Civil rights photos3.indd

NEVER-BEFORE-PUBLISHED IMAGES
FROM THE ARCHIVES OF
UNSEEN.
UNFORGOTTEN.
May 15, 1961,
Birmingham
The Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, center, and a group
of Freedom Riders discuss plans at Birmingham’s
Greyhound Terminal after drivers refused to carry
them farther. One day earlier, a bus was bombed
in Anniston and passengers on a second bus
were beaten in Birmingham. The Freedom Riders
were student activists and other volunteers who
challenged segregation on interstate buses
and in bus terminals. Later, these riders caught
a plane out of Birmingham to New Orleans.
Surrounding Shuttlesworth, clockwise from left,
are Ed Blankenheim, Charles Person, Ike Reynolds,
James Peck, the Rev. Benjamin Cox
and two unidentified Freedom Riders.
NEWS FILE
S U N D A Y ,
Black and white images, captured with an unflinching eye,
endure as reminders of Alabama’s not-so-distant past:
Freedom Riders who defied segregation huddling at a Birmingham
bus station after a mob attack; the first black graduate of the
University of Alabama walking in solitude across campus on
her first day of classes; National Guard troops with unsheathed
bayonets in rural Sumter County; a teenage marcher arrested
with hundreds of others on the streets of Birmingham;
the grieving mother of a child killed by a bomb.
These Birmingham News photographs of the
civil rights movement have not been seen by the public.
Until now.
F E B R U A R Y
2 6 ,
2 0 0 6
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S E C T I O N
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SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2006 | 2E
CHALLENGING SEGREGATION
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1956-1961
BIRTH OF A MOVEMENT
Years after the U.S.
Supreme Court struck
down the doctrine of
“separate but equal”
in 1954, laws in Alabama
and Birmingham still kept
blacks and whites apart
in classrooms and waiting
rooms, on playing fields
and on city buses.
The Rev. Fred
Shuttlesworth was beaten
as he tried to enroll his
children in a white
high school, and his home
was bombed on Christmas,
the day before he integrated
Birmingham buses. But as
the words in one civil rights
anthem say, Shuttlesworth
just kept on a-walkin’,
kept on a-talkin’,
marching up
to freedom land.
Dec. 26, 1956
Six days after a U.S. Supreme
Court ruling took effect ordering
Montgomery city buses to integrate,
the Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth and others
challenge the law in Birmingham by
joining white passengers on a city bus.
Shuttlesworth boarded the bus hours
after a bomb exploded alongside
his Collegeville house.
NEWS FILE/ROBERT ADAMS
Spring 1957
Members of the Ku Klux Klan rally
in East Lake. At the time, the state’s
fourth-grade textbooks said this
about the Klan: “The loyal white
men of Alabama saw they could
not depend on the laws or the
state government to protect their
families. They had to do something
to bring back law and order,
to get the government back in
the hands of honest men
who knew how to run it.”
NEWS FILE/WILLIAM PIKE
April 4, 1961
A single, dangling lightbulb and a
coal-burning stove show the conditions
in some black schools in Jefferson
County. Birmingham schools were not
integrated until September 1963.
NEWS FILE/ED JONES
June 5, 1956
The Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth preaches at Sardis Baptist Church in
Birmingham on the night he helped to start the Alabama Christian
Movement for Human Rights — a week after Alabama Attorney
General John Patterson outlawed the NAACP. The church “was
packed,” Shuttlesworth said later. “The thing you have to remember
is that I was challenging the whole segregation law. I was saying what
I wanted to say, and I was screaming against segregation.”
NEWS FILE/TOM HARDIN
About this section
The previously unpublished photographs in this section were researched by Alexander Cohn, a former photo intern at The Birmingham News.
The archived images represent the work of several former Birmingham News photographers who covered the civil rights movement.
Photographers: Robert Adams, Don Brown, Norman Dean, Anthony Falletta, Tom Hardin, Jack Hoppes, Lou Isaacson,
Ed Jones, Tom Lankford, Vernon Merritt, William Pike and Tom Self.
