Among them Congressman Bobby Rush, who in the 1960's was a member of the militant group known as the Black Panthers. 'I was scared to look at a white person and I was scared to go anywhere I thought a white person was because I had really believed that could easily happen to me,' said Gavin. Shirley Gavin Floyd, a friend of one of the victims, was traumatized by the hate killings. Four young girls were killed and 23 others injured. It was peaceful with no arrests.īut just weeks after the March on Washington, tragedy struck in Birmingham when a bomb exploded at the 16th Street Baptist Church during Sunday school classes. In August 1963 thousands of African Americans and whites gathered for the March on Washington. 'The violence was being perpetrated by the oppressors, not the oppressed and that was an incredibly powerful message and an incredibly important tool during the movement,' said Richard Cohen an attorney with the Southern Poverty Law Center. In Birmingham images of police using attack dogs and fire hoses to disperse protesting school children were broadcast around the world. 'If we had started guerilla warfare in America’s cities, if we had given into terrorism in America, we could not have won but America could not have survived,' said Young. I had a concussion on the bridge and I thought I was going to die.'Īndrew Young, one of King's closest aides, called for calm against a backdrop of outrage. “I was hit in the head by a state trooper with a night stick.

'They came toward us, beating us with night sticks, trampling us with horses, releasing the tear gas,” said Lewis. 'During that period of time you had people who were being murdered, homes being bombed, churches being bombed and there was a sense that evil would prevail,' said William Bell, Birmingham’s current mayor.Ī 1965 march for voting rights in Selma, Alabama is remembered as 'Bloody Sunday.' Congressman John Lewis led the march. The non-violent movement was tested in places like Birmingham, Alabama. Led by King, millions of blacks took to the streets for peaceful protests as well as acts of civil disobedience and economic boycotts in what some leaders describe as America's second civil war. King's non-violent movement was inspired by the teachings of Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi. Martin Luther King championed this approach as an alternative to armed uprising. Martin Luther King.Ī major factor in the success of the movement was the strategy of protesting for equal rights without using violence. On January 20, 2014, Americans use the national holiday to recognize the efforts of the civil rights leader, Rev. The success of the of the American Civil Rights Movement and the fight for racial equality in the United States is a testament to the determination of millions of African Americans who fought against discrimination in the 1960s.

Aim definition civil rights