Research on Civil Rights Movement Between 1963-68
Birmingham: Civil Rights March, 1963
Birmingham held a key role in the movement because of a number of reasons: whether it was through the activities of Bull Connor or the bombed church which killed four school girls, or the activity of the Ku Klux Klan which also had a stronghold in the Alabama capital which would have clashed with the strong in number black population.
In 1963 Martin Luther King organised a civil rights march in Birmingham, Alabama. Six years after the Montgomery decision, this city had still not been desegregated (desegregation of buses in Alabama). Its police force was notoriously racist. It had links to the Ku Klux Klan. The aim of the march was to turn media attention on Birmingham to expose its policies to national attention. King knew that, with civil rights now a national issue, the American and international media would cover the march in detail. The Police Chief, Bull Connor obliged. In the full glare of media publicity, police and fire officers turned dogs and fire hoses on the peaceful protesters. The police arrested over 1,000 protesters; including King himself and many were put in jail. Critics accused King of provoking the violence by staging the march. King stipulated to this in a statement as he comments on his tactics, as he mentions that they were “forcing our oppressor to commit his brutality openly- in the light of day- with the rest of the world looking on.” However he defends his actions in a diplomatic fashion with “To condemn peaceful protesters on the grounds that they provoke violence is link condemning a robbed man because his possession of money caused the robbery.”
In May 1963 President Kennedy intervened. He put pressure on Governor George Wallace to force the Birmingham police to release all the protesters and to give more jobs to black Americans and allow them to be promoted. As a result Birmingham officially outlawed segregation, but in practice it remained a bitterly divided place. In September 1963 a Ku
Birmingham held a key role in the movement because of a number of reasons: whether it was through the activities of Bull Connor or the bombed church which killed four school girls, or the activity of the Ku Klux Klan which also had a stronghold in the Alabama capital which would have clashed with the strong in number black population.
In 1963 Martin Luther King organised a civil rights march in Birmingham, Alabama. Six years after the Montgomery decision, this city had still not been desegregated (desegregation of buses in Alabama). Its police force was notoriously racist. It had links to the Ku Klux Klan. The aim of the march was to turn media attention on Birmingham to expose its policies to national attention. King knew that, with civil rights now a national issue, the American and international media would cover the march in detail. The Police Chief, Bull Connor obliged. In the full glare of media publicity, police and fire officers turned dogs and fire hoses on the peaceful protesters. The police arrested over 1,000 protesters; including King himself and many were put in jail. Critics accused King of provoking the violence by staging the march. King stipulated to this in a statement as he comments on his tactics, as he mentions that they were “forcing our oppressor to commit his brutality openly- in the light of day- with the rest of the world looking on.” However he defends his actions in a diplomatic fashion with “To condemn peaceful protesters on the grounds that they provoke violence is link condemning a robbed man because his possession of money caused the robbery.”
In May 1963 President Kennedy intervened. He put pressure on Governor George Wallace to force the Birmingham police to release all the protesters and to give more jobs to black Americans and allow them to be promoted. As a result Birmingham officially outlawed segregation, but in practice it remained a bitterly divided place. In September 1963 a Ku