SOUTHERN CHRISTIAN LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE
BIRMINGHAM ISSUE
~ Volume July, 1963 Number 10 SET RECORD REGISTRATION ?It ~ S.d... FOR BIRMINGHAM VOTERS By Rev. Andrew Young Almost two thousand students came out of Birmingham jails and under leadership from SCLC staff descended on the community with a new assault on the barriers of segregation. Seek ing to sol i d i f y the gains made through D ire c t Action wit h a sol i d political foundation, they succeeded in lead ing 1,539 adults . to the Voter Reg istration 0 f f i:c e during the month Negro leaders announce settlement by biracial committee to end racial strife in Birmingham during Rev. Young of June. news conference on May 10. Facing, from left : Rev. Shuttlesworth, Rev . Abernathy, and Rev. King. This is one of the most successful Voter Registration efforts ever con ducted in the State of Alabama during Birmingham ... How It All Began a one month period, and we are an BY MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. ticipating an increase as the summer Birmingham will surely mark a watershed in the history of the nonviolent progresses. The sprawling industrial metropolis revolution in America. No civil rights thrust of the Negro community in our proved an ideal testing ground for nation has so completely captured the attention and sympathy of public opinion. No single instance of nonviolent direct action has prompted the sincerity and dedication of the High School youth of Birmingham. such widespread parallel activity, particularly in the Deep South. They proceeded to divide the com Never before has the Federal Government evinced the serious munity according to school districts, concern it now manifests in its first serious grappling with the and the same leadership which or American dilemma of race and color prejudice. No moment of ganized and recruited students to go history has focused its attention on the .Ne gro as the key figure to jail in April, now organized mass ac on the American scene today, "Faith 7" notwithstanding. How tivity in voter registration canvassing. , did "Birmingham" come to be? An SCLC Staff team of Dorothy When you consider the tragic history of Birmingham, Ala Cotton, James Bevel and Andy Young bama in race relations on the one hand, and on the other hand, transported 75 of the outstanding lead consider the choice of Alabama's largest city as a "target city," ers of the drive to our Dorchester the decision seems almost foolhardy. In the last twenty-two Training Center where they were in Rev. King months, there have been twenty-four bombings of homes and structed in the art of politics, the churches; it has the longest and thor Three critical factors persuaded the methods of community organization, oughly documented record of rampart Southern Christian Leadership Con and the nature of the Negro Freedom police brutality; it is not an uncommon ference to choose Birmingham as the Movement, Past and Present. The staff occurrence for Negro women being ac site for the launching of its next non continues to give guidance and direc costed by city police, forced to sub violent campaign against segregation: tion to the energies and enthusiasm mit to criminal assault, and their lips first, Birmingham is the home of our of these young people. sealed under the threat of death to strongest affiliate, the Alabama Chris Rev. Charles Billups of the Ala the members of their family ; its use tian Movement for Human Rights, bama Christian Movement, serves as of police power to suppress the Negro led by the most courageous civil rights the Drive coordinator. at every level of his experience has fighter in the South, Fred Shuttles This program has been so success gained for it the infamous reputation as worth; secondly, Birmingham repre ful that plans for similar programs being the "Last stop before Johannes sented the hard-core, recalcitrant, seg- with young people in other cities are burg, South Africa." (Continued 011 Page 4) underway. (See photos page 7) , Field. The airport case has been a BIRMINGHAM MANIFESTO slightly better experience with the ex The document below was made pub perience of hotel accommodations and lic on April 3rd. The initial day ot the the subtle discrimination that continues SClC#~ nonviolent campaign in Birmingham. in the limousine service. We have always been a peaceful Publisher, SOUTHERN CHRISTIAN It succintly states the Negro communi ty's decision to act. people, bearing our oppression with LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE super-human effort. Yet we have been The patience of an oppressed people the victims of repeated violence, not 334 Auburn Ave., N.E. cannot endure forever. The Negro only that inflicted by the hoodlum ele Atlanta, Georgia