Text: Barnett Wright and Jeff Hansen. Page design: Napo Monasterio.
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2006 | 3E
March 6, 1957,
Bridging the divide
Lamar Weaver, an early
supporter of civil rights, greets
the Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth
and his wife, Ruby, in the
whites-only waiting room at
Birmingham’s train depot,
Terminal Station. One day
earlier, the Alabama Public
Service Commission ruled that
the waiting rooms must remain
segregated. Minutes after this
photo was taken, police ejected
Weaver from the waiting
room, and he was attacked by
a mob of more than 100 white
protesters. The Shuttlesworths
later boarded a train.
Robert E. Chambliss, center, was among 100 white
protesters who arrived later in an attempt to block
Shuttlesworth from entering Terminal Station, according
to published reports. Chambliss was convicted in 1977 of
murder in Birmingham’s Sixteenth Street Baptist Church
bombing, which killed four girls in 1963.
NEWS FILE/ROBERT ADAMS
NEWS FILE/ROBERT ADAMS
The confrontation
Finally,
an attack
“This is a good day to
die,” Lamar Weaver
recalled hearing as
attackers hurled a
brick through the
window of his Cadillac
convertible and tried
to overturn the car
outside Terminal
Station. Weaver said
he was later arrested
for reckless driving,
running a red light and
striking a pedestrian.
He was fined $25
and was told to leave
Birmingham,
which he did.
NEWS FILE/ROBERT ADAMS
April 19, 1956
During sentencing for the 1956 beating of entertainer Nat “King” Cole at Municipal
Auditorium, which is now Boutwell Auditorium, Jesse Mabry, E.L. Vinson, Mike Fox and
Orliss Clevenger cover their faces inside a Birmingham courtroom. Each received the
maximum sentence of 180 days in jail plus fines. Cole was not injured but canceled
several subsequent tour dates in the South and went home to Chicago.
NEWS FILE
Oct. 28, 1958
Signs of segregation were common. At the Birmingham jail,
the Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth encounters barriers as he posts bail
after being arrested for sitting in the white section of a city bus.
NEWS FILE
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2006 | 4E-5E
FREEDOM RIDERS
|
1961
THE ROAD
TO CHANGE
May 24, 1961, near Cuba, Ala.
May 17, 1961
National Guard troops protect a Trailways bus carrying Freedom Riders near the Mississippi state line as it travels from Montgomery to Jackson, Miss., on U.S. 80 outside of Cuba. The troops were called out after prolonged violence in Montgomery.
While being taken to jail, Freedom Riders sing in the rear of a Birmingham paddy wagon.
From right are Carl Bush, William Harbour and Rudolph Graham. Police said the men were arrested
“for their protection.” Later that night, they were taken to the Alabama-Tennessee state line and
released. Freedom Rider Catherine Burks Brooks said that Police Commissioner Eugene “Bull”
Connor personally dropped them off and told the group not to come back.
NEWS FILE/NORMAN DEAN
May 15, 1961
Freedom Rider Genevieve Hughes reads about an attack on a Greyhound
bus in Anniston. Hughes, inside the Birmingham Greyhound Station,
had been a passenger on that bus, which was firebombed.
Aides to the Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth picked up Hughes and other Freedom
Riders in Anniston and gave them a ride to Birmingham.
Greyhound refused to carry Freedom Riders farther. Freedom Rider
Esther Bergman, left, joins Hughes at the station.
NEWS STAFF/ED JONES
NEWS FILE
Bold volunteers — Freedom Riders — challenged the custom of segregation in 1961 after the
Supreme Court outlawed segregation in interstate bus and railroad stations. Bus riders, black and
white, set out from Washington; their arrival in Alabama met with violence. Mobs attacked
several buses, firebombing one in Anniston. In Birmingham and Montgomery, whites
beat some riders and federal marshals had to be called out to prevent attacks.
A Birmingham News front page headline asked, “Where were the police?”
