Integration of Birmingham Terminal Station

The integration of Birmingham Terminal Station was just a small part of the Civil Rights Movement focused on ending segregation of whites and blacks at the waiting rooms of Birmingham Terminal Station. Integration finally occurred in large part due to a class action lawsuit filed by Carl L. and Alexinia Baldwin.

Built in 1909 when segregation was still the law of Alabama, Terminal Station had separate waiting rooms for Caucasians and African Americans. In November 1955, the Interstate Commerce Commission, a federal regulatory body, banned segregation among interstate passengers. Despite this ruling, the Alabama Public Service Commission, on February 8, 1956, issued General Order No. T-21, stating rail stations and depots must have separate waiting rooms clearly labeled "White Waiting Room" and "Colored Waiting Room". At Terminal Station, the rooms were labeled "Colored Intrastate Passengers Waiting Room" and "Waiting Room Interstate and White Intrastate Passengers".

On December 17, 1956 the Baldwins, an African American couple holding round-trip tickets to Milwaukee, sat in the white waiting room while waiting for their train. They were subsequently arrested and charged with disorderly conduct. On January 25, 1957, the couple brought a lawsuit against the Birmingham City Commission, the Alabama Public Service Commission, and the Birmingham Terminal Company to desegregate the waiting rooms in Terminal Station. The charges of disorderly conduct which were later dismissed, which led U.S. District Judge Seybourn H. Lynne to dismiss the suit saying it was hypothetical.

As a result of that ruling, Fred and Ruby Shuttlesworth again challenged the segregated waiting rooms at the station on March 6. Having announced their intentions in advance, a heavy police guard was present and despite drawing a crowd of angry whites, the couple were able to board their train without incident. However, Lamar Weaver, a white man who had greeted them, was met by a violent mob outside the station when he began to leave and his car was stoned as he hurriedly drove away.

The Baldwins' case was later appealed to and reversed by the Fifth Circuit United States Court of Appeals, sending it back to Judge Lynne. On November 23, 1959 he again dismissed the case saying that none of the defendants were "denying or threatening to deny Negroes equal privileges," but the ruling was reversed on appeal again. Finally, in 1961, the Court of Appeals declared that segregation at the station was "in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment and the civil rights act," and ordered the District Court to remedy those practices. Judge Lynne therefore enjoined the three organizations from requiring or even compelling segregation based on race at the station.

References

• "Suit petitions court to mix waiting room." (February 5, 1957). The Baltimore Afro-American, page 2.
• "Judge Lynn's Lesson." (January 21, 1958). The Washington Afro-American, page 4.
• Carl L. Baldwin and Alexinia Baldwin v. J. W. Morgan et al. (February 17, 1961). United States Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit.