BIRMINGHAM

The Birmingham campaign was a strategic movement organized by the  (SCLC) to bring attention to the unequal treatment black Americans endured in Birmingham, Alabama, the most segregated city in the US in 1963

Organizers, led by Martin Luther King used non-violent direct action tactics to defy laws they considered unfair. King led a massive protest in Birmingham that caught the attention of the entire world, providing what he called a coalition of conscience. After the campaign ran low on adult volunteers, high school, college, and elementary students were trained by SCLC coordinator James Bevel to participate, resulting in hundreds of arrests and an instant intensification of national media attention on the campaign. The campaign used a variety of nonviolent methods of confrontation, including sit-ins at libraries and lunch counters, kneel-ins by black visitors at white churches, and a march to the county building to mark the beginning of a voter-registration drive.To dissuade demonstrators and control the protests the Birmingham Police Department, led by Eugine Connor, used high-pressure water jets and police dogs on children and bystanders. King was among 50 Birmingham residents ranging in age from 15 to 81 years who were arrested on April 12, 1963. It was King’s 13th arrest.

While imprisoned for having taken part in a nonviolent protest, Dr. King wrote the now famous “Letter from Birmingham Jail”