citizens of Birmingham for the last ment but also that inflicted by the Phone: 524-1378 several years have blatant misuse of police power. Our hoped in vain for memories are seared with painful mob MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR., President some evidence of experience of Mother's Day 1961 dur F. L. SHUITLESWORTH, Secretary good faith resolu ing the Freedom Ride. For years, tion of our just while our homes and churches were RALPH D. ABERNATHY, Treasurer grievances. being bombed, we heard nothing but WYAIT TEE WALKER, Executive Director Birmingham is the rantings and ravings of racist city part of the United officials. EDWARD T. CLAYTON, Editor States and we are The Negro protest for equality and bona tide citizens. justice has been a voice crying in the Yet the history of wilderness. Most of Birmingham has esworth Birmingnam reveals remained silent, probably out of fear. that very little of the democratic pro In the meanwhile, our city has ac cess touches the life of the Negro quired the dubious reputation of be DIS 'N DATA in Birmingham. We have been seg ing the worst big city in race relations regated racially, exploited economical in the United States. Last Fall, for a Have You Heard . . . about the ly, and dominated politically. Under flickering moment, it appeared that sin $100-A-Plate Dinner honoring the four the leadership of the Alabama Chris cere community leaders from religion, SCLC leaders, Martin Luther King, tian Movement for Human Rights, we business and industry discerned the in Jr., Ralph Abernathy, F. L. Shuttles sought relief by petition for the repeal evitable confrontation in race relations worth and Wyatt Tee Walker, on June of city ordinances requiring segrega approaching. Their concern for the 18 in the main tion and the institution of a merit hir city's image and commonweal of all ballroom of New ing policy in city employment. We its citizens did not run deep enough. York's Park were rebuffed. We then turned to the Solemn promises were made, pending Sheraton Hotel? system of the courts. We weathered a postponement of direct action, that The hugely suc set-back after set-back, with all of its we would be joined in a suit seeking cessful "b I a c k costliness, finally winning the terminal, the relief of segregation ordinances. tie" affair was bus, parks and airport cases. The bus Some merchants agreed to desegregate s po n s 0 red' by decision has been implemented be their rest-rooms as a good faith start, Back Our Broth grudgingly and the parks decision some actually complying, only to re ers, Inc., an in prompted the closing of all municipal treat shortly thereafter. We hold in terracial g r 0 u p, ly-owned recreational facilities with our hands now, broken faith and brok- Ma chaired by Yonk- the exception of the zoo and Legion en promises. (Colltil/lled 011 page 4) ers, N. Y. Publisher Noel M. Marder. Co-chairmen were: Jackie Robinson, Rita K. McClain, Bernard Singer and Catherine Basie. • • • Did You Know ... that Dr. Martin Luther King's latest book, Strength To Love (Harper & Row) is now in the book stalls at your local book stores? Or if you don't find it there, you can get a copy by writing SCLC head quarters, 334 Auburn Ave., N.E., At lanta, Ga., and enclosing a money order or check for $3.50. It's must reading! • • • Have You Seen . the printed copies of Letter From Birmingham City Jail by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.? If you haven't, you can obtain a copy by writing to SCLC headquarters in Atlanta. Excerpts from it have ap peared in The Christian Century, issue New York fund-raising $lOO-a-plate dinner, sponsored by Back Our Brothers, Inc., was tremendous of June 12, 1963, and in Renewal, success in honor of four SCLC leaders. Shown (from left) are: Rev . King and Rev. Abernathy (seated) edition of June 4, 1963. and (standing) Sen. Kenneth Keating, Jackie Robinson, Wyatt Tee Walker and Rev. F. L. Shuttlesworth,
2 PROFILE OF THE MONTH In a manner of speaking, Rev. James Bevel, a field secretary for SCLC, with his wife, Diane, could be called a roving "t w 0 - man task force" in aiding in the struggle for de segregation. T his 26-year-old Baptist minister from Ttta Bena, Mississippi, scours the length and breadth of his home state with his wife and 13 - month-old daugh ter, Sherrilynn, in James Bevel a determined effort to set up programs to help educate the illiterate and train unemployed Negroes with underdeveloped skills for job op portunities. Few were aware of his crusade in the cause of freedom until the Birmingham crisis. It was a day when some 3,000 grim-faced, sullen Negroes stood massed in the city streets, inwardly fomenting James Bevel, Field Secretary for SCLC, shown with students who attended