1963Reputable sourceWell documented
The Birmingham Campaign
On the timeline · around 1963 ·
What happened
In the spring of 1963 King and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference led a campaign of marches and sit-ins against segregation in Birmingham, Alabama. Jailed, King wrote his 'Letter from Birmingham Jail'; when the city's police turned dogs and fire hoses on young marchers, the televised images shocked the nation.
Why it matters
The brutal response at Birmingham swung national opinion behind civil rights and pushed President Kennedy to call for sweeping federal legislation.