Birmingham campaign

Birmingham campaign
Part of the Civil Rights Movement
High school students are struck by a high-pressure water jet from a fire hose during a peaceful walk in Birmingham, Alabama in 1963. As photographed by Charles Moore, images like this one, printed in Life, inspired international support for the demonstrators.
Date	April 3 – May 10, 1963 (1 month and 1 week)
Location	Birmingham, Alabama and Kelly Ingram Park
Causes	Racial segregation in public accommodations Racial discrimination in employment Browder v. Gayle (1956) Failed ACMHR campaign in Birmingham bus boycott Failed SCLC campaign in Albany Movement
Result	Outbreak of mass demonstrations throughout southern United States Catalyst to Civil Rights Address delivered by John F. Kennedy Call for a March on Washington Catalyst to pass Civil Rights Act of 1964 Martin Luther King Jr. writes Letter from Birmingham Jail Increased attention towards racial segregation in southern United States Burnished Martin Luther King Jr.'s reputation Ousted Eugene "Bull" Connor from his public office Forced desegregation in Birmingham
Parties to the civil conflict
Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights (ACMHR) Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) City Commission of Birmingham Birmingham Police Department Birmingham Fire Department Birmingham Chamber of Commerce
Lead figures
ACMHR member Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth SCLC members Martin Luther King Jr. James Bevel Wyatt Tee Walker Dorothy Cotton City Commission President (mayor) Art Hanes (1961–1963) Albert Boutwell (1963–1967) Eugene "Bull" Connor, Commissioner of Public Safety J.T. Waggoner, Sr., Commissioner of Public Improvements Chamber of Commerce Sydney "Sid" Smyer, president

ACMHR member

SCLC members

City Commission

Chamber of Commerce

The Birmingham campaign, or Birmingham movement, 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. 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.

In the early 1960s, Birmingham was one of the most racially divided cities in the United States, both as enforced by law and culturally. Black citizens faced legal and economic disparities, and violent retribution when they attempted to draw attention to their problems. Martin Luther King Jr. called it the most segregated city in the country. Protests in Birmingham began with a boycott led by Shuttlesworth meant 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, 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.

When the campaign ran low on adult volunteers, James Bevel, SCLC's Director Direct Action, thought of the idea of having students become the main demonstrators in the Birmingham campaign. 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 fifty at a time from the 16th Street Baptist Church to City Hall in order to talk to the mayor about segregation. This resulted in over a thousand arrests, and, as the jails and holding areas filled with arrested students, the Birmingham Police Department, led by Eugene "Bull" Connor, used high-pressure water hoses and police attack dogs on the children and adult bystanders. 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. King and the SCLC drew both criticism and praise for allowing children to participate and put themselves in harm's way.