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History > USA > Civil rights > Birmingham, Alabama

 

    1963

 

Civil rights campaign, Mary Hamilton,

16th Street Baptist church bombing

 

 

 

 

Sarah Collins Rudolph at home in 2002.

 

Photograph: Nicole Bengiveno

The New York Times

 

What Does America Owe the Victims of Racial Terrorism?

NYT

Sept. 13, 2023

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/13/
opinion/birmingham-sarah-collins-rudolph.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photograph: Jim Wilson

The New York Times.

 

Moving Alabama Into the Modern Age

NYT

March 26, 2019

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/26/
books/review/doug-jones-bending-toward-justice.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“One of the four girls murdered by a bomb

in the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church,

Birmingham, Alabama.”

1963.

 

The Menil Collection, Houston,

gift of Edmund Carpenter and Adelaide de Menil.

 

Photograph: Danny Lyon

Magnum Photos

 

Houston’s Young Curators Look at Culture and Environment

NYT

May. 17, 2016

http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/05/17/
menil-root-shift-houstons-young-curators-look-at-culture-and-environment/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday, September 15, 1963

 

Birmingham, Alabama

 

16th Street Baptist church bombing

 

 

On 15 September 1963,

the Ku Klux Klan

planted dynamite in the basement

of the 16th Street Baptist church

in Birmingham, Alabama,

a church that previously

had been the headquarters

for Martin Luther King’s

anti-segregationist marches.

 

The bombing killed four girls

getting ready for Sunday service

– Carol Denise McNair, 11,

and Addie Mae Collins,

Cynthia Wesley

and Carole Robertson,

all 14.

 

Within hours of the bombing,

across the city,

two African American boys,

Virgil Ware, 13,

and James Johnny Robinson, 16,

were murdered by two white men

returning from a segregation rally.

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2018/oct/09/
dawoud-bey-the-birmingham-project-photo-series

 

 

 

Four young girls

attending Sunday school

are killed in the bombing

of the Sixteenth Street

Baptist Church

 

Only one man,

Robert E. Chambliss,

a member

of the Ku Klux Klan,

(was) convicted,

in 1977.

 

(a) new investigation

led to the conviction

of two other Klansmen,

Thomas Blanton Jr.

and Bobby Frank Cherry.

https://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/13/
us/13woods.html

 

 

https://www.npr.org/2023/09/14/
1199312953/16th-street-baptist-church-bombing-
60th-anniversary

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/13/
opinion/birmingham-sarah-collins-rudolph.html

 

 

 

 

https://www.poynter.org/ethics-trust/2020/
a-flower-for-the-graves/

 

 

 

 

https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2019/04/30/
16th-street-baptist-church-bombing-survivor

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/26/
books/review/doug-jones-bending-toward-justice.html

 

 

 

 

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2018/oct/09/
dawoud-bey-the-birmingham-project-photo-series

 

 

 

 

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/08/03/
488511801/a-legacy-of-pain-birmingham-church-bomber-is-denied-parole

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/14/us/
eugene-c-patterson-editor-and-civil-rights-crusader-dies-at-89.html  

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/13/us/
13woods.html

 

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/01/15/
fyi/main2359504.shtml

 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2004/nov/30/
usa.schoolsworldwide

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chris McNair    1925-2019

 

Her father, Chris McNair,

was a prominent photographer

and later, local politician.

 

"Being a Black photographer

that meant you got to see it

from a different perspective

as an African-American,"

she says.

 

There are intimate pictures

of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.

including the day he was released

after writing his famous

"letter from Birmingham jail."

 

And, chillingly,

one image of the bombed-out

16th Street Baptist Church

that Chris McNair took shortly

after identifying his daughter Denise

with a piece of mortar

lodged in her forehead.