one of the nonviolent oaths against the city police and firemen direct action workshops in Birmingham. who had turned vicious dogs and high pressure fire hoses on non-violent demon strators against segregation. They stood An Excerpt From 'Birmingham Jail' angry and silent, refusing to be budged by the dog and hose tactics of firemen (Editor's Note: Martin Luther King's terness toward white people; when you and police. Letter From Birmingham City Jail has have to concoct an answer for a five Able To Move Crowds been hailed across the nation as one year-old son asking in agomzmg Suddenly, like a genie from nowhere, of the historic documents of American pathos: Daddy, why do white peo Bevels was moving among the sullen history. Many knowledgeable observers ple treat colored people so mean?'; mass, exhorting them to go home. "Go agree that it is a profound statement of when you take a cross-country drive home!" he shouted repeatedly, moving in the meaning of the non-violent revolu and find it necessary to sleep night and out of the crowd. "Go home! You're not helping our cause now." Within min tion in America and as Birmingham after night in the uncomfortable corn utes the huge crowd of Negroes were signals a turning point in the race re ers of your automobile because no gone. And as suddenly as he had ap lations fortune of the American Negro, motel· will accept you; when you are peared, the diminuitive Rev. Bevel had humiliated day in and day out by nag disappeared. so the jail letter reflects the temper of a changing mood in the Negro com ging signs reading 'white' men and But he had left his mark. Justice De partment aides who had witnessed the munity in America. The excerpt re 'colored'; when your first name be scene and learned of Bevel's commanding printed below evidences the legitimate comes 'nigger' and your middle name powers over crowds, later made certain rationale the Negro has for his "Free becomes 'boy' (however old you are) that he was notified of any major de dom Now!" cry.) and your last name becomes 'John,' cisions being made. and when your wife and mother are Bevel's chief role in Birmingham was "I guess it is easy for those:who have never given the respected title 'Mrs.'; to organize and recruit students. To this never felt the stinging darts of segrega end he devoted his energies and abilities, when you are harried by day and and in short order he had the students tion to say wait. But when you have haunted by night by the fact that you mobilized, attending nonviolent work seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers are a Negro, living constantly at tip shops and dedicating themselves to the and fathers at will and drown your toe stance never quite knowing what cause of freedom. His task, although a sis,ters and brothers at whim; when difficult one, was carried out with dis to expect next, and plagued with inner patch and excellency. you have seen hate-filled policemen fears and outer resentments; when you curse, kick, brutalize, and even kill Jewish In His Thinking are forever fighting a degenerating your black brothers and sisters with sense of 'nobodiness';- then you will As a Baptist minister, he scarcel'y fits impunity; when you see the vast ma understand why we find it difficult to the stereotype. Instead of black suit and jority of your twenty million Negro black hat, he wears dungaree jacket and wait. There comes a time when the pants and a skull cap known as a Jewish brothers smothering in an airtight cage cup of endurance runs over, and men Yarmulke. The latter, he says, is because of poverty in the midst of an affluent are no longer willing to be plunged "I'm very Jewish in my thinking. Christ society; when you suddenly find your into an abyss of injustice where they was a Jew, and all of my heroes who tongue twisted and your speech stam stood for decency, equality, justice and experience the bleakness of corroding human dignity in the past were the Jew mering as you seek to explain to your despair. I hope, sirs, you can under ish prophets." six-year-old daughter why she can't go stand our legitimate and unavoidable The next stop for Rev. Bevel and his to the public amusement park that has impatience. " Chicago-born wife is Washington, D. C. just been advertised on television, and Both are busy lining up Southern volun see tears welling up in her little eyes teers to join those of the North in a proposed "March on Washington," where when she is told that Funtown is closed he vows he will pitch his tent on the to colored children, and see the de Join The White House lawn with his family. "This pressing clouds of inferiority begin to will not be a pilgrimage," he declares, "but a 'stay-there'. This is a sick country, form in her little mental sky, and see and we've got to cure it." her begin to distort her little personali NAACP ty by unconsciously developing a bit-
