The Birmingham Children's March

Why were African-Americans protesting in Birmingham in 1963?

• to get better pay

• to end segregation

• to improve bus service

Why were so many of the protesters kids?

• Parents were too lazy

• If adults were arrested for protesting they would have to miss work and maybe lose their jobs

• Kids wanted to get out of school

Who was Bull Connor?

• Governor of Alabama

• A friend of Martin Luther King

• Police chief of Birmingham

How did Birmingham police respond to protesters who were part of the Children’s March?

• Police ignored the protesters because they thought the kids were just playing.

• Police sprayed protesters with fire hoses & unleashed attack dogs on them

• Police told protesters to stop otherwise they would call their parents

How was the Birmingham Children’s March successful? 

• It brought attention to racism in the south and led to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

• The kids involved all got scholarships to college.

• It helped form a partnership between Martin Luther King and Malcolm X.

Why did Martin Luther King’s letter say it’s ok to break some laws but not others? Do you agree with King? When do you think it’s ok to break rules or laws? Why? 

What if there were laws now that said you couldn’t be friends with kids who speak a different home language than yours, or who were a different race from you? Would you protest? Why or why not?

What surprises you most about this moment in American history? Why?

Why do you think Jaqueline Woodson calls her poem“south carolina at war”? Who is at war? What are they fighting over?