 

"It was the only picture

he shot that day of the bombing,"

she says.

https://www.npr.org/2023/09/14/
1199312953/16th-street-baptist-church-bombing-60th-anniversary

 

 

https://www.npr.org/2023/09/14/
1199312953/16th-street-baptist-church-bombing-60th-anniversary

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

June 1963

 

Mary Hamilton,

The Woman Who Put The 'Miss' In Court

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Children's Crusade, or Children's March

 

 

 

Policemen lead a group of school children into jail,

following their arrest for protesting against racial discrimination

near city hall of Birmingham, Ala., on May 4, 1963.

 

Photograph: Bill Hudson

AP

 

60 years since 'The Children's Crusade' changed Birmingham and the nation

NPR

June 2, 2023    5:00 AM ET

https://www.npr.org/2023/05/31/
1179125099/birmingham-childrens-crusade-civil-rights-60th-anniversary

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sixty years ago,

Birmingham authorities turned firehoses and police dogs on protesters,

a pivotal period in the civil rights movement.

 

Now, six decades later,

people in the Alabama city reflect on the struggle then and now.

 

Photograph: Bill Hudson

Associated Press

 

60 years since 'The Children's Crusade' changed Birmingham and the nation

NPR

June 2, 2023    5:00 AM ET

https://www.npr.org/2023/05/31/
1179125099/birmingham-childrens-crusade-civil-rights-60th-anniversary

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Civil rights leaders (left to right)

Fred Shuttlesworth, Martin Luther King, Jr. and Ralph Abernathy

at press conference during Birmingham Campaign, Birmingham, Ala.

on May 16, 1963.

 

Photograph: Circa Images/GHI/Universal History Archive/

Universal Images Group via Getty Images

 

60 years since 'The Children's Crusade' changed Birmingham and the nation

NPR

June 2, 2023    5:00 AM ET

https://www.npr.org/2023/05/31/
1179125099/birmingham-childrens-crusade-civil-rights-60th-anniversary

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Children's Crusade,

or Children's March,

was a march

by over 5,000 school students

in Birmingham, Alabama

on May 2–10, 1963.

 

Initiated and organized

by Rev. James Bevel,

the purpose of the march

was to walk downtow

 to talk to the mayor

about segregation in their city.

 

Many children left their schools

and were arrested, set free,

and then arrested again the next day.

 

The marches were stopped

by the head of police, Bull Connor,

who brought fire hoses

to ward off the children

and set police dogs

after the children.

 

This event compelled

President John F. Kennedy

to publicly support

federal civil rights legislation

and eventually led to the passage

of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

 

Malcolm X

and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

were both opposed to the event

because they thought

it would expose the children

to violence.

Wikipedia - 2 June 2023

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Children's_Crusade_(1963)

 

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Children's_Crusade_(1963)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Civil rights protests

in Alabama

hit a crescendo

in the spring of 1963.

 

In Gadsden,

a factory town

northeast of Birmingham,

police arrested Hamilton

and other demonstrators.

 

At a hearing that June,

the court referred to her

as "Mary."

 

"And she just would not

answer the judge

until he called her

'Miss Hamilton.'

 

And he refused.

So he found her

in contempt of court,"

Michaels says.

 

So Mary Hamilton

was thrown in jail

and fined $50.

 

The NAACP took the case

that eventually appealed

to the U.S. Supreme Court,

which ruled the following year

in Hamilton's favor.

 

In other words,

the ruling decided

that everyone in court

deserves titles of courtesy,

regardless of race or ethnicity.

 

Michaels says Hamilton

was immensely proud

of the case.

 

"I mean,

a Supreme Court case,

you know, decided for you.

Are you kidding?

This is a big deal,"

she says.

 

It's a big deal for a person,

but it's a footnote

in the history books.

 

And when it comes

to civil rights history,

it's the names of men

such as

Martin Luther King Jr.

or Ralph Abernathy

that are mostly remembered.

 

Women

don't get much billing

beyond Rosa Parks

and a few others.

 

Historian Tara White

researches women

in the civil rights movement.

