Posted on 05/02/2013 5:27:58 AM PDT by Nextrush
FIFTY YEARS AGO TODAY THE PIVOTAL MOMENT IN THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT OCCURRED IN BIRMINGHAM WHEN CHILDREN MARCHED INTO BULL CONNOR'S POLICE LINES.
At noon on Thursday May 2nd the first protestors came out of Sixteenth Street Baptist Church to leave the black part of Birmingham headed for downtown in violation of a court injunction.
But there was something different because they were high school students recruited into a fading protest effort that had begun nearly a month ago on April 3rd.
Dr. Martin Luther King had urged his organizers to come up with something to draw national media attention back to the Birmingham protests.
While MLK shuttled back and forth to Birmingham from preaching and fund raising engagements they got to work signing up hundreds of students to march and get arrested.
After four different groups in the dozens came out to be arrested a policeman asked local civil rights leader Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth "Hey Fred. How many more you got? to which he replied "At least a thousand".
The officer responded "God almighty."
Sheriffs deputies from the county were called in to reinforce city police and the fire department started to deploy hoses to stop the large crowd from getting past the police lines.
The police tried to get a group of elementary school students to turn back but they said they knew what they were doing. One girl called out that she was six years old as she entered the paddy wagon.
Paddy wagons, patrol cars and eventually school buses were used to haul the students to jail.
Speaking to a mass rally in the evening, Dr. King said "I have been inspired and moved today....I have never seen anything like it. He announced that 600 children were in jail after the protest earlier in the day.
Hundreds more children were ready to march and be arrested the next day.
Something for us to consider in this day and age????
The events of 50 years ago changed the entire country, creating a spirit of rebellion and protest among black people.
Do conservatives and patriots want to follow their example in the 21st Century?
I drew the material for this post from two books.
"Bearing The Cross" by David J. Garrow and "Parting The Waters: America In The King Years 1954-63" by Taylor Branch.
Thank You
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