May 17, 1961
May 19, 1961
Jim Zwerg opens the door for fellow Freedom Rider Paul Brooks as they
enter the Birmingham Greyhound Station. Zwerg and Brooks were arrested
coming into Birmingham from Nashville. They were separated from other
riders, but rejoined the group two days later. Their contingent of
Freedom Riders later left for Montgomery, where Zwerg
was beaten unconscious and hospitalized for several days.
NEWS FILE
May 17, 1961
Police cover the windshield of a Greyhound bus carrying Freedom Riders from Nashville at the
Birmingham depot. Police said they did it for the riders’ safety because a mob
had gathered around the bus station.
NEWS FILE
A Greyhound
bus driver faces
passengers waiting
at the Birmingham
Greyhound Station
as Freedom Riders
are held aside by
Birmingham police.
NEWS FILE
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2006 | 6E
April 8, 1963
April 6, 1963
Customers sit at a downtown Birmingham lunch counter, which closed
rather than change its “whites-only” policy. The Southern Christian
Leadership Conference had come to Birmingham with a plan to
integrate downtown businesses, and protesters staged
sit-ins in defiance of segregation laws.
Birmingham Police Commissioner Eugene “Bull” Connor, surrounded
by media, points as marchers are arrested outside the federal courthouse
on Fifth Avenue North. A series of marches and mass demonstrations
over the next five weeks led to hundreds of arrests.
NEWS FILE/ROBERT ADAMS
NEWS FILE/LOU ISAACSON
CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE
|
1963
THE WORLD TAKES NOTICE
May 7, 1963
Birmingham police arrest Parker High School student Mattie Howard in front of the Carver Theatre. Youths became an integral part of the civil rights movement when the
Children’s Crusade began on May 2. The plan was for college and high school students to demonstrate, but many came with their younger brothers and sisters.
Howard’s arrest came during the sixth day of the Children’s Crusade. Photos of her arrest appeared in several publications outside Alabama.
NEWS FILE/NORMAN DEAN
May 3-9, 1963
Civil rights leaders
disagreed on whether
to use students as part
of the movement, but
public perception
changed after photos
showed the children
being arrested, sprayed
by fire hoses and
dodging police dogs.
Here, a police officer
takes away protest
signs. Moments later,
firefighters turned
hoses on protesters.
NEWS FILE/ED JONES
May 3-9, 1963
Youths are pummeled
by water from a
fire hose during a
Children’s Crusade
demonstration
in downtown
Birmingham.
NEWS FILE
When talks with Birmingham business
leaders to share jobs, lunch counters, fitting
rooms and water fountains at downtown
stores foundered, the Rev. Martin Luther
King Jr. turned to civil disobedience.
“We would present our very bodies as
a means of laying our case before the
conscience of the local and the national
community,” King said. Protesters began
weeks of attempted marches in April and
were countered by fire hoses, police dogs
and arrests. During his own jailing
in Birmingham, King wrote that
he wanted “to create a situation
so crisis-packed that it will inevitably
open the door to negotiation.”
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2006 | 7E
Sept. 10, 1963,
Groundbreaking steps
West End High School student Patricia
Marcus returns to a car after her
first day in class. Birmingham News
photographer Robert Adams also
photographed Marcus sitting alone in
the classroom. He said his photos that
day were significant because
they were the first images of a
black student at West End High.
The school is now 98 percent black.
NEWS FILE/ROBERT ADAMS
The reaction
West End students boycott class
to protest the enrollment of
Marcus and Josephine Powell.
NEWS FILE/ROBERT ADAMS
DESEGREGATING THE SCHOOLS
|
1962-1963
DIFFICULT LESSONS
Black students’ attempts to enroll at the University of Alabama and the University of Mississippi were thwarted and
sparked legal battles. Integration of Birmingham public schools in 1963 brought violence. Lawyer Arthur D. Shores’
home was bombed Aug. 20. On Sept. 3, after James Armstrong registered his sons at Graymont Elementary,
a phone caller warned, “How would you like to see all your kids lying in a casket?” That night another bomb hit the
Shores home and gunfire erupted nearby. Schools closed, then reopened a week later with 24 black children joining
5,500 white children in nine schools. Five days later, a bomb killed four girls at Sixteenth Street Baptist Church.
