Birmingham riot of 1963

Last updated

Birmingham riot of 1963
Part of the Civil Rights Movement
Location Birmingham, Alabama, United States
DateMay 11, 1963
Perpetrators Ku Klux Klan (alleged)

The Birmingham riot of 1963 was a civil disorder and riot in Birmingham, Alabama, that was provoked by bombings on the night of May 11, 1963. The bombings targeted African-American leaders of the Birmingham campaign. In response, local African-Americans burned businesses and fought police throughout the downtown area.

Contents

The places bombed were the parsonage of Rev. A. D. King, brother of Martin Luther King Jr., and a motel owned by A. G. Gaston, where King and others organizing the campaign had stayed. It is believed that the bombings were carried out by members of the Ku Klux Klan, in cooperation with Birmingham police. Civil rights protesters were frustrated with local police complicity with the perpetrators of the bombings, and grew frustrated at the non-violence strategy directed by King. Initially starting as a protest, violence escalated following local police intervention. The federal government intervened with federal troops for the first time to control violence during a largely African-American riot. It was also a rare instance of domestic military deployment independent of enforcing a court injunction, an action which was considered controversial by Governor George Wallace and other Alabama whites. The African-American response was a pivotal event that contributed to President Kennedy's decision to propose a major civil rights bill. It was ultimately passed under President Lyndon B. Johnson as the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Background

On May 10, 1963, negotiators for the city, local businesses, and the civil rights campaign had completed and announced the "Birmingham Truce Agreement". The agreement included city and business commitments for partial desegregation (of fitting rooms, water fountains, and lunch counters in retail stores), promises of economic advancement for African-American workers, release of persons who had been arrested in demonstrations, and the formation of a Committee on Racial Problems and Employment. In an afternoon press conference held at the Gaston Motel, where King and his team were staying, Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth read a version of the agreement, after which King declared a "great victory" and prepared to leave town. [1] However, some white leaders, including the city's powerful Commissioner of Public Safety Bull Connor, who had used dogs and fire hoses against demonstrators, denounced the agreement and suggested that they might not enforce its provisions. [2]

Preparations

On the morning of May 11, 1963, state troopers were withdrawing from Birmingham under orders from Governor George Wallace. Investigator Ben Allen had been alerted about a potential bombing of the Gaston Motel by a source within the Klan and recommended that these troops stay for a few more days. Allen's warning was disregarded by state Public Safety Director Al Lingo, who said he could "take care of" the Klan threat. [3] Martin Luther King Jr., left Birmingham for Atlanta. [4]

Also during the day on May 11, Klan leaders from across the South were assembling in nearby Bessemer, Alabama for a rally. Klan Imperial Wizard Robert Shelton addressed the white crowd, urging rejection of "any concessions or demands from any of the atheist so-called ministers of the nigger race or any other group here in Birmingham." [4] He also said that "Klansmen would be willing to give their lives if necessary to protect segregation in Alabama." [5] The crowd was, reportedly, unenthusiastic, as they were demoralized by the momentum toward desegregation. [6] The rally ended at 10:15 pm. [7]

At 8:08 p.m. that evening, the Gaston Motel received a death threat against King, [ citation needed ]

Bombings

At around 10:30 p.m., a number of Birmingham police departed the parking lot of the Holy Family Hospital, driving toward the home of Martin Luther King's brother, A. D. King, in the Ensley neighborhood. Some police traveled in an unmarked car. [8]

A. D. King residence

At about 10:45 p.m., a uniformed officer got out of his police car and placed a package near A. D. King's front porch. The officer returned to the car. As the car drove away, someone threw a small object through the house's window onto the sidewalk, where it exploded. The object created a small but loud explosion and knocked over bystander Roosevelt Tatum. [7] [9]

Tatum got up and moved toward the King house—only to face another, larger, blast from the package near the porch. This explosion destroyed the front of the house. Tatum survived and ran toward the back of the house, where he found A. D. King and his wife Naomi trying to escape with their five children. [7] [9]

