was perfect timing considering that Birmingham was undergoing a change in its political structure. The city was controlled by three city commissioners and a mayor, but the March 5 election would change this. The committee, which Bull Connor ruled, was headed for dissolution and the new elected mayor would govern the city alone.
Connor hoped to continue his leadership as the new mayor. It was anticipated that Connor’s mayoral opponent, the more moderate Albert Boutwell, was going to win so it was decided to begin the campaign after the election. In the meantime, it was planned that the protest would focus on desegregation of stores and securing an agreement from storeowners to employ black associates. Beyond these main goals, they would also seek the dismissal of the charges against the protestors and push for the establishment of a biracial committee.
King arrived in Birmingham on the evening of April 2, the day before the first scheduled demonstration. The election had resulted in a win for Boutwell, but Connor was contesting the results. Nevertheless, King decided to move forward. At a mass rally that night only seventy-five people volunteered for the next day’s demonstration. In comparison to King’s other campaigns, this was a small turnout.
Letter from Birmingham Jail
By April 5, demonstrators had dwindled to fifty participants. With the campaign off to a slow start, King decided that he would march on Good Friday, April 12. This plan, however, was threatened by a state court order temporarily barring protests. When Good Friday arrived, King was unsure whether it was wise to defy the injunction. The SCLC’s bail money was nearly gone and without this money protestors would remain in jail indefinitely. It was a difficult decision but as King often did, he turned to prayer. Thirty minutes later, he emerged from his room at the Gatson Motel with a decision. He would take an act of faith, and defy the injunction.
That afternoon, King, Ralph Abernathy, and fifty protestors began their procession to the City Hall. Just as they had anticipated, Connor ordered their arrest. Their arrest, however, was uneventful in comparison to that day’s publication in the Birmingham News. A group of white ministers had written a letter criticizing the protest movement and calling for its termination.
King was disturbed by the letter. From his cell in solitary confinement, he composed a response. In segments it was smuggled out through his attorney daily, and King’s now famous “Letter from Birmingham Jail” was published in mid-May. In the letter, King defended the decision for nonviolent protest in Birmingham. According to King, it was nonviolent direct action that would eventually lead to negotiation. In addition, he issued a stinging indictment: it was moderate whites like them that impeded progress more than the KKK.
A Turning Point
In the meantime, as King sat in jail, entertainer Harry Belafonte raised more bail money. On April 20, King paid his bail and was released. Two days later, he was convicted of violating the restraining order. As the sentence was appealed, King tried to revive the community, but each night the rally turnout dwindled. It looked as if the demonstrations would soon come to an end.
However, the SCLC’s James Bevel and CORE’s Isaac Reynolds had an idea. They had been training Birmingham’s black high school students in the method of nonviolent resistance. They informed King that the young students were enthusiastic and ready to participate. King, however, was skeptical of such a controversial decision. He knew that allowing them to participate was highly disfavored by older blacks in the community.
Nevertheless, with the campaign faltering, he decided to extend an invitation for the students to participate in the May 2 rally at the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church. Just as Bevel and Reynolds had predicted, the student turnout at the church was significant. Bevel sent the first group of students out the church toward City Hall. They, along with the two other groups sent out later, were arrested before they arrived downtown. In all, six hundred were arrested that day.
The next day, 1,000 students emerged from the church. This time a blockade of buses, police cars, fire engines, and K-9 units impeded their path. After they refused to stop their procession, they were sprayed with high pressured fire hoses and police dogs were released. The press caught the commotion as three teenagers were bit by dogs. One notable photo published in a newspaper the next day showed a dog attempting to bite a man in the stomach.
Reaching an Agreement
President John F. Kennedy was disturbed by the violence, and sent Burke Marshall, the Assistant Attorney General, to help with negotiations. On May 4, negotiations between local black leaders and business owners began. In the meantime, marches continued until King’s May 8 announcement that a temporary halt would commence while negotiations proceeded. Finally, on May 10 an agreement was reached. Shuttlesworth announced that thirty days after Mayor Boutwell began his term, restrooms and drinking fountains would be desegregated and within sixty days, lunch counters would follow. Lastly, within fifteen days after the demonstrations had stopped, a biracial committee would be created.
