Children's Crusade (civil rights)
Encyclopedia
The Children's Crusade was the name bestowed upon a march by hundreds of school students in Birmingham, Alabama
, on May 2, May 3, and May 4, 1963, during the American Civil Rights Movement's Birmingham Campaign
. 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. Many children left their schools in order to be arrested, set free, and then to get arrested again the next day.
Malcolm X
was opposed to the event because he thought it might expose the children to violence. He said, "Real men don't put their children on the firing line.”
A pivotal civil rights campaign was fought in Birmingham, the most segregated city in the US. Fire hoses and dogs were used to prevent them from meeting the Mayor. The students remained non violent. This is a cause of the 1964 Civil Right Act.
Folk music
Birmingham, Alabama
Birmingham is the largest city in Alabama. The city is the county seat of Jefferson County. According to the 2010 United States Census, Birmingham had a population of 212,237. The Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area, in estimate by the U.S...
, on May 2, May 3, and May 4, 1963, during the American Civil Rights Movement's Birmingham Campaign
Birmingham campaign
The Birmingham campaign was a strategic movement organized by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference to bring attention to the unequal treatment that black Americans endured in Birmingham, Alabama...
. Initiated and organized by Rev. James Bevel
James Bevel
James L. Bevel was an American minister and leader of the 1960s Civil Rights Movement who, as the Director of Direct Action and Director of Nonviolent Education of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference initiated, strategized, directed, and developed SCLC's three major successes of the era:...
, the purpose of the march was to walk downtown to talk to the mayor about segregation in their city. Many children left their schools in order to be arrested, set free, and then to get arrested again the next day.
Malcolm X
Malcolm X
Malcolm X , born Malcolm Little and also known as El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz , was an African American Muslim minister and human rights activist. To his admirers he was a courageous advocate for the rights of African Americans, a man who indicted white America in the harshest terms for its...
was opposed to the event because he thought it might expose the children to violence. He said, "Real men don't put their children on the firing line.”
A pivotal civil rights campaign was fought in Birmingham, the most segregated city in the US. Fire hoses and dogs were used to prevent them from meeting the Mayor. The students remained non violent. This is a cause of the 1964 Civil Right Act.
Sources
- Clayborne Carson , ed., The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr., (New York, NY: Warner Books, Inc., 1998)
- M. S. Handler, "Malcolm X Terms Dr. King’s Tactics Futile," New York Times, May 11, 1963
- Request download ticket at bottom of page Rev. James Bevel speaks about Dr. King attending first children rally in Birmingham, AL. From the Helen L. Bevel Archives.
Folk music
- Phil OchsPhil OchsPhilip David Ochs was an American protest singer and songwriter who was known for his sharp wit, sardonic humor, earnest humanism, political activism, insightful and alliterative lyrics, and haunting voice...
, song, Talking Birmingham Jam, performed at the Newport Folk FestivalNewport Folk FestivalThe Newport Folk Festival is an American annual folk-oriented music festival in Newport, Rhode Island, which began in 1959 as a counterpart to the previously established Newport Jazz Festival...
, July 26-28, 1963, released on Newport Broadside, 1964 and Live at Newport, 1966. - Children's Crusade in the King Encyclopedia
- The Birmingham Campaign ~ Civil Rights Movement Veterans