 

She says

part of the reason

is that in that time period,

women just weren't

in prominent roles.

 

Journalists compounded

that by gravitating

to male leaders.

 

But White says

without women,

there would have been

no movement.

 

"The majority of the folks

who were doing

the day-to-day work

were women.

 

The majority of the people

who were participating

in protest marches

and those kinds of things

were women,"

White says.

 

White says Hamilton

wasn't just bumping up

against racial attitudes.

 

Her behavior in court

was not what the South

expected of a lady.

 

"Lower class, loose women

call attention to themselves.

Real ladies don't do that,"

White says of the stereotype.

http://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2013/07/12/
198012536/summer-of-1963-miss-mary-hamilton

 

 

https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2017/11/30/
567177501/when-miss-meant-so-much-more-how-one-woman-fought-alabama-and-won

 

http://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2013/07/12/
198012536/summer-of-1963-miss-mary-hamilton

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In spring 1963,

African American civil rights

activists in Alabama started

the Birmingham campaign,

a series of sit-ins,

boycotts and marches

against segregation laws.

 

The peaceful demonstrations

were met with violence,

teargas and police dogs.

 

The events

were a turning point

in the civil rights movement,

making front-page news

around the world.

 

The Observer dispatched

photographer Colin Jones

to cover the story

and capture the activism

centred around

the 16th Street Baptist church.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/gallery/2018/may/12/
unseen-photographs-of-civil-rights-conflict-in-birmingham-alabama-1963

 

 

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/gallery/2018/may/12/
unseen-photographs-of-civil-rights-conflict-in-birmingham-alabama-1963

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

White supremacist city commissioner of public safety,

Theophilus Eugene ‘Bull’ Connor.

 

On 3 May, the day after the demonstrations began,

Connor ordered the use of high-pressure fire hoses

and police attack dogs on the young protesters.

 

The resulting images helped

swing opinion in favour of civil rights legislation.

Connor remained unrepentant for the rest of his days

 

Photograph: Colin Jones

 

Unseen photographs of civil rights conflict

in Birmingham, Alabama, 1963

 

In spring 1963,

African American civil rights activists in Alabama

started the Birmingham campaign,

a series of sit-ins, boycotts and marches

against segregation laws.

 

The peaceful demonstrations

were met with violence, teargas and police dogs.

 

The events were a turning point

in the civil rights movement,

making front-page news around the world.

 

The Observer dispatched photographer Colin Jones

to cover the story and capture the activism

centred around the 16th Street Baptist church.

 

Many of these images,

discovered in the Observer’s picture archive,

have never before been published.

G

Sat 12 May 2018    13.34 BST

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/gallery/2018/may/12/
unseen-photographs-of-civil-rights-conflict-in-birmingham-alabama-1963 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A civil rights demonstrator being attacked by a police dog

in Birmingham, Ala., in 1963.

 

Photograph: Bill Hudson

Associated Press

 

The Art of the Protest

NYT

NOV. 21, 2016

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/21/
opinion/the-art-of-the-protest.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Birmingham, Alabama. 1963

African American protesters taunt a white police officer

during a civil rights demonstration.

 

Photograph:

1963 Charles Moore/Black Star

http://rising.blackstar.com/charles-moore-1931-2010.html/
demonstators-taunt-a-policeman - broken link

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Related > Anglonautes > History

 

20th century > USA > White supremacist violence >

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20th century > USA > Civil rights

 

 

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Anglonautes > Arts > Photographers >

20th century > USA > Civil rights

 

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Doris Derby    1939-2022

 

 

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Fred Baldwin    1929-2021

 

 

Matt Herron    1931-2020

 

 

Don Hogan Charles    1938-2017

 

 

Robert Adelman    1930-2016

 

 

Ernest C. Withers    1922-2007

 

 

Leonard Freed    1929-2006

 

 

Gordon Parks    1912-2006

 

 

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Weegee    1899-1968

 

 

 

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