Tatum told King that he had seen police deliver the bombs. King called the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), demanding action against the local police department. [10]

Gaston Motel

Bomb wreckage near Gaston Motel Bomb wreckage near Gaston Motel (14 May 1963).JPG
Bomb wreckage near Gaston Motel

At 11:58 p.m., a bomb thrown from a moving car detonated immediately beneath Room 30 at the Gaston Motel—the room where Martin Luther King had been staying. The Gaston Motel was owned by A. G. Gaston, an African-American businessman who often provided resources to assist the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights. Attorney and activist Orzell Billingsley had intended to sleep in Room 30 because he was exhausted from days of negotiation and his wife was throwing a party at the couple's house. However, he was so tired that he fell asleep at home after stopping there for clothes. [11]

The motel bomb could be heard all over town. It interrupted the singing of children in the juvenile detention center, most of whom had been arrested during the civil rights demonstrations. Next, the children heard the sound of white men repeatedly singing "Dixie" over the jail's loudspeakers. [12]

Bryan McFall of the FBI was expecting his Klan informant Gary Rowe to report at 10:30 p.m., immediately after the end of the Klan rally. [12] McFall searched in vain for Rowe until finding him at 3:00 a.m. in the VFW Hall near the Gaston Motel. Rowe told McFall, his FBI handler, that Black Muslims had perpetrated a false flag bombing in order to blame the Klan. McFall was unconvinced. [13] However, in submitting his final report to J. Edgar Hoover, head of the FBI, McFall did not identify the Klan as potentially responsible for the bombing, nor did he question the credibility of Rowe as an informant. [14]

Contemporary historians widely believe that the bombing was carried out by four Klan members, including Gary Rowe and known bomber Bill Holt. [15] Rowe was already suspected by the Klan to be a government informant, and other members may have compelled him to assist with the bombing in order to test his fidelity to the white supremacy cause. [12]

Unrest

Many African-American witnesses held police accountable for the bombing of the King house, and immediately began to express their anger. Some began to sing "We Shall Overcome," while others began to throw rocks and other small objects. [16] More people mobilized after the second blast. As it was Saturday night, many had been celebrating the agreement that had been reached and had been drinking. Many of them were already frustrated with the strategy of nonviolence as espoused by Martin Luther King and his Southern Christian Leadership Conference and turned to violence. Three African-American men knifed white police officer J. N. Spivey in the ribs. [17]

Several reporters who had been drinking at the bar got into a shared rental car and headed toward the commotion. A crowd of about 2,500 people had formed and was blocking police cars and fire trucks from the Gaston Motel area. [18] A fire that started at an Italian grocery store spread to the whole block. As traffic started to move, Birmingham Police drove their six-wheeled armored vehicle down the street, spraying tear gas. [19] An unexplained U.S. Army tank also appeared. [20]

At 2:30 a.m., a large battalion of state troopers, commanded by Al Lingo and armed with submachine guns, arrived on the scene. About 100 were mounted on horses. These troops menaced any African-Americans remaining in the street, as well as the white journalists, who were forced into the lobby of the motel. [20] Hospitals treated more than 50 wounded people. [21]

The white journalists and a group of blacks were sequestered in the bombed motel (with no food or water) until morning. [22] Heavily armed forces continued to patrol the streets, "giving this industrial city ..." (in the words of one newspaper report) "the appearance of a city under siege on this Mother's Day." [23]

Operation Oak Tree

U.S. President John F. Kennedy ended a vacation at Camp David (near Thurmont, Maryland) early in order to respond to the situation. [24] Conflicted about whether to deploy federal troops, Kennedy wanted to save face after the violence in Birmingham became covered as international news, and he wanted to protect the truce that had just been established. At the same time, he did not want to set a precedent that might compel routine military interventions, and he feared a backlash among southern white Democrats who opposed a federal "invasion." [25] In Kennedy's opinion, however, in Birmingham "the people who've gotten out of hand are not the white people, but the Negroes by and large," thus making intervention more palatable. [26]

