Timeline of the Civil Rights Movement in Birmingham

This is a Timeline of the Civil Rights Movement in Birmingham, covering related events throughout the Birmingham District during the Civil Rights Movement from 1935 to 1965:

Before 1954

• January 1946: More than 100 African-American military veterans organized by the Southern Negro Youth Congress donned their uniforms and marched in a double file to the Jefferson County Courthouse, demanding to be allowed to register to vote. Most were denied.
• 1947: Arthur Shores filed the first legal challenge to Birmingham's segregated zoning laws on behalf of Samuel Mathews.
• 1947: Samuel Mathews became the first African American to legally purchase a residence in North Smithfield. His house was bombed on the first night, touching off the "Battle of North Smithfield" and a long string of bombings intended to terrorize African Americans from moving into formerly white-only neighborhoods.
• 1950: Arthur Shores won another challenge to Birmingham's still-segregated zoning laws in Clarence Mullins' court on behalf of Mary Means Monk.
• 1952: Arthur Shores won a federal case that resulted in his appointment to the Jefferson County Executive Democratic Committee.
• 1952: Arthur Shores and the NAACP filed suit on behalf of Autherine Lucy in an attempt to integrate the University of Alabama.

1954

• May 17: The United States Supreme Court issued its ruling prohibiting segregated public schools in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas.
• Charles Patrick filed a lawsuit after his beating by Birmingham police officers at Birmingham City Jail.

1955

• June 29: The NAACP won a court order preventing the University of Alabama from barring the enrollment of Autherine Lucy and any other African-American applicants.
• October 10: The United States Supreme Court upheld the lower court's order in Lucy v. Adams

1956

The Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights (ACMHR) was created in June 1956.

• February 3: Autherine Lucy successfully enrolled as a graduate library science student at the University of Alabama.
• February 6: Lucy was suspended from classes due to the University's inability to provide a safe learning environment.
• April 10: Kenneth Adams, E. L. Vinson & Willis Vinson assaulted singer Nat King Cole on stage during a performance at Municipal Auditorium. They were each sentenced to 180 days in jail.
• March 12: 101 Southern congressmen entered the Southern Manifesto into the Congressional Record, objecting to the implications of Brown v. Board of Education.
• May 26: A Montgomery judge banned the NAACP from operating in Alabama.
• June 5: The Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights (ACMHR) was created at a mass meeting at Sardis Baptist Church. Mass meetings were held each Monday at various movement churches throughout the movement.
• August 7: ACMHR's incorporation papers were filed at the Jefferson County Court of Probate.
• November 13: The United States Supreme Court issued its ruling in Browder v. Gayle, prohibiting segregation of Montgomery city busses.
• December 17: Carl and Alexinia Baldwin were arrested for occupying the white waiting room at Birmingham Terminal Station.
• December 25: Fred Shuttlesworth's home was bombed. He emerged from the basement unscathed.
• December 26: Fred Shuttlesworth led hundreds of Blacks onto Birmingham busses in defiance of local law. 22 are arrested and Shuttlesworth files a federal lawsuit against the police.
• The FBI's COINTELPRO program began efforts to disrupt the Communist Party in the United States, eventually spreading to investigate and harass labor and civil rights organizations.

1957

• January 12: The Southern Christian Leadership Conference was founded with the ACMHR as a charter member organization and Fred Shuttlesworth as secretary.
• January 25: Carl and Alexinia Baldwin filed a lawsuit to integrate Birmingham Terminal Station.
• March 4: Judge Seybourn H. Lynne dismissed the Baldwins' lawsuit about segregation at Birmingham Terminal Station. They appealed.
• March 6: Fred and Ruby Shuttlesworth again challenged the segregated waiting rooms at Birmingham Terminal Station. Lamar Weaver was assaulted outside after he greeted the couple.
• April 10: Two days after George Dickerson, pastor of 1st Baptist Church Kingston, bought the house at 1143 12th Place North it was extensively damaged by a dynamite blast.
• April 28: The Allen Temple AME Church at 9th Avenue and 22nd Street in Bessemer was bombed during a service, showering the choir with plaster debris.
• May 17: Shuttlesworth spoke on "The New Negro Church" at a "Prayer Pilgrimage" of black leaders in Washington, D. C.
• September 9: Shuttlesworth was beaten while attempting to register two of his daughters for classes at Phillips High School.

