170170 Chapter 5 | Civil Rightsintegrating the local schools. A leading supporter of integration had been castrated to
intimidate other blacks who might advocate integration. The city’s police chief, “Bull”
Connor, was a strong segregationist who had allowed the attacks on the Freedom
Riders. During a peaceful protest in April 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. and many
others were arrested. While in solitary confinement, King wrote his now-famous
“Letter from Birmingham Jail,” an eloquent statement of the principles of nonviolent
civil disobedience.
The letter was a response to white religious leaders who had told King in a
newspaper ad that his actions were “unwise and untimely” and that “when rights
are consistently denied, a cause should be pressed in the courts and in negotiations
among local leaders, and not in the streets.” King responded with a justification for civil
disobedience, writing that everyone had an obligation to follow just laws but an equal
obligation to break unjust laws.
King also laid out the four steps of nonviolent campaigns: (1) collection of the
facts to determine whether injustices are alive; (2) negotiation with white leaders
to change the injustices; (3) self-purification, which involved training to make
sure that the civil rights protesters would be able to endure the abuse that they
would receive; and (4) direct action (for example, sit-ins and marches) to create the
environment in which change could occur, but always in a nonviolent manner. By
following these steps, civil rights protesters ensured that their social movement
would draw attention to their cause while turning public opinion against their
opponents’ violent tactics.
Following King’s release from jail, the situation escalated. The protest leaders
decided to use children in the next round of demonstrations. After more than
1,000 children were arrested and the jails were overf lowing, the police turned fire
hoses and police dogs on children who were trying to continue their march. Media
coverage of the incident turned the tide of public opinion in favor of the marchers
as the country expressed outrage over the violence in Birmingham. Similar
protests occurred throughout the South, with more than 1,000 actions in over 100
different southern cities and more than 20,000 people arrested throughout the
summer. The demonstration culminated in August 1963, when 250,000 people
participated in the March on Washington. King delivered his famous “I Have a
Dream” speech and civil rights leaders pressured congressional leaders to pass
civil rights legislation.Left, a 15-year-old civil rights
demonstrator, defying an anti-parade
ordinance, is attacked by a police dog
in Birmingham, Alabama, on May 3,- Reactions against this police
brutality helped spur Congress and
the president to enact civil rights
legislation. Three months later, civil
rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.
(right) waves to supporters from
the steps of the Lincoln Memorial
in Washington, D.C. The March on
Washington drew an estimated
250,000 people, who heard King
deliver his famous “I Have a Dream”
speech.
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