Birmingham 1963, a Turning Point in the Civil Rights
Movement
During the Second World War, America portrayed itself as a
liberator and the giver of democracy to the oppressed. Yet, by 1963, a century
after the Emancipation Proclamation and nearly twenty after the liberation of
Europe, American society was still widely discriminative and inherently racist.
Segregation was being kept contrary to the law, with state governors, such as
George Wallace, openly calling for “segregation now, segregation tomorrow and
segregation forever”.[1]
Leading up to 1963, those who were committed to the Civil
Rights Movement and supported Martin Luther King Jr were a fraction of what
they would be after the events in Birmingham. Birmingham would be the catalyst
for the support and progress of civil rights. The protests in May 1963 were
something never seen before. Children took to the streets to protest the
desegregation of Birmingham's businesses. They were met by high powered fire
hoses, vicious dogs and police brutality. Over two thousand children were
arrested.
Shock and horror were spread when news of these events were
circulated both nationally and internationally. Photographs of children being
attacked by dogs and clothes being ripped from their backs by the power of the
fire hoses exposed the brutal racism of America. It is said that a photograph
can tell a thousand words, in this case that is clearly true. They shone a
critical spotlight directly on United States policy. America was illuminated
not as the heart of democracy but the home of discrimination and prejudice. The
violent tactics imposed on the children's peaceful protest and the bombing of
the 16th Street Baptist Church days later, leaving four young girls
dead, shook the nation.
The events of Birmingham did more for the stuttering Civil
Rights Campaign than any protest could. It resulted in crucial support for the
Civil Right Movement and for Martin Luther King. Many African Americans who had
distanced themselves from the movement and from King now joined in support. In
August, a quarter of a million marched on Washington with King to protest the
treatment of African Americans.
Worldwide coverage of Birmingham greatly hurt the reputation
of the United States. Life magazine's eleven page publication of
Birmingham awakened many to the harsh reality of segregation. Birmingham
importantly gained multiracial support of both whites and blacks for the Civil
Rights Movement. Media in the Soviet Union, using images of Birmingham, placed
huge pressure on the Kennedy Administration to react. On viewing these images,
President Kennedy said they “made him sick”.[2] It
provoked him into giving his Civil Rights Address in which he proposed a Civil
Rights Act. Birmingham had made civil rights a moral issue rather than a
political one. It left little room for objection and made the advancement of
civil rights and a legislation arguably inevitable.
By Adam Knight
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