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 main thrust of the Civil Rights Movement from 1952 to 1965:

1954

• May 17: The United States Supreme Court issued its ruling prohibiting segregated public schools in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas

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

• 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 by members of the Ku Klux Klan.

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: W. E. Shortridge and Georgia Price organized a Movement Choir to lead singing at mass meetings.

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: 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 14: A Freedom Riders' bus pulled into the Birmingham Trailways Station and was met by a violent mob and no police protection.
• 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 Harlan 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.
• May: During the SCLC's annual meeting, Shuttlesworth invited King to lead demonstrations in Birmingham.
• November 7: 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

• January 18: Governor George Wallace made his first inauguration speech, calling for "segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever".
• April 2: Albert Boutwell won a runoff against Bull Connor in the 1963 Birmingham mayoral election.
• April 3-May 10: Birmingham Campaign
  • April 3: ("B-Day") The "Birmingham Manifesto" was issued and the first organized sit-ins took place at downtown lunch counters.
  • April 6: Fred Shuttlesworth and Charles Billups led a first march to Birmingham City Hall and were arrested.
  • 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 Shuttlesworth and Billups.
  • April 10: Circuit Court judge William Jenkins issued an injunction against demonstrations.
  • April 11: The Birmingham Public Library board voted to desegregate the city's public libraries.
  • April 12 (Good Friday): Martin Luther King, Jr was arrested along with Ralph Abernathy for parading without a permit. White clergymen issue "A Call for Unity", urging an end to demonstrations as a show of support for the incoming city council.
  • April 14: (Easter Sunday): Volunteers conduct "Kneel-ins" at area white churches and are admitted to 1st Baptist Church and 1st Presbyterian Church. Later a "March to the Jail" was broken up by police.
  • April 15: Albert Boutwell and the first Birmingham City Council were sworn in, but the Birmingham City Commission refused to hand over power, resulting in parallel governments.
  • April 16: Martin Luther King, Jr completed his "Letter from Birmingham Jail"
  • May 2 ("D-Day"): The Children's Crusade began, filling jails with thousands of eager students.
  • 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.
  • May 4: Thousands more demonstrators arrive 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.
  • 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 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • May 10: A modified 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.
• May 11: A. D. King's residence and the A. G. Gaston Motel were hit by devastating bombs. Rioting spread across the city.
• 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.
• July: The Birmingham City Council reopened public parks to all comers.
• August 20: The home of attorney Arthur Shores was heavily damaged by a bomb blast.
• August 10: St James United Methodist Church in Warrior was destroyed by arsonists.
• August 28: Martin Luther King, Jr delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.
• September 2: Governor Wallace vowed not to back down at a barbecue attended by 10,000 in Ensley Park.
• September 3: Alabama State Troopers arrived uninvited to block school integration in Birmingham.
• September 4: Dwight and Floyd Armstrong became the first black students successfully enrolled at a white public school in Birmingham (Graymont Elementary School).
• September 4: Arthur Shores' house was bombed again.
• September 5: Birmingham City Schools were closed by Governor Wallace's request.
• September 7: Governor Wallace praised Edward Fields for his efforts to preserve segregated schools during a fund raiser at the Thomas Jefferson Hotel.
• September 8: A bomb was thrown into the A. G. Gaston residence.
• September 9: State Troopers prevented the Armstrong brothers from attending their re-opened school.
• September 10: Birmingham City Schools were integrated by National Guardsmen under orders from President Kennedy. Dwight and Floyd Armstrong attended classes at Graymont.
• 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.
• 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.
• September 18: Martin Luther King, Jr eulogized the victims of the church bombing at a joint funeral at 6th Avenue Baptist Church. Carole Robertson's family declined to participate.
• 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.

1964

• Spring: Martin Luther King, Jr recollects the events of the Birmingham Campaign in the book Why We Can't Wait.
• July 2: President Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
• December 10: Martin Luther King was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace.

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.