Over TV and radio, Kennedy announced that the "government will do whatever must be done to preserve order, to protect the lives of its citizens ... [and to] uphold the law of the land." He raised the alert for troops on nearby military bases and suggested that the Alabama National Guard might be federalized. He also dispatched Department of Justice attorney Burke Marshall, who had just returned to Washington, D.C. after helping to broker the Birmingham Truce. [27] The Army mission to Birmingham, titled Operation Oak Tree, was headed by Maj. General Creighton Abrams and headquartered with the FBI in the Birmingham federal building. [28] At the operation's peak (on May 18), about 18,000 soldiers were placed on one-, two-, or four-hour alert status, prepared to respond to a crisis in the city. [29] [30]

Governor Wallace learned of Operation Oak Tree on May 14 and complained. In response, Kennedy quietly shifted the Operation's headquarters to Fort McClellan while a handful of officers remained behind at the federal building. [31] Wallace complained again, to the Supreme Court. The Court responded that Kennedy was exercising his authority within U.S. Code Title X, Section 333, stating: "Such purely preparatory measures and their alleged adverse general effects upon the plaintiffs afford no basis for the granting of any relief." [31]

Perceived inefficiencies of the operation led the Joint Chiefs of Staff to draft a memo on preparedness for domestic civil disturbances. According to this memo, the newly created Strike Command should be able "to move readily deployable, tailored Army forces ranging in size from a reinforced company to a maximum force of 15,000 personnel." [32] The Strike Command designated seven Army brigades (amounting to about 21,000 soldiers) as available to respond to civil unrest. [33] The Operation also led the military to increase its efforts at autonomous intelligence gathering, as well as collaboration with the FBI. [34]

Significance

Birmingham activist Abraham Woods considered the disorder to be a "forerunner" to the 1967 wave of riots that followed passage of civil rights legislation and expressed protest at the slow rate of change. [35] Operation Oak Tree was the first time in modern United States history that the federal government deployed military power in response to civil unrest without a specific legal injunction to enforce. [30]

New York City Congressman Adam Clayton Powell Jr. warned that if Kennedy did not move quickly on civil rights in Birmingham, as well as nationally, then riots would spread throughout the country, including to the capital in Washington, DC. [36] Malcolm X affirmed Powell's warning, as well as his criticism of the president. [37]

Malcolm cited the federal response to the Birmingham crisis as evidence of skewed priorities: [38]

President Kennedy did not send troops to Alabama when dogs were biting black babies. He waited three weeks until the situation exploded. He then sent troops after the Negroes had demonstrated their ability to defend themselves. In his talk with Alabama editors Kennedy did not urge that Negroes be treated right because it is the right thing to do. Instead, he said that if the Negroes aren't well treated the Muslims would become a threat. He urged a change not because it is right but because the world is watching this country. Kennedy is wrong because his motivation is wrong.

Malcolm X later said in his well-known Message to the Grass Roots speech:

By the way, right at that time Birmingham had exploded, and the Negroes in Birmingham—remember, they also exploded. They began to stab the crackers in the back and bust them up 'side their head—yes, they did. That's when Kennedy sent in the troops, down in Birmingham. So, and right after that, Kennedy got on the television and said "this is a moral issue."

