Читать книгу Freedom Facts and Firsts - Jessie Carney Smith - Страница 54

The Birmingham Bus Boycott was one of the first actions of the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights (ACMHR), which was founded by the Reverend Fred L. Shuttlesworth when the NAACP was banned in the state of Alabama. Initially, it requested the hiring of black policemen for the black community. This request finally necessitated a lawsuit against Birmingham’s Personnel Board to make civil service jobs available to all. Subsequently, all “white only” signs were removed, but no blacks were hired. Following the successful Montgomery Bus Boycott and the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that segregation was unconstitutional, the ACMHR decided to desegregate the Birmingham busses. Two hundred and fifty members of the ACMHR were to ride the buses on December 26, 1956. Before this happened violence broke out and the Reverend Shuttlesworth’s home was bombed on December 25; the bed in which he slept was demolished, but he survived unscathed. He took his good fortune to mean that the boycott was sanctioned by God and that the fight for civil rights was to continue.

Twenty-one protesters were arrested during the bus ride on December 26, and the ACMHR filed a suit in federal court. Following this, Shuttlesworth and others made several attempts to desegregate other places, such as the railroad station and the all-white school. These attempts were met with varying degrees of violent resistance. Birmingham was known for its violence and frequent bombings in the black community; consequently, it had gained the name “Bombingham.” Three months after the bus boycott, in 1957 there was another attempt to ride the segregated buses. Arrests were again made, and some 5,000 blacks gathered on the courthouse lawn in silent protest of the jailings. The riders were soon released on bond, and the ACMHR again filed another injunction against the city and the bus company. When the appeal reached the federal court, the law was repealed on October 14, 1958.

A new ordinance was passed, however, that authorized the Birmingham Transit System to enforce segregated seating. This was challenged by the ACMHR on October 20, 1958. Commissioner of Public Safety Eugene “Bull” Connor arrested 14 black challengers, including Shuttlesworth and three members of the Montgomery Improvement Association, who had arrived in the city to support the fight, charging them with vagrancy. Because of the dependency of the black populace on the city transit system, police brutality and intimidation, and the press blackout, the boycott failed. It was not until December 14, 1959, that desegregated seating on Birmingham buses was legalized.

Nevertheless, segregation and violence were so well entrenched in Birmingham in other aspects of daily life that it was felt that an organization with a national image and broader connections might provide the visibility needed to realize full equality for blacks. To this end, the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference were asked to come and lead workshops and demonstrations against Birmingham’s racist practices. When they arrived, the strategic goals were to demolish segregation in Birmingham, to generate so much national awareness that the Kennedy Administration would be forced to actively support civil rights for all citizens regardless of race, and to mobilize enough northern support to break the southern filibuster and pass a national civil rights act that would overturn segregation laws everywhere and outlaw all forms of discrimination.

Birmingham was known for its violence and frequent bombings in the black community.

The plan of action had the codename “Project C” for “Confrontation,” and it was based at the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church. The confrontations began April 3, 1963, with sit-ins. Four days later, “Bull” Connor set police attack dogs and high powered water hoses on the demonstrators, effectively drawing national attention to the struggle. Demonstrators were arrested, an injunction was issued barring further demonstrations, and King and the Reverend Ralph David Abernathy were among those arrested on April 12, 1963, Good Friday. It was during this period that King wrote his “Letter from the Birmingham Jail” in response to eight white clergymen who accused him of agitating citizenry by addressing the subject of direct action. On April 26, 1963, all were convicted of criminal contempt and released on appeal, which resulted in the [Wyatt Tee] Walker v. City of Birmingham court case, in which it was determined that the city could put an injunction on protests, even though the parade ordinance it passed was constitutionally questionable.

With the release of King from jail, the third phase of the Birmingham campaign began. Children ages 6 to 16 participated as demonstrations began on May 2, 1963. The next day, Connor responded again with powerful fire hoses and German Shepard dogs; the citizens retaliated with bricks and rocks. During the confrontations there were mass arrests of children. The jails were so full by May 6 that Connor turned the stockade at the state fairground into a jail. President John F. Kennedy subsequently sent his assistant attorney general for civil rights to aid in the negotiation of the settlement that took place May 10, 1963.

Helen R. Houston