Sept. 15, 1963
Birmingham Mayor Albert Boutwell after news
circulates that the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church
was bombed. “All of us are victims. Most of us are
innocent victims,” Boutwell told a stunned city
that evening. Birmingham News columnist
Walling Keith is at right.
NEWS FILE/ROBERT ADAMS
June 12, 1963, Tuscaloosa
Vivian Malone, the first black student to graduate from the
University of Alabama, crosses the campus during the first
day of classes. One day earlier, Gov. George Wallace made
his stand at the schoolhouse door in Tuscaloosa. James
Hood, another black student who started classes with
Malone, later dropped out. Malone graduated in 1965.
NEWS FILE/NORMAN DEAN
Sept. 15, 1963
Sept. 30-Oct. 1, 1962, Oxford, Miss.
Juanita Jones, center, comforts her sister, Maxine McNair, whose daughter Denise McNair died
with three other girls earlier that day in the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church bombing. At left is
Clara Pippen, mother of the two women. The man at right is unidentified. The bombing
occurred days after black students began to integrate Birmingham city schools.
Mississippi National Guardsmen detain a student
protester on the University of Mississippi campus after
James Meredith tried to enroll. Meredith became the first
black student to graduate from the school in 1963.
Two people were killed and hundreds injured during
unrest that accompanied Meredith’s matriculation.
NEWS FILE/VERNON MERRITT
NEWS FILE/NORMAN DEAN
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2006 | 8E
THE FIGHT FOR VOTING RIGHTS
|
1964-1965
GAINING A VOICE
Jan. 18, 1965, Selma
The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. kicks off a voter registration
drive at the Dallas County Courthouse. With King are the
Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, left; the Rev. Ralph Abernathy, right;
and the Rev. Andrew Young, far right.
NEWS FILE/ED JONES
In Alabama, “there are some counties in which, even though Negroes
constitute a majority of the population, not a single Negro is registered”
to vote, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. observed. Making changes
cost blood. In Mississippi, three men were killed and buried in an
earthen dam in June 1964 when they tried to investigate the burning
of a black church used to register voters. In Alabama, protests at the
Selma courthouse failed in early 1965, and a march to Montgomery was
blocked by tear gas grenades and state troopers with billy clubs.
Two weeks later, King reorganized marchers for the five-day, 54-mile
walk that led not just to Montgomery, but also to the Voting Rights Act
of 1965. A Detroit woman was shot to death as she helped in the march.
March 21-25, 1965, Selma to Montgomery
Thousands of marchers walk 54 miles from Selma to Montgomery to bring attention to the low numbers of black registered voters in the South. Student Nonviolent
Coordinating Committee (SNCC) workers John Lewis and Bernard Lafayette had been trying to register more voters in Dallas County and surrounding counties since 1963.
NEWS FILE/JACK HOPPES
March 7, 1965,
Selma
Using batons and tear
gas, Alabama state
troopers break up the
march from Selma to
Montgomery at the
Edmund Pettus Bridge.
The clash became
known as “Bloody
Sunday.”
NEWS FILE/TOM LANKFORD
Feb. 9, 1965,
Montgomery
June 27, 1964,
Neshoba County, Mississippi
Johnnie Carr, right, of the
Montgomery Improvement
Association, registers to vote along
with several other city residents.
The MIA was formed in 1955, after
Rosa Parks refused to give up her
seat on a segregated bus. Carr, a
longtime friend of Parks, became
president of the MIA in 1968.
Law enforcement officials search for three missing civil rights
workers in Neshoba County, Miss. The bodies of James Chaney,
Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner were found Aug. 4
buried 15 feet beneath an earthen dam. The three activists had
recently stopped in Birmingham on the way to Philadelphia, Miss.,
according to Bishop Calvin Woods, pastor of Shiloh Baptist Church.
NEWS FILE/ED JONES
NEWS FILE/DON BROWN
On the Web
Go to al.com/unseen for more photographs and recorded interviews with the Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, U.S. Rep. John Lewis and the photographers.