Children's Crusade (1963)

(Redirected from Children's Crusade (civil rights)) 1963 civil rights march by schoolchildren in Birmingham, Alabama, U.S.

Children's Crusade

Part of the Birmingham campaign
in the Civil Rights Movement

Date

May 2–3, 1963

Location

Birmingham, Alabama

Parties

Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)

City Commission of Birmingham
- Birmingham Police Department
- Birmingham Fire Department

Lead figures

SCLC member

James Bevel

Commissioner of Public Safety

Bull Connor

v t e Civil Rights Movement in Alabama
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The Children's Crusade, or Children's March, was a march by over 1,000 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 downtown 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.

Background

Although the Civil Rights Movement had been active under Dr. Martin Luther King's leadership, little progress was being made following the dramatic gains of 1960 and 1961. After some major legal victories, the movement was beginning to stagnate. President Kennedy supported civil rights but held back from introducing his own bill, and King was running out of options. He looked to Birmingham, where African Americans lived segregated and in fear as second-class citizens. In January 1963, Dr. King arrived to organize nonviolent protests such as marches and sit-ins. The goal was to get a reaction from the racist officials that would not only spotlight the injustice of the south but gain national attention and support.

However, authorities adapted to his nonviolent approach. Drastic measures were then taken by SCLC's James Bevel before Dr. King abandoned Birmingham. Children would march instead. During the march the real south showed its ugly side, giving Dr. King and the Civil Rights Movement the jolt and leverage it needed to accomplish its ultimate goal.

Event

On May 2, 1963, thousands of children gathered at Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in place of their parents, who, under Alabama law and social oppression, faced harsh penalties such as loss of their jobs and jail time if they protested the racist and unjust segregation laws of Alabama.

In response to the mass arrests of the children, Commissioner of Public Safety, Bull Connor, finally ordered police to use police dogs, high-pressure fire hoses, batons, and arrest these children if "deemed" necessary. Despite this harsh treatment, children still participated in the marches. On May 5, protestors marched to the city jail where many young people were being held and continued practicing their tactics of non-violent demonstrations. Jail cells were filled to capacity with children, and there were not enough police to manage the children.

Federal response

Before the Children's March, federal response was limited in an effort to balance federal authority and state rights. The Children's March played a pivotal role in ending legal segregation, as the media coverage of the event further brought the plight of Southern African Americans to the national stage. After additional measures were taken, President Kennedy could not avoid the issue, and on June 11, 1963, presented his intentions to establish new federal civil rights legislation and ended segregation in Birmingham:

This is not a sectional issue ... Nor is this a partisan issue ... This is not even a legal or legislative issue alone ... We are confronted primarily with a moral issue. ...
If an American, because his skin is dark, cannot eat lunch in a restaurant open to the public; if he cannot send his children to the best public school available; if he cannot vote for the public officials who represent him; if, in short, he cannot enjoy the full and free life which all of us want – then who among us would be content to have the color of his skin changed and stand in his place? Who among us would then be content with the counsels of patience and delay? ...
We preach freedom around the world, and we mean it, and we cherish our freedom here at home. But are we to say to the world, and much more importantly to each other, that this is the land of the free – except for the negroes? That we have no second class citizens – except negroes? That we have no class or caste system, no ghettoes, no master race – except with respect to negroes?

Aftermath

After the march, the Civil Rights Movement regained momentum, and on August 28 Dr. King led the March on Washington where he delivered his famous "I Have a Dream" speech. But on September 15, the Ku Klux Klan bombed the 16th Street Baptist Church, killing four African American girls, and on November 22 President Kennedy was assassinated. It was President Lyndon B. Johnson who saw the controversial 1964 Civil Rights Act through, a victory for the Civil Rights Movement made possible because of the children of Birmingham.

The children who died in the church bombing were Addie Mae Collins, Cynthia Wesley, and Carole Robertson, all 14, and Denise McNair, 11.

References

Manis, Andrew (1999). A Fire You Can't Put Out: The Civil Rights Life of Birmingham's Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth. University of Alabama Press. p. 370. ISBN 0-585-35440-5.
"The Children's Crusade: When the Youth of Birmingham Marched for Justice". history.com. Retrieved 2022-10-06.
Santoli, Susan P.; Vitulli, Paige; Giles, Rebecca M. (2015). "Equality in Black and White: A Photographic Exploration of the 1963 Birmingham Children's Crusade". Black History Bulletin. 78 (1): 17–22. ISSN 1938-6656. JSTOR 10.5323/blachistbull.78.1.0017.
Manis, Andrew M. (29 October 2001). A Fire You Can't Put Out: The Civil Rights Life of Birmingham's Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth. Google Books: University of Alabama Press. p. 370. ISBN 978-0817311568.

External links

Children's Crusade in the King Encyclopedia
The Birmingham Campaign – Civil Rights Movement Archive

Civil rights movement (1954–1968)

Events
(timeline)

Prior to 1954	Journey of Reconciliation Executive Order 9981 Murders of Harry and Harriette Moore Sweatt v. Painter (1950) McLaurin v. Oklahoma State Regents (1950) Baton Rouge bus boycott
1954–1959	Brown v. Board of Education Bolling v. Sharpe Briggs v. Elliott Davis v. Prince Edward County Gebhart v. Belton Sarah Keys v. Carolina Coach Company Emmett Till Montgomery bus boycott Browder v. Gayle Tallahassee bus boycott Mansfield school desegregation 1957 Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom "Give Us the Ballot" Royal Ice Cream sit-in Little Rock Nine Cooper v. Aaron Civil Rights Act of 1957 Ministers' Manifesto Katz Drug Store sit-in Kissing Case Biloxi wade-ins
1960–1963	New Year's Day March Sit-in movement Greensboro sit-ins Nashville sit-ins Sibley Commission Atlanta sit-ins Savannah Protest Movement Greenville Eight Civil Rights Act of 1960 Ax Handle Saturday Gomillion v. Lightfoot Boynton v. Virginia University of Georgia desegregation riot Rock Hill sit-ins Robert F. Kennedy's Law Day Address Freedom Rides Anniston bombing Birmingham attack Garner v. Louisiana Albany Movement Cambridge movement University of Chicago sit-ins "Second Emancipation Proclamation" Meredith enrollment, Ole Miss riot Atlanta's Berlin Wall "Segregation now, segregation forever" Stand in the Schoolhouse Door 1963 Birmingham campaign Letter from Birmingham Jail Children's Crusade Birmingham riot 16th Street Baptist Church bombing John F. Kennedy's speech to the nation on Civil Rights Detroit Walk to Freedom March on Washington "I Have a Dream" Big Six St. Augustine movement
1964–1968	Twenty-fourth Amendment Chester school protests Bloody Tuesday 1964 Monson Motor Lodge protests Freedom Summer workers' murders Civil Rights Act of 1964 Heart of Atlanta Motel, Inc. v. United States Katzenbach v. McClung 1964–1965 Scripto strike 1965 Selma to Montgomery marches "How Long, Not Long" Voting Rights Act of 1965 Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections March Against Fear White House Conference on Civil Rights Chicago Freedom Movement/Chicago open housing movement Loving v. Virginia Memphis sanitation strike King assassination funeral riots Civil Rights Act of 1968 Poor People's Campaign Green v. County School Board of New Kent County Jones v. Alfred H. Mayer Co. 1968 Olympics Black Power salute

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