1958

• Birmingham Police arrested ministers who were organizing a bus boycott, leading to an FBI inquiry of allegations of misconduct.
• Fred Shuttlesworth began writing a weekly column for The Pittsburgh Courier, a national black newspaper.
• January 14: The Fifth Circuit United States Court of Appeals directed Judge Seybourn H. Lynne to hear the Baldwins' case regarding integration of Birmingham Terminal Station.
• April 28: 54 sticks of dynamite were left outside Temple Beth-El, but were doused by rain, preventing an explosion.
• June 29: Bethel Baptist Church was bombed for a second time. J. B. Stoner was convicted in 1980 of planning the attack.

1959

• November 23: Judge Seybourn H. Lynne again dismissed the Baldwins' lawsuit to integrate Birmingham Terminal Station. The Baldwins appealed again.

1960

• March 31: Fred Shuttlesworth was arrested for vagrancy and aiding and abetting violation of city ordinance.
• April 2: Shuttlesworth was again arrested for vagrancy and aiding and abetting violation of city ordinance.
• April 12: The article "Fear and Hatred Grip Birmingham" by Harrison Salisbury was printed in the New York Times.
• July 14: A crowd of white teenage rock and roll fans at Don's Teen Town in Bessemer chased off a gathering of 80 or so Klansmen planning to jump the deejay, Shelley Stewart.
• July: W. E. Shortridge and Georgia Price organized a Movement Choir to lead singing at mass meetings.
• December 5: Hugo Black wrote the Supreme Court's decision in Boynton v. Virginia, establishing federal regulation of facilities for interstate passengers.

1961

• January: Birmingham Police detectives began recording movement mass meetings.
• February 6: Fred Shuttlesworth's car was impounded as part of the judgment against him in the case later overturned as New York Times Co. v. Sullivan.
• February 17: After the Baldwins' second appeal, the Fifth Circuit United States Court of Appeals found segregation at Birmingham Terminal Station unconstitutional and directed Judge Seybourn H. Lynne to remedy those practices.
• April 24: Judge Seybourn H. Lynne enjoined the the Alabama Public Service Commission, the City of Birmingham, and Birmingham Terminal Station from requiring or compelling segregation at the facility.
• May 4: Freedom Riders left Washington D.C. on Greyhound and Trailways buses, bound for New Orleans.
• May 14: A Freedom Riders' bus pulled into the Birmingham Trailways Station and was met by a violent mob and no police protection. Meanwhile, volunteers from the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights brought more injured riders from Anniston to University Hospital.
• May 17: Fred Shuttlesworth was arrested for failure to obey a Birmingham Police officer.
• May 18: The CBS documentary "Who Speaks for Birmingham?" aired nationally.
• August 1: ACMHR founder Fred Shuttlesworth moved his family to Cincinnati, Ohio.
• September 23: The Interstate Commerce Commission issued rules prohibiting segregation of interstate passengers, effective November 1.
• October 24: Judge Hobart Grooms declared that segregation in Birmingham parks was unconstitutional.

1962

• January 1: Rather than integrate city parks, the Birmingham City Commission closed them to the public altogether.
• January 16: Three churches were damaged by dynamite explosions.
• February 12: Martin Luther King, Jr spoke at an ACMHR-sponsored "Lincoln's Birthday Rally" at 16th Street Baptist Church, telling the crowd "We are prepared to walk in, sit in, ride in or anything else that it takes to do away with segregation."
• March - June: Student leaders from Miles College, Daniel Payne College, Booker T. Washington Business College and Birmingham-Southern College organized a Selective Buying Campaign to pressure merchants to desegregate their stores and hire black workers.
• April 3: In retaliation for boycotts, the Birmingham City Commission ended its appropriation to a surplus food program.
• July 24: Judge Hobart Grooms issued an injunction against segregated service at the Dobbs House Flight Kitchen at Birmingham Municipal Airport.
• May: During the SCLC's annual meeting, Shuttlesworth invited King to lead demonstrations in Birmingham.
• November 6: A 1962 Birmingham special election, widely viewed as a referendum on the power wielded by Bull Connor, results in a change to a Mayor-Council form of government.
• December 14: Bethel Baptist Church was bombed a third time, the explosion occurred across the street, but still shattered windows at the church and parsonage.

