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Birmingham, Alabama was, in 1963, "probably the most thoroughly segregated city in the United States", according to King. [8] Although the city's population of almost 350,000 was 60% white and 40% black, [9] Birmingham had no black police officers, firefighters, sales clerks in department stores, bus drivers, bank tellers, or store cashiers.
The slashed tires forced the bus to stop several miles west of Anniston (where Alabama State Route 202 meets the end of the Old Birmingham Highway), at which point Jones opened the door and ran out of the bus. Sources differ on whether he left in an attempt to find replacement tires from a nearby store or if he simply abandoned the Riders in ...
When the bus arrived in Birmingham, it was attacked by a mob of KKK members [15] aided and abetted by police under the orders of Commissioner Connor. [22] As the riders exited the bus, they were beaten by the mob with baseball bats, iron pipes and bicycle chains. Among the attacking Klansmen was Gary Thomas Rowe, an FBI informant.
Before the bus boycott, Jim Crow laws mandated the racial segregation of the Montgomery Bus Line. As a result of this segregation, African Americans were not hired as drivers, were forced to ride in the back of the bus, and were frequently ordered to surrender their seats to white people even though black passengers made up 75% of the bus system's riders. [2]
A new Greyhound bus was placed into service and departed for Birmingham. The activists on the earlier Trailways bus had been accosted by Ku Klux Klan members who boarded the bus in Atlanta and beat up the activists, pushing them all to the back of the bus. The Freedom Riders arrived in Birmingham on May 14, 1961.
The bus Rosa Parks rode in when she refused to give up her seat to a white rider and helped spark the civil rights movement is shown on display at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Mich., March ...
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.
The Birmingham riot of 1963 was a civil disorder and riot in Birmingham, Alabama, that was provoked by bombings on the night of May 11, 1963. The bombings targeted African-American leaders of the Birmingham campaign. In response, local African-Americans burned businesses and fought police throughout the downtown area.