3 MANIfESTO (Continued from Page 2) We believe in the American Dream of democracy, in the Jeffersonian doc trine that "all men are created equal and are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, among these being life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. " Twice since September we have de ferred our direct action thrust in or der that a change in city government would not be made in the hysteria of a community crisis. We act today in full concert with our Hebraic-Christian tradition, the law of morality and the Constitution of our nation. The ab sence of justice and progress in Birm ingham demands that we make a mor al witness to give our community a chance to survive. We demonstrate our faith that we believe that the be Students run voter registration clinic in Birmingham church. loved community can come to Birm ingham. We appeal to the citizenry of Birm All Participate In Workshops ingham, Negro and white, to join us in this witness for decency, morality, Every one of the more than three in order that all men might be self-respect and human dignity. Your thousand freedom fighters of Birm free. individual and corporate support can ingham, Alabama participated in the 5. SACRIFICE personal wishes in hasten the day of "liberty and justice nonviolent w 0 r k s hop s conducted order that all men might be free. for all." This is Birmingham's moment throughout the campaign. Workshop 6. OBSERVE with both friend and of truth in which every citizen can leaders included James Lawson of foe the ordinary rules of courtesy. play his part in her larger destiny. Memphis, Tennessee, Andy Young of 7. SEEK to perform regular service The Alabama Christian Movement Atlanta, James Bevel of Cleveland, for others and for the world. for Human Rights, in behalf of the Mississippi, C. T. Vivian of Chatta 8. REFRAIN from the violence of Negro community of Birmingham. nooga and Bernard Lee, all members fist, tongue or heart. F. L. Shuttlesworth, President of the SCLC staff. Prior to the massive 9. STRIVE to be in good spiritual demonstrations that finally broke the and bodily health. N. H. Smith, Secretary back of the resistance, those men 10. FOLLOW the directions of the tioned above intensively trained local movement and of the captain on a HOW IT BEGAN Birminghamians among them William demonstration. Douthard, George C. Scott and Lester (Continued from Page 1) Cobb. The nonviolent dialogue de I sign this pledge, having seriously regationist South, a veritable bastion veloped between staff and volunteers considered what I do and with the of injustice and immorality; thirdly, the accounted directly for the well-disci determination and will to persevere. loss of vital industry coupled with the plined and precise execution of the NAME ______. ugly image created by the Bull Connor largest demonstrations in the history Please print neatly philosophy of race relations had of the nonviolent struggle. The facsi thrown the South's largest industrial mile Commitment Blank (below) is ADDRESS . _____ . ______center into an economic demise from an exact replica of those used during which it was struggling to survive. the Birmingham campaign. PHON E ______Thus it was felt that with a strong NEAREST base in the Shuttlesworth-led forces Commitment Blank RELA TIVE ______. of the Negro community joined with I HEREBY PLEDGE MYSELF ADD R ESS ______the vulnerability of Birmingham at the MY PERSON AND BODY - TO cash register would provide the lever THE NONVIOLENT MOVEMENT Besides demonstrations, I could also age to gain a breakthrough in the THEREFORE I WILL KEEP THE help the Movement by: toughest city in the South. If Birming FOLLOWING TEN COMMAND (Circle the proper items) ham could be cracked, the direction MENTS: Run errands, Drive my car, of the entire nonviolent movement in 1. MEDITATE daily on the teach Fix food for volunteers, Clerical 'York, the South could take a significant tum. ings and life of Jesus. Make phone calls, Answer phones, It was our faith that, "as Birmingham 2. REMEMBER always that the Mimeograph, Type, Print signs, goes, so goes the South." The . late nonviolent movement in Birming Distribute leaflets summer of 1962 saw us turning our ham seeks justice and reconcilia ALABAMA CHRISTIAN MOVEMENT sights toward developing what proved iton-not victory. FOR HUMAN RIGHTS to be the detailed plans of "Project 3. WALK and TALK in the manner Birmingham Affiliate of SCLC C" - Birmingham's confrontation of love for God is love. 5051;2 North 17th Street with the demands for justice and 4. PRAY daily to be used by God F. L. Shuttlesworth, President morality in race relations.
