Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Birmingham Fifty Years Ago

In his inaugural address, Alabama Governor George Wallace declared "Segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever!"

At the Melba Theatre, I saw To Kill a Mockingbird, in which two young actors I knew appeared.

Martin Luther King Jr. was arrested and wrote "Letter from Birmingham Jail."

The Children's Crusade helped to make the struggle for Civil Rights a national issue.

I heard Joan Baez in concert at Miles College and sat in an integrated audience for the first time in my life. We held hands and sang "We Shall Overcome." When we left, traffic was diverted because of a major Civil Rights demonstration that began at New Pilgrim Baptist Church.

Governor Wallace stood in the schoolhouse door and was ordered to move by General Henry Graham, soft-spoken father of a childhood friend. I watched them on live television.

Our housekeeper Lucille attended the March on Washington where Martin Luther King Jr delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech, which I watched on live television.

Four black girls were murdered in the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church bombing and two black boys were later shot dead. A childhood neighbor sculpted the memorial dedicated on the anniversary this year.

President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas on November 22.

My mother died on December 3.

engagement photo

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