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 Lemond Baldwin and Alexinia Baldwin.

Background, arrest, and lawsuit

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. Birmingham police officers requested the couple to move to the colored waiting room. When the couple refused, they were arrested and charged with disorderly conduct.

On January 25, 1957, the Baldwins brought a lawsuit against the Birmingham City Commission, the Alabama Public Service Commission, and the Birmingham Terminal Company in U.S. District Court to desegregate the waiting rooms in Terminal Station. They charged that the state railroad waiting room law was unconstitutional and asked a three-judge panel to hear the case. All three defendant groups asked that the case be dismissed. In late February, while action in the federal court was still pending, the city dropped the disorderly conduct charges against the Baldwins. Because the city dropped the charges, U.S. Discrict Judge Seybourn H. Lynne dismissed the suit on March 4, saying a mistake had been made and that the case was hypothetical.

Shuttlesworth protest

As a result of Judge Lynne's ruling, the Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth, a prominent Birmingham civil rights activist, announced to the media his intention to sit in the white waiting room, stating "Negroes will sit where white men sit and ride where white men ride and act like men and if we are molested for doing so, that will mean the city has stooped to intimidation, harassing and molesting Negroes". On March 6, when Shuttlesworth and his wife, Ruby Shuttlesworth, arrived at Terminal Station, they found a crowd of nearly 100 white men there. Included in the group was Robert Chambliss, who identified himself as a representative of the Ku Klux Klan. After being blocked by some of the men twice, Birmingham police escorted the Shuttleworths in and guarded them while they purchased tickets and sat in the white waiting room.

Lamar Weaver, a white integrationist, sat with the couple for a while until Birmingham police ordered everyone without tickets to leave the station. Weaver faced a violent mob outside the station during his walk back to his car. After getting into his car, it was stoned as he hurriedly drove away.

Appeals

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.
• "Federal Court Urged To Dismiss Attack On Waiting Room Law." (February 20, 1957). The Tuscaloosa News, page 5.
• "Charges Against Group Dropped." (February 27, 1957). The Gadsden Times, page 13.
• "Negroes Again Sit In Waiting Room." (March 6, 1957). The Tuscaloosa News, pages 1, 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.