1963

Winter to early spring

A picketer outside Loveman's.

• January 18: Governor George Wallace made his first inauguration speech, calling for "segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever".
• Tuesday, April 2: Albert Boutwell won a runoff against Bull Connor in the 1963 Birmingham mayoral election.

Birmingham Campaign (April 3-May 10)

• Wednesday, April 3: ("B-Day") The "Birmingham Manifesto" was issued and the first organized sit-ins took place at downtown lunch counters. Kress, Loveman's, Pizitz and Woolworth's closed their lunch counters. Twenty demonstrators were arrested at Britt's Cafeteria. The feature film version of "To Kill a Mockingbird" had its local premiere at the Melba Theater downtown, with child stars Mary Badham and Phillip Alford in attendance.
• Thursday, April 4: Martin Luther King Jr led a small group in a march to Birmingham City Hall. A mass meeting was held at St James Baptist Church in the evening.
• Friday, April 5: Ten demonstrators were arrested at lunch counters at Lane Drugs and the Tutwiler Drug Store. A mass meeting was held at Thirgood Memorial CME Church in the evening.
• Saturday, April 6: Fred Shuttlesworth and Charles Billups led a march from the A. G. Gaston Motel toward Birmingham City Hall. Police met the demonstrators at 18th Street and 5th Avenue North and arrested 30 marchers.
• Sunday, April 7 (Palm Sunday): Ministers John Thomas Porter, Nelson H. Smith and A. D. King led a group of 2,000 marchers from St Paul Methodist Church to protest the jailing of marchers the day before. The march was stopped near Henley School where the demonstrators knelt in prayer. Twenty-six marchers were arrested and police dogs were used to disperse onlookers. Leroy Allen, one of the marchers, was knocked down and bitten by a dog.
• Monday, April 8: Small-scale "hit and run" sit-ins took place at several downtown lunch counters.
• Monday, April 9: Eight picketers, one a white man from Illinois, were arrested for protesting outside Loveman's. Blind entertainer Al Hibbler joined the protesters, but was not arrested. He enjoined fellow protesters to help him into a paddy wagon, but was released without charge.
• Wednesday, April 10: Most downtown lunch counters were closed for the day. Twenty-seven protesters were arrested while gathered on the 400 block of 19th Street North. Nine were arrested at the Bohemian Bakery and three more were arrested at Britt's Cafeteria. Eleven demonstrators took seats at the Birmingham Public Library, but left before police arrived to remove them. At the request of Birmingham city attorneys, Circuit Court judge William Jenkins issued an injunction against "boycotting, trespassing, parading, picketing, sit-ins, kneel-ins, wade-ins, and inciting or encouraging such acts." Bull Connor also raised the bail for those arrested from $200-300 to $1,500.
• Thursday, April 11: Twelve demonstrators were arrested on 18th Street between 2nd and 4th Avenue North. The Birmingham Public Library board voted to desegregate the city's public libraries.
• Friday, April 12 (Good Friday): Martin Luther King Jr, Ralph Abernathy and Fred Shuttlesworth led a Good Friday march from Zion Hill Baptist Church and were met by police at 18th Street and 5th Avenue North. The marchers were arrested for parading without a permit. White clergymen issued "A Call for Unity", urging an end to demonstrations as a show of support for the incoming city council. Another letter, "A Statement by Some of the Negro Leaders of Metropolitan Birmingham" was also printed, explaining that the demonstrations were evidence of "striving" rather than "strife", and urging the creation of a bi-racial council to discuss ways both races could "live together in human dignity".
• Saturday, April 13 : Six picketers were arrested at Atlantic Mills at 1216 8th Avenue North.
• Sunday, April 14: (Easter Sunday): Volunteers conducted "Kneel-ins" at area white churches. Five black visitors were seated at 1st Baptist Church and two were seated at 1st Presbyterian Church. African-American visitors were denied entrance to several other white churches. John Porter, N. H. Smith and Frank Dukes were among thirty-two demonstrators, of approximately 1,000 who marched, who were arrested en route to Birmingham City Hall. Later another "March to the Jail" was broken up by police.
• Monday, April 15: Five protesters were arrested at Britt's Cafeteria and four more at Sears. Albert Boutwell and the new Birmingham City Council were sworn in, but the existing Birmingham City Commission refused to hand over power, resulting in parallel governments occupying City Hall.