Malcolm X's evaluation is largely confirmed by modern scholarship. Nicholas Bryant, author of the most comprehensive study of President Kennedy's decision-making on civil rights policy, notes that during the predominantly nonviolent Birmingham campaign, Kennedy refused to make a commitment to forceful intervention or new legislation. He resisted the influence of the powerful, internationally publicized photograph of a police dog tearing into an African-American youth. The legislative situation was hopeless, he claimed, and he did not think the events in Birmingham would influence the voting intentions of a single lawmaker "... While Kennedy recognized the potent symbolic value of the [police dog] image, he was unwilling to counteract it with a symbolic gesture of his own." [39] Bryant concludes:

It was the black-on-white violence of May 11 - not the publication of the startling photograph a week earlier – that represented the real watershed in Kennedy's thinking, and the turning point in administration policy. Kennedy had grown used to segregationist attacks against civil rights protesters. But he – along with his brother and other administration officials – was far more troubled by black mobs running amok. [40]

Timothy Tyson affirms this position, writing that "The violence threatened to mar SCLC's victory but also helped cement White House support for civil rights. It was one of the enduring ironies of the civil rights movement that the threat of violence was so critical to the success of nonviolence." [41] This relationship has been noted by numerous other historians, including Howard Zinn, [42] Clayborne Carson, [43] Glenn Eskew [44] and Gary Younge. [45]

Declassified recordings of a White House meeting on May 12, 1963, are often cited in support of this view:

Robert Kennedy: The Negro Reverend Walker ... he said that the Negroes, when dark comes tonight, they're going to start going after the policemen—headhunting—trying to shoot to kill policemen. He says it's completely out of hand ... you could trigger off a good deal of violence around the country now, with Negroes saying they've been abused for all these years and they're going to follow the ideas of the Black Muslims now ... If they feel on the other hand that the federal government is their friend, that it's intervening for them, that it's going to work for them, then it will head some of that off. I think that's the strongest argument for doing something ...

President Kennedy: First we have to have law and order, so the Negros not running all over the city ... If the [local Birmingham desegregation] agreement blows up, the other remedy we have under that condition is to send legislation up to congress this week as our response ... As a means of providing relief we have to have legislation. [46]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom</span> 1963 civil rights movement demonstration

The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, also known as simply the March on Washington or the Great March on Washington, was held in Washington, D.C., on August 28, 1963. The purpose of the march was to advocate for the civil and economic rights of African Americans. At the march, final speaker Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., standing in front of the Lincoln Memorial, delivered his historic "I Have a Dream" speech in which he called for an end to racism and racial segregation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">16th Street Baptist Church bombing</span> 1963 terrorist attack in Birmingham, Alabama

The 16th Street Baptist Church bombing was a terrorist bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama on September 15, 1963. The bombing was committed by a white supremacist terrorist group. Four members of a local Ku Klux Klan (KKK) chapter planted 19 sticks of dynamite attached to a timing device beneath the steps located on the east side of the church.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Viola Liuzzo</span> American activist and murder victim (1925–1965)

Viola Fauver Liuzzo was an American civil rights activist. In March 1965, Liuzzo heeded the call of Martin Luther King Jr. and traveled from Detroit, Michigan, to Selma, Alabama, in the wake of the Bloody Sunday attempt at marching across the Edmund Pettus Bridge. Liuzzo participated in the successful Selma to Montgomery marches and helped with coordination and logistics. At the age of 39, while driving back from a trip shuttling fellow activists to the Montgomery airport, she was fatally hit by shots fired from a pursuing car containing Ku Klux Klan members Collie Leroy Wilkins Jr., William Orville Eaton, Eugene Thomas, and Gary Thomas Rowe, the last of whom was actually an undercover informant working for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

Arthur George Gaston was an American entrepreneur who established businesses in Birmingham, Alabama. He had a significant role in the movement to remove legal barriers to integration in Birmingham in 1963. In his lifetime, Gaston's companies were some of the most prominent African-American businesses in the American South.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fred Shuttlesworth</span> American civil rights activist (1922–2011)

Freddie Lee Shuttlesworth was an American civil rights activist who led the fight against segregation and other forms of racism as a minister in Birmingham, Alabama. He was a co-founder of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, initiated and was instrumental in the 1963 Birmingham Campaign, and continued to work against racism and for alleviation of the problems of the homeless in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he took up a pastorate in 1961. He returned to Birmingham after his retirement in 2007. He worked with Martin Luther King Jr. during the civil rights movement, though the two men often disagreed on tactics and approaches.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bill Baxley</span> American politician (born 1941)

William Joseph Baxley II, is an American Democratic politician and attorney from Dothan, Alabama.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Birmingham campaign</span> American civil rights campaign in Alabama (1963)

The Birmingham campaign, also known as the Birmingham movement or Birmingham confrontation, was an American 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.

