Case Study: Birmingham Flashcards
(6 cards)
What triggered the Birmingham Movement in 1963 and who organized it?
The SCLC, led by Martin Luther King Jr. and Fred Shuttlesworth, organized the Birmingham campaign to end segregation in the most segregated city in America, targeting racist business practices and public facilities.
Birmingham, ‘the most thoroughly segregated city in the US’ (MLK)
What were the main events in the Birmingham Movement?
Project C - a series of sit ins intended to provoke mass arrests
16th Street Baptist Church to City Hall Walk - to peacefully demand an end to segregation
What was Project C?
Project Confrontation
→ Led by Wyatt Tee Walker basis on Sheriffs tendency to react with violence
→ used nonviolent direct action like sit-ins, kneel-ins, and marches designed to provoke mass arrests and fill jails to pressure city officials to negotiate
→ Trained high schools, colleges, and elementary schools in nonviolence and peaceful walks
What was the significance of Project C?
Project C used nonviolent direct action, including student-led marches from the 16th Street Baptist Church - to provoke violent police responses, gaining national media attention and moral outrage.
The campaign’s success in exposing segregation’s brutality pressured the Kennedy administration and directly influenced the introduction of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
What was the 16th Street Baptist Church to City Hall Walk?
A nonviolent student-led protest where children marched to City Hall to demand desegregation
– The protest was met with violent resistance: Bull Connor’s police used fire hoses and dogs on children
– Over 1,000 students were arrested
– Martin Luther King Jr. was jailed without bail to draw national attention
What was the significance of the 16th Street Baptist Church to City Hall Walk?
– Media coverage of children being brutally attacked shocked the nation and the world
– It dramatically increased public support for civil rights and forced the Kennedy administration to take legislative action, laying the groundwork for the Civil Rights Act of 1964