• Tuesday, April 16: Two protesters at Bohemian Bakery were among seven people arrested for demonstrating. Martin Luther King, Jr completed his "Letter from Birmingham Jail"
• Wednesday, April 17: Reverend Henry Crawford led a group of fifteen churchwomen on a march to the Jefferson County Courthouse where they intended to register to vote. They were met on the 1600 block of 6th Avenue South and arrested.
• Thursday, April 18: Demonstrators returned to two lunch counters. They found one closed and the other was open, but servers ignored the demonstrators. No arrests were made.
• Friday, April 19: Eleven protesters were arrested at the lunch counter in the 2121 Building. The Birmingham Chamber of Commerce denounced King for creating "hate and dissension" and the city sought a contempt order to curtail demonstrations.
• Saturday, April 20: Martin Luther King was bailed out of Birmingham jail with funds sent by Harry Belafonte. Seven picketers were arrested outside the Pizitz Building. Seven others were arrested at Britt's Cafeteria, seven more at Tillman Levenson, and four at Atlantic Mills.
• Sunday, April 21: A second week of "Kneel-in" demonstrations took place. Black visitors were seated at First Baptist Church of Birmingham, First Presbyterian Church of Birmingham, and the Episcopal Church of the Advent. Prospective black worshipers were turned away from First Methodist Church of Birmingham, First Christian Church, Woodlawn Baptist Church, Southside Baptist Church and Highlands Methodist Church.
• Monday, April 22: King and thirteen others appeared at trial for contempt of court before Judge William Jenkins. Sit-in protesters were denied service at the Woolworth's, H. L. Green and Britt's Cafeteria lunch counters. There were no arrests.
• Tuesday, April 23: Five teenagers were arrested for picketing at Atlantic Mills.
• Wednesday, April 24: Hearings began on motions to overturn Jenkins' injunction against demonstrations.
• Wednesday, May 1: Judge William Jenkins issues fines and five-day sentences for 11 leaders who defied his injunction against public demonstrations.
• Thursday, May 2 ("D-Day"): The Children's Crusade began with large groups of students converging at Birmingham City Hall to protest Bull Connor and his police actions. 40% of Parker High School's student body was reported absent. Nearly 1,000 children were arrested, filling the jails with eager students.
• Friday, May 3 ("Double D-Day"): With the jails full and thousands more demonstrators filing out of 16th Street Baptist Church, Bull Connor ordered the use of police dogs and firehoses to break up the marches. Sixty young people were arrested in the vicinity of Kelly Ingram Park, Fifty at 20th Street and 2nd Avenue North, 30 at a church on 7th Avenue North, and twenty-seven more near City Hall. With more than 3,000 prisoners to house and the jails filled, hundreds of children were locked up at Fair Park.
• Saturday, May 4: Thousands more demonstrators arrived at Kelly Ingram Park, facing the same tactics from police. President Kennedy dispatched Burke Marshall and John Doar to negotiate an end to the standoff.
• Sunday, May 5: Additional Kneel-ins were held around the city. After a mass meeting at New Pilgrim Baptist Church congregants made a spontaneous march to Birmingham City Jail to cheer prisoners there. Police dogs and fire hoses were brought to the scene, but not used. The group held a brief prayer service at Behrens Park and returned to the church.
• Monday, May 6: Comedian Dick Gregory led 800 young marchers toward Birmingham City Hall, submitting to arrest at 17th Street North. With the jails still full, police bus demonstrators to county jails, the Alabama State Fairgrounds and other sites.
• Tuesday, May 7: Student marchers fanned out and converged on the downtown business district at lunchtime, avoiding police blockades and becoming newly visible to the city's white citizenry. Back at Kelly Ingram Park police knocked Shuttlesworth off his feet with spray from a fire hose, hospitalizing him.
• Wednesday, May 8: Moderate black leaders and federal negotiators formulated a truce with the business community to end demonstrations. Shuttlesworth checked himself out of the hospital to confront the SCLC leaders, insisting that the compromises were unacceptable and demanding more specific concessions.
• Friday, May 10: The Birmingham Truce was announced by Shuttlesworth at a press conference at the A. G. Gaston Motel, ending the Birmingham Campaign. He collapsed after his prepared remarks while King continued to field questions.

