In 1961, the African American citizens of Albany, Georgia, began organizing with the help of SNCC and the local branch of the NAACP to combat segregation in their community. They formed a new organization, the Albany Movement, to lead their battle against Jim Crow. Immediately, they began organizing protest marches, and hundreds of protesters were jailed. In December 1961, Dr. King spoke at a mass meeting in Albany where he was asked to stay and lead a march the next day where he was arrested. Each time King was arrested in Albany someone from within the white city leadership posted bail. City leaders under the advice of police chief Laurie Pritchett wanted to ensure that King did not draw the media and the nation's attention to Albany. King left Albany in August 1962 without accomplishing any major victories. Albany also exposed friction between civil rights organizations such at the SCLC and SNCC, who differed in their organizing philosophies. The lessons of Albany however would be invaluable as King and the SCLC turned their attention to Birmingham.

Birmingham was unlike any civil rights campaign to date. The city was noted for its racial violence and often referred to as "Bombingham." Leaders knew from the Freedom Rides that unprovoked attacks on peaceful demonstrators gained national sympathy and support for the movement. They also knew, from the disappointment in Albany that controlled responses by the police would not help to bring about change.

Birmingham commissioner Eugene "Bull" Connor, with his fire hoses and police dogs, proved the perfect target for their campaign, named "Project C" for "confrontation." Connor, attempting to outsmart the group, obtained a court injunction against demonstrators. However, King led a march on Good Friday along with Ralph Abernathy and Fred Shuttlesworth; as a result all three men were jailed. King was criticized while jailed in Birmingham. Some accused his methods of being careless and inflammatory. In response he wrote his famous "Letter From a Birmingham Jail" on scraps of paper that his lawyer delivered to the newspaper.

Undeterred by King's arrest, organizers recruited students to protest, stating that children would be just as effective as adults and lacked the risk of losing jobs. Waves of students marched on city hall, with more students replacing protesters as quickly as they were jailed. More than 3,000 protesters crowded Birmingham jails.

Nationwide, television broadcasts showed clips of "Bull" Connor ordering firemen to turn their hoses on the marchers and policemen to release dogs into the assembly. State troops sent by Governor Wallace buttressed Connor's tactics. The images turned public opinion in demonstrators' favor. Embarrassed by public condemnation, Birmingham businesses relented, desegregating public facilities, agreeing to hire African Americans, and forcing the release of protesters, and opening a dialogue between the races. The wave of sympathetic public sentiment ensured the successful passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

The impact of the Birmingham demonstrations hit the South like a tidal wave - hundreds of marches, protests, boycotts, and sit-ins flooded the region in the months afterward. Martin Luther King, Jr. recovered the initiative for his program of nonviolent direct action, but some activists - angered by the violence unleashed against their peaceful demonstrations - turned away from nonviolent tactics after Birmingham.

Read More About:
Laurie Pritchett
Charles Sherrod
Charles Jones
Eugene "Bull" Connor
George Wallace
Fred Shuttlesworth
Sixteenth Street Church Bombing
Civil Rights Act of 1964