1963

1963 was the 92nd year after the founding of the City of Birmingham.

Events

• The first railroad cars in the collection of the Heart of Dixie Railroad Museum were put on display at the site of the future Railroad Reservation Park.
• Homewood bought the land for Spring Park.
• Edgewood Hardware opened.
• Pilgrim Congregational Church established a day school.
• Fob James founded Diversified Products Inc.
• Kenneth Daniel became President of American Cast Iron Pipe Company.
• December 31: A rare snowfall brought 8 inches to Birmingham.

Civil Rights Movement

• April-May: The Birmingham campaign of peaceful protest was carried out in downtown Birmingham.
• April 7 (Palm Sunday): Ministers John Thomas Porter, Nelson H. Smith and A. D. King led a group of 2,000 marchers to protest the jailing of Civil Rights Movement leaders.
• April 12 (Good Friday): Martin Luther King, Jr was arrested for parading without a permit.
• May 2: The Children's Crusade began.
• June 11: Governor George Wallace made his "stand in the schoolhouse door" to prevent integration of the University of Alabama.
• September 10: Birmingham City Schools were integrated by National Guardsmen under orders from President Kennedy.
• September 15: 16th Street Baptist Church was bombed in an act of terror. (See also Bombingham)

Government

• April: The Mayor-Council Act instituted a new form of government for Birmingham and the first Birmingham City Council was elected.
• The 9th Congressional District of Alabama was eliminated, with George Huddleston, Jr serving the last term as representative.
• The Regional Planning Commission was created.

Sports

• January 1: The Alabama Crimson Tide beat Oklahoma 17-0 in the Orange Bowl.
• The Birmingham Black Barons played their final season.
• 1963 Birmingham Barons
• Auburn won the 1963 Iron Bowl.
• Tommie Reynolds began his Major League career with the Kansas City Athletics.
• Billy Joe earned AFL Rookie of the Year honors with the Denver Broncos.

Works

• January 16: An Appeal for Law and Order and Common Sense
• April 12: A Call For Unity
• April 16: Letter from Birmingham Jail
• Hal Lynch starred in the Broadway production of Spoon River Anthology

Music

• Angels and Demons at Play, Sun Ra and his Myth Science Arkestra
• When Sun Comes Out, Sun Ra and his Myth Science Arkestra

Buildings

• Hueytown City Hall
• 3349 Brookwood Road
• Guest House Motor Inn (now University Place Apartments)
• Fritz Woehle residence
• Milo's Hamburgers second location on 10th Avenue North
• A large, electrically-lit cross was mounted to the tower of Third Presbyterian Church
• New classrooms at Minor High School

People

Births

• February 17: Michael Jordan, basketball legend and one-time Birmingham Baron
• February 20: Charles Barkley
• March 12: Tim Hollis, author and historian
• May 16: Jon Coffelt, artist
• June 6: Claude Estes IV, CPA
• September 5: Jeff Brantley, baseball player
• September 8: David Lee Smith, actor
• September 8: Phillip Griffith, photographer
• October 24: Joe DeCamillis, artist
• November 6: A. C. Roper, Birmingham police chief
• Brett Blackledge, reporter
• Bret Bradford, sculptor
• John Hallum, actor
• Artis Murphy, literacy advocate
• Jennifer Trammell, civic leader

Offices

• January 14: George Wallace succeeded John Patterson as Governor of Alabama
• Albert Boutwell succeeded Art Hanes as Mayor of Birmingham.
• Mel Bailey succeeded Holt McDowell as Jefferson County Sheriff
• Howard M. Phillips succeeded Henry Stanford as President of Birmingham-Southern College
• Clarke Stallworth became city editor for the Birmingham Post-Herald.
• John Grenier became chair of the Alabama Republican Party.
• Patrick Sullivan was assigned to priestly duties in North Alabama.
• Paul Bailey left Alabama College for Birmingham-Southern College

Awards

• Miss Alabama: Judy Short
• Mr Crestwood: Joe Weeks
• Ben Saxon graduated from Bessemer High School

Deaths

• September 15: Addie Mae Collins, Denise McNair, Carole Robertson, and Cynthia Wesley died in the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church. Teenagers Johnnie Robinson and Virgil Ware were killed during riots and protests in the bombing's aftermath.
• December 14: Dinah Washington, blues singer

See also List of Birmingham homicides in 1963

Context

A watershed in the civil rights movement occurred in 1963 when Birmingham Civil Rights Movement leader Fred Shuttlesworth requested that Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) come to Birmingham to help end segregation. Together they launched "Project C" (for "Confrontation"), a massive assault on the Jim Crow system. During April and May daily sit-ins and mass marches were met with police repression, tear gas, attack dogs, and arrests. More than 3,000 people were arrested during these protests, many of the children. These protests were ultimately successful, leading not only to desegregation of public accommodations in Birmingham but also the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

While imprisoned for having taken part in a nonviolent protest, Dr. King wrote the now famous Letter from Birmingham Jail, a defining treatise in his cause against segregation. Birmingham is also known for a bombing which occurred later that year, in which four black girls were killed by a bomb planted at the 16th Street Baptist Church. The event would inspire the African-American poet Dudley Randall's opus, The Ballad of Birmingham, as well as jazz musician John Coltrane's song, "Alabama."

1960s

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