Aftermath

• Saturday, May 11: A. D. King's residence and the A. G. Gaston Motel were hit by devastating bombs. Rioting spread across the city.
• Monday, May 12: President Kennedy authorized Operation Oak Tree, moving riot-control troops to military bases in the vicinity of Birmingham.
• Wednesday, May 14: Thousands of protesters marched as a "Black Wall" through downtown Birmingham to challenge segregation at stores and lunch counters. Most business owners locked their doors for the day and posted armed guards. Many black employees who absented themselves that day were fired from their jobs for participating in the march.
• Monday, May 20: The Birmingham Board of Education voted to expel all 1,081 students arrested for demonstrating.
• Wednesday, May 22: A federal judge reversed the expulsion of Birmingham City Schools students arrested for demonstrating.
• Thursday, May 23: Students illegally expelled for demonstrating returned to classes.
• Tuesday, May 28: U. S. District Judge Seybourn Lynne declined to issue a ruling to desegregate Birmingham Schools.
• Tuesday, June 11: Governor Wallace made his "Stand in the schoolhouse door" before Vivian Malone and James Hood successfully enrolled at the University of Alabama. President Kennedy responded with a nationally-televised address endorsing Civil Rights.
• Wednesday, June 19: The Birmingham Parks & Recreation Board voted to reopen municipal golf courses within 10 days.
• Saturday, June 29: Birmingham's public golf courses reopened, officially desegregated.

Summer

• Friday, July 12: The U.S. Court of Appeals, 5th Circuit ruled in Armstrong v. Board of Education that Birmingham City Schools must desegregate, beginning that Fall.
• Tuesday, July 16: A public meeting regarding school desegregation ended in shouting and disorder.
• Tuesday, July 23: The Birmingham City Council repealed all of its Segregation laws and reopened city parks.
• Wednesday, July 31: The United States Department of Justice sued the Jefferson County Board of Registrars on behalf of black applicants deemed unqualified to vote.
• August 5: Martin Luther King Jr, Ray Charles, James Baldwin, Joey Adams and Joe Louis shared a stage at Miles College for Salute to Freedom '63, a fundraiser for the upcoming March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.
• Saturday, August 10: St James United Methodist Church in Warrior was destroyed by arsonists.
• Thursday, August 15: A terrorist detonated a gas bomb inside Loveman's department store, sending 22 people to hospitals.
• Monday, August 19: Judge Clarence Allgood approved a desegregation plan created by Birmingham City Schools which would begin by integrating 12th grade classes that fall.
• Tuesday, August 20: The home of attorney Arthur Shores was heavily damaged by a bomb blast.
• Tuesday, August 27: Six buses left Birmingham bound for the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.
• Wednesday, August 28: Martin Luther King, Jr delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.
• Friday, August 30: Birmingham school officials announce that West End High School, Ramsay High School and Graymont Elementary School will be desegregated for the upcoming term, with a total of five black students in classes.
• Monday, September 2: Governor Wallace vowed not to back down at a barbecue attended by 10,000 in Ensley Park.
• Tuesday ,September 3: Alabama State Troopers arrived uninvited to block school integration in Birmingham.
• Wednesday, September 4: Dwight and Floyd Armstrong became the first black students successfully enrolled at a white public school in Birmingham (Graymont Elementary School). Protestors at several schools waved Confederate flags and racial signcards.
• Wednesday, September 4: Arthur Shores' house was bombed again.
• Thursday, September 5: Three Birmingham City Schools were closed at Governor Wallace's request.
• Saturday, September 7: Governor Wallace praised Edward Fields for his efforts to preserve segregated schools during a fundraiser at the Thomas Jefferson Hotel.
• Sunday, September 8: Two firebombs were thrown into the A. G. Gaston residence.
• Monday, September 9: State Troopers prevented the Armstrong brothers from attending their re-opened school.
• Tuesday, September 10: Birmingham City Schools were integrated by National Guardsmen under orders from President Kennedy. Dwight and Floyd Armstrong attended classes at Graymont.
• Thursday, September 12: A. G. Gaston's residence in Robinwood was bombed. White students protested and clashed with police at Phillips, West End and Woodlawn High Schools.
• Sunday, September 15: 16th Street Baptist Church was bombed, killing four children. Later that afternoon Virgil Ware was killed by a teenager and Johnnie Robinson was shot by police.
• Tuesday, September 17: The funeral for Carole Robertson was held at St John AME Church.
• Wednesday, September 18: Martin Luther King Jr eulogized the remaining three victims of the church bombing at a joint funeral at 6th Avenue Baptist Church.
• Friday, September 20: President John Kennedy appointed Kenneth Royall and Earl "Red" Blaik to survey race relations in Birmingham and to offer their assistance in "restoring or establishing communication between the races."