The Children's Crusade, or Children's March, was a march by over 5,000 school students in Birmingham, Alabama on May 2–10, 1963. Initiated and organized by Rev. James Bevel, the purpose of the march was to walk downtown to talk to the mayor about segregation in their city. Many children left their schools and were arrested, set free, and then arrested again the next day. The marches were stopped by the head of police, Bull Connor, who brought fire hoses to ward off the children and set police dogs after the children. This event compelled President John F. Kennedy to publicly support federal civil rights legislation and eventually led to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

The United Klans of America Inc. (UKA), based in Alabama, is a Ku Klux Klan organization active in the United States. Led by Robert Shelton, the UKA peaked in membership in the late 1960s and 1970s, and it was the most violent Klan organization of its time. Its headquarters was the Anglo-Saxon Club outside Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

Carry Me Home: Birmingham, Alabama, the Climactic Battle of the Civil Rights Revolution, written by Diane McWhorter and published by Simon & Schuster in 2001, won the J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize and the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction.

The Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights (ACMHR) was an American civil rights organization in Birmingham, Alabama, which coordinated boycotts and sponsored federal lawsuits aimed at dismantling segregation in Birmingham and Alabama during the civil rights movement. Fred Shuttlesworth, pastor of Bethel Baptist Church, served as president of the group from its founding in 1956 until 1969. The ACMHR's crowning moment came during the pivotal Birmingham campaign which it coordinated along with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference during the spring of 1963.

Crime rates in Alabama overall have declined by 17% since 2005. Trends in crime within Alabama have largely been driven by a reduction in property crime by 25%. There has been a small increase in the number of violent crimes since 2005, which has seen an increase of 9% In 2020, there were 511 violent crime offenses per 100,000 population. Alabama was ranked 44th in violent crime out of a total 50 states in the United States.

Albert J. Lingo was appointed in 1963 by Alabama Gov. George Wallace to head the Alabama Highway Patrol, which he led until 1965 during turbulent years marked by marches and demonstrations that characterized the Civil Rights Movement in the U.S. South.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bill Hudson (photographer)</span> American photojournalist

Bill Hudson was an American photojournalist for the Associated Press who was best known for his photographs taken in the Southern United States during the Civil Rights Movement. The depictions of police brutality against peaceful protesters that were seen in his widely published photographs helped push public support towards the goals of the civil rights movement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Baldwin–Kennedy meeting</span> An attempt in 1963 to improve race relations in the United States

The Baldwin–Kennedy meeting of May 24, 1963 was an attempt to improve race relations in the United States. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy invited novelist James Baldwin, along with a large group of cultural leaders, to meet Kennedy in an apartment in New York City. The meeting became antagonistic and the group reached no consensus. The black delegation generally felt that Kennedy did not understand the full extent of racism in the United States. Ultimately the meeting demonstrated the urgency of the racial situation and was a positive turning point in Kennedy's attitude towards the Civil Rights Movement.

The history of the 1954 to 1968 American civil rights movement has been depicted and documented in film, song, theater, television, and the visual arts. These presentations add to and maintain cultural awareness and understanding of the goals, tactics, and accomplishments of the people who organized and participated in this nonviolent movement.

Gary Thomas Rowe Jr., known in Witness Protection as Thomas Neil Moore, was a paid informant and agent provocateur for the FBI. As an informant, he infiltrated the Ku Klux Klan, as part of the FBI's COINTELPRO project, to monitor and disrupt the Klan's activities. Rowe participated in violent Klan activity against African Americans and civil rights groups.