4 Settlement Reached After Five Weeks May 10th was an historic day in Birmingham and in race relations. The solid wall of segregation had been breached after five weeks of non-vio lent campaigning led by Martin Luth er King, Jr., Ralph D. Abernathy and Fred Shuttlesworth. The following is a portion of the settlement delivered to the nation by Rev. Shuttlesworth out lining the Birmingham Settlement. "Responsible leaders of both Negro and white communities of Birming ham, being desirous of promoting con ditions which will insure sound moral, economic and political growth of their city, in the interest of all citizens of Birmin gham youth take ad ults to register in Birmingham bus purc hased by the Boston Freedom Rally. Birmingham, after mutual considera tion and discussion of the issues re Negroes on a non-discriminatory ba program for acceleration of upgrad lating to the recent demonstrations in sis throughout the business and in ing and the employment of Negroes their city, have agreed to the follow dustrial community of Birmingham. in job categories previously denied ing: This will include the hiring of Negroes them. "1 . The desegregation of lunch coun as clerks and salesmen within the " 3. The. movement has made ar ters, rest room, fitting rooms, and next 60 days, and the immediate ap rangements for the release of all per drinking fountains in planned stages pointment of a committee of business, sons on bond or their personal recog within the next 90 days. industrial and professional leaders for nizance. Our legal department is work "2. The upgrading and hiring of the implementation of an area-wide ing on further solutions to this prob lem. "4. Through the Senior Citizens Committee, communications between Boycott Aids In Birmingham Negro and white will be publicly re A better than 90 % effective boycott was off 40 % as over against a 10-12 % established within two weeks." contributed much to the demise of the increase in other major southern cities. hard-core resistance in the South's Coupled with the Negro community's worst big city in race relations. The indignation over police brutality and reproduced survey chart below indi the illegal arrests, the complete satura A Call to Faith and cates speed with which boycott was tion of neighborhoods through the Freedom primary objects of the economic with churches and door-to-door leaflet dis by drawal at least twice daily. The chart's tribution did much to produce a highly statistics are those for the three days successful economic crisis in the busi Martin Luther King, Jr. prior to Easter. Considering the fact ness community of Birmingham. More that the nonviolent campaign was than 500,000 leaflets were circulated launched on April 11, 12, 13th, the re and with readabili!y averaging four sponse of community was fantastic. times for each printed piece (see be The Federal Reserve figures reported low) it is estimated that more than 2 that business during the Easter season million direct contacts were made. Boycott Timetable Men, women and children STORE DAY TOTAL (3 days) AVERAGE have been quickened to pray, to Britt's Thursday Friday Saturday march, to suffer imprisonment- f: A.M. 2 2 even to face death-for the ideals t P.M. 0 1.2* 6 11.2 3. 7 and beliefs preached by Dr. Mar- :l:ii Pizitz tin Luther King, Jr. Now, in his , A.M. 3 6 P.M. 6 3 10 28 9.3 ~~:vi~~~~~ ~~~t K~~1d!ha~fss :~: :[:t:>:!. Loveman's and are inspiring a second revo- ,. A.M. lution in America today. Don't ;::: P. M. 2 1 10 13 4.3 Woolworth's A.M. 2 ~~t~o~~;;:~:;: prOc1a- l P.M. 2 4 8 2.6 Kress A.M. I 4 20 P. M. 5 10 6.6 1 ;...... ::...... :..:.:I.· :'...... TO LOVE 1i .:::~.:· Overall average number of shoppers for three days preceding Easter 4.6 *Checked more than once, averaged out to figure indicated.
SCLC#~ Non Profit Org. 334 Auburn Ave., N.E. U. S. POSTAGE Atlanta, Ga . 30303 PAID Atlanta, Ga. Permit 663
RETURN REQUESTED ~19