Fall

• Wednesday, September 25: Kenneth Royall and Earl Blaik arrived in Birmingham and were greeted by Mayor Albert Boutwell.
• Wednesday evening, September 25: Two bombs exploded in Center Street South in Titusville, apparently intended to draw a crowd and then spray them with shrapnel. No one was hurt, but a deep crater was left in the street and shrapnel was sprayed into nearby walls.
• Sunday, October 6: A full-page ad in the Birmingham News called on the City of Birmingham to consider hiring black police officers.
• Sunday, October 20: Another full-age ad in the Birmingham News called on the city to tackle a number of unresolved tensions regarding race.
• Tuesday, October 22: Birmingham rejected the proposal to hire black police officers.
• Friday, November 22: President John Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas.

1964

• Spring: Martin Luther King, Jr recollects the events of the Birmingham Campaign in the book Why We Can't Wait.
• March 29: Graham's crusade insisted that all venues for the Billy Graham Easter Rally be open to all races without separate seating.
• July 2: President Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
• July 7: Nine African-American teenagers were chased from McLellan's lunch counter in downtown Bessemer and beaten. No arrests.
• December 10: Martin Luther King was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace.
• December 14: The Supreme Court ruled in Katzenbach v. McClung that Ollie's Barbecue was subject to the public accommodations clause of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

1965

• March 7: The Selma to Montgomery March was stopped violently by police.
• March 21: Our Lady Queen of the Universe Catholic Church and A. D. King's residence were targeted by bombs, neither of which exploded.
• August 6: President Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

1967

Hosea Williams led marchers protesting the incarceration of Martin Luther King Jr and other Civil Rights leaders on contempt charges in November 1967.

• October: Fred Shuttlesworth, John Porter, T. L. Fisher and J. W. Hayes were arrested before they could turn themselves in on contempt charges stemming from the 1963 marches.
• October 30: Martin Luther King Jr, Ralph Abernathy, Wyatt Walker, and A. D. King returned to Birmingham to surrender themselves on contempt charges stemming from the 1963 marches.

1968

• April 4: James Earl Ray murdered Martin Luther King Jr in Memphis, Tennessee.
• May 8: A caravan from Birmingham to Washington D.C. for the SCLC's "Poor People's Campaign" was scheduled.

See also

• List of racially-motivated bombings

References

• White, Marjorie Longenecker (1998) A Walk to Freedom: The Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth and the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights, 1956-1964. Birmingham: Birmingham Historical Society. ISBN 0943994241

• McWhorter, Diane (2001) Carry Me Home: Birmingham, Alabama, The Climactic Battle of the Civil Rights Revolution. New York, New York: Simon and Schuster. ISBN 0743226488
• Huntley, Horace & John W. McKerley (2009) Foot Soldiers for Democracy: The Men, Women, and Children of the Birmingham Civil Rights Movement. University of Illinois Press (link)
• Wright, Barnett (January 1, 2013) "1963 in Birmingham, Alabama: A timeline of events". The Birmingham News