Frank Morris (1914–1964) was an American businessman who died as a result of arson to his shoe shop in Ferriday, Louisiana, a city with a history of racial violence. There have been allegations of witness intimidation, evidence tampering, and involvement by local law enforcement. No charges have been brought despite three FBI investigations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">A.G. Gaston Motel</span> Motel and historical place in Birmingham, Alabama, United States

The A.G. Gaston Motel is a historic building and former motel in Birmingham, Alabama. In 1963 during the Civil Rights movement, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference used a room in the hotel as their headquarters, which was later bombed by terrorists.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anniston and Birmingham bus attacks</span> Attack on civil rights protesters by the Ku Klux Klan in 1961

The Anniston and Birmingham bus attacks, which occurred on May 14, 1961, in Anniston and Birmingham, both Alabama, were acts of mob violence targeted against civil rights activists protesting against racial segregation in the Southern United States. They were carried out by members of the Ku Klux Klan and the National States' Rights Party in coordination with the Birmingham Police Department. The FBI did nothing to prevent the attacks despite having foreknowledge of the plans.

References

Citations

  1. ↑ Bernstein, Promises Kept (1991), p. 92.
  2. ↑ Bernstein, Promises Kept (1991), pp. 92–93.
  3. ↑ Diane McWhorter, Carry Me Home (2001), p. 424. "By daybreak on Saturday, May 11, Governor Wallace's army of state troopers had pulled out of Birmingham. State investigator Ben Allen had argued for staying through the weekend. A reliable Klan informant had told him that the Gaston Motel was going to be bombed. "Colonel" Al Lingo, Wallace's public safety director, brushed aside Allen's concerns, saying that he could "take care of" the Klan leader. It wasn't clear whether he meant that he would, or merely could, call off the bombing."
  4. 1 2 McWhorter, Carry Me Home (2001), p. 425.
  5. ↑ May, The Informant (2005), p. 70.
  6. ↑ McWhorter, Carry Me Home (2001), pp. 425–426. "Shelton's inability to rev up this family crowd was perhaps the truest reflection of the sea change that had been inspired by Birmingham that week. In the growing consensus that segregation had to go, the Klan was losing its mainstream appeal and shrinking into a purely terrorist cell."
  7. 1 2 3 McWhorter, Carry Me Home (2001), p. 427.
  8. ↑ McWhorter, Carry Me Home (2001), p. 427. "At Holy Family Hospital in Ensley, a few miles from where the Klan rally had ended at around 10:15, the Alabama Christian Movement's Carter Gaston was keeping vigil over Shuttlesworth. Sometime between 10:30 and 11, Sister Marie, the nurse who had developed a proprietary attitude toward her patient's Movement, motioned Gaston and said, 'Watch this.' Three carloads of police were in the parking lot. Some officers got out of their cruisers and headed in the direction of A. D. King's house a few blocks away.
  9. 1 2 Ben Greenberg, "From Delmar to Bombingham (5) — THE BOMBING", Hungry Blues , 28 June 2004.
  10. ↑ McWhorter, Carry Me Home (2001), p. 428. "Inside the bombed house, among the indignant well-wishers, Roosevelt Tatum told A. D. King what he had seen before the explosions. King called the FBI. It seemed that, at long last, the bureau might get around to investigating a bombing in Birmingham."
  11. ↑ McWhorter, Carry Me Home (2001), p. 429.
  12. 1 2 3 McWhorter, Carry Me Home (2001), p. 428.
  13. ↑ May, The Informant (2005), p. 71.
  14. ↑ May, The Informant (2005), p. 73. "If Byron McFall suspected that Rowe was involved, he kept his doubts to himself. In a report written for the special agent in charge, McFall did note that Rowe was unreachable for several hours but described his excuse without comment. The later report that went to Washington never even mentioned the missing informant and, in fact, accepted Rowe's version of events. The Klan, J. Edgar hoover was told, was not responsible for the bombings on May 11, 1963. And nine days later, McFall submitted an evaluation in which he rated the informant 'EXCELLENT'. Once again, the FBI decided to protect its informant rather than investigate whether he had broken the law."
  15. ↑ May, The Informant (2005), p. 72.
  16. ↑ McWhorter, Carry Me Home (2001), pp. 427–428.
  17. ↑ McWhorter, Carry Me Home (2001), p. 430.
  18. ↑ McWhorter, Carry Me Home (2001), p. 431.
  19. ↑ McWhorter, Carry Me Home (2001), p. 432.
  20. 1 2 McWhorter, Carry Me Home (2001), p. 433.
  21. ↑ Bernstein, Promises Kept (1991), p. 93.
  22. ↑ McWhorter, Carry Me Home (2001), p. 437.
  23. ↑ "Riots Erupt in Birmingham: JFK Sends Troops to State: Thousands Clash After Bombings: Blasts Rip Home of Negro Motel; Nearly 50 Hurt", Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 13 May 1963.
  24. ↑ "JFK Ends His Weekend At Camp David", Lodi News-Sentinel, 13 May 1963.
  25. ↑ Branch, Pillar of Fire (2007), p. 138.
  26. ↑ McWhorter, Carry Me Home (2001), p. 438.
  27. ↑ Scheips, Federal Military Forces (2005), p. 138.
  28. ↑ McWhorter, Carry Me Home (2001), pp. 442–443.
  29. ↑ Scheips, Federal Military Forces (2005), p. 139.
  30. 1 2 McWhorter, Carry Me Home (2001), p. 443.
  31. 1 2 Scheips, Federal Military Forces (2005), p. 140.
  32. ↑ Scheips, Federal Military Forces (2005), p. 142.
  33. ↑ Scheips, Federal Military Forces (2005), p. 143.
  34. ↑ Scheips, Federal Military Forces (2005), p. 144.
  35. ↑ Howell Raines, My Soul is Rested: Movement Days in the Deep South Remembered (Penguin Books, 1983) p. 165
  36. ↑ NBC News, 6 May 1963
  37. ↑ "WSB newsfilm clip from May 16, 1963". Archived from the original on November 7, 2014. Retrieved September 18, 2013.
  38. ↑ M. S. Handler, "Malcolm X Scores Kennedy on Racial Policy: Says He Is 'Wrong Because His Motivation Is Wrong': Head of Black Muslim Group Cites Birmingham Crisis" (subscription required), The New York Times, 17 May 1963; accessed via ProQuest (subscription required).
  39. ↑ Nicholas Andrew Bryant, The Bystander: John F. Kennedy and the Struggle for Black Equality (Basic Books, 2006), 338
  40. ↑ Bryant, The Bystander, 393
  41. ↑ Timothy B. Tyson, "The Civil Rights Movement," in The Oxford Companion to African-American Literature, eds. William L. Andrews, et al (Oxford University Press, 1996), 149. - http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/m_r/randall/birmingham.htm Archived June 20, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
  42. ↑ Howard Zinn, Disobedience and Democracy: Nine Fallacies on Law and Order (South End Press 2002), 104.
  43. ↑ Clayborne Carson, In Struggle: SNCC and the Black Awakening of the 1960s (Harvard University Press, 1981), 91.
  44. ↑ Glenn T. Eskew, But for Birmingham: The Local and National Struggles in the Civil Rights Movement (University of North Carolina Press, 1997), 338.
  45. ↑ Gary Younge, The Speech: The Story Behind Martin Luther King Jr.'s Dream (Haymarket Book, 2013), 24.
  46. ↑ Jonathan Rosenberg, ed., Kennedy, Johnson and the Quest for Justice: The Civil Rights Tapes (W. W. Norton & Company, 2003), 97-99; "Meetings: Tape 86 - Cuba/Civil Rights" May 12, 1963, John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum - http://www.jfklibrary.org/Asset-Viewer/Archives/JFKPOF-MTG-086-002.aspx

General and cited works

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.