HIST 4061 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Fred Shuttlesworth, Southern Christian Leadership Conference, James Bevel
13 Aug 2016
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
Birmingham (alabama) was best-known symbol of racist south. Race relations deteriorated under impact of brown decision and rise of white resistance movement. 1956 connor (mayor?) emerged from retirement and exercised unbridled power, monitoring and harassing civil rights activists and accusing segregation critics of communist sympathies. 1956: alabama christian movement for human rights founded by fred shuttlesworth to combat white supremacy: 1957: he tried to enroll his children into white high school, but got beat up. Shuttlesworth focused on police harassment and the appointment of black policemen: at same time, his church was blown up with dynamite and he blamed police for doing it. 8 years passed before a black officer was hired. Shuttlesworth turned acmhr into sclc"s most vigorous affiliate. Sclc made definite plans of direct action in birmingham: scheduled protests with aim of disrupting central business district. White"s panicked and believe that this would stir up racial hysteria.
