Why We Can’t Wait

A full century after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation, Birmingham was a deeply racist and segregated place. It was almost as if the Supreme Court had never ruled segregation illegal in 1954. Life for Black people in Birmingham was infused with racism, as hospitals, housing developments, public parks, stores, and churches remained segregated. Worse, all of the city’s Black institutions were significantly inferior to the white institutions, since the city neglected the upkeep of resources for its Black citizens. It was also impossible for Black workers to find good jobs, and those who did find employment received terrible wages and had no chance of getting promoted. Voting was also all but impossible for Black people, as white officials went out of their way to make it difficult for them to cast their ballots.

The Commissioner of Public Safety in Birmingham was a racist man named Eugene “Bull” Connor. He made a point of doing whatever he could to preserve desegregation and oppress Black citizens. There were also many white racists in Birmingham who beat and even murdered Black people without consequences. Between 1957 and 1963, there were 17 bombings of Black homes and churches, and none of these cases were ever solved by the police department or anyone else in the government. Fear was a big part of Bull Connor’s Birmingham. And although there were presumably some white people in Birmingham who disagreed with the city’s racist ways, they remained silent.

After the Montgomery bus boycott, many organized movements for racial justice began in cities throughout the South. One of these was the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights (ACHR), which was led by Fred Shuttlesworth in Birmingham. Shuttlesworth’s goal was to address inequality in Birmingham and to put an end to Bull Connor’s racist reign over the city. The ACHR was part of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), whose president was Dr. King. The ACHR made great strides, winning a court case to desegregate public-recreation buildings. In response to this victory, though, Birmingham simply closed the facilities. 

Dr. King and the SCLC decided in 1962 to help Fred Shuttlesworth and the ACHR. Shuttlesworth had staged an effective boycott of white-owned Birmingham businesses and managed to drive down profits by 40%. As a result of efforts like this one, though, Shuttlesworth was in constant danger, as racists bombed both his church and his home. In light of Shuttlesworth’s success and the great challenges he faced, the SCLC decided to unite with the ACHR to stage a large campaign against segregation in Birmingham.

The business owners of Birmingham became concerned about how boycotts and demonstrations would impact their businesses. They were particularly nervous about a convention that the SCLC planned to hold in conjunction with the ACHR in Birmingham, so they met with the ACHR to strike a compromise. They agreed to take down segregationist signs in their stores and also promised to back the ACHR in a lawsuit to desegregate lunch counters. In turn, the ACHR called off the boycotts. But shortly after the convention, the business owners went back to their old ways, so the leaders of the ACHR and the SCLC decided to come together to organize a large direct-action campaign in Birmingham.

Planning the direct-action campaign in Birmingham, Dr. King and other leaders held a three-day retreat at a training center in Savannah, Georgia. During this time, they looked to their failed attempt in Albany, Georgia. One of the reasons they didn’t succeed in Albany was that they tried to do too many things all at once. Rather than taking such a broad approach, Dr. King and the others decided to focus on boycotting the white businesses in Birmingham, knowing that Black people in the city had significant “buying power.” Accordingly, they decided to target stores with segregated lunch counters. 

After the three-day retreat, Dr. King and his associates went to Birmingham to make plans. They stayed in Room 30 of the Gaston Motel, which was to become their headquarters in the coming months. Dr. King traveled with his executive assistant, Wyatt Walker, and friend Ralph Abernathy. Together with other leaders, they tried to decide when would be the best time to stage the direct-action campaign. Because the time around Easter is one of the biggest shopping periods, they decided to focus on the six weeks leading up to the holiday.

However, Dr. King and his associates soon remembered there was a local election taking place on March 5th. The top candidates were Bull Connor, Albert Boutwell, and Tom King. All of them were segregationists, and because Dr. King and the others didn’t want the direct-action campaign to be used as political fodder, they decided it would be best to delay until two weeks after the election.

By the beginning of March, Dr. King’s associates had recruited 250 volunteers to take part in demonstrations. But then the election complicated things because there was no clear winner, meaning that there would be a run-off election between Bull Connor and Albert Boutwell in early April. Once again, Dr. King and the others were forced to delay, losing contact with many of their volunteers. 

In the meantime, Dr. King went to New York City with Shuttlesworth. They knew they would need support once the direct-action campaign began in Birmingham, so they held a meeting in the apartment of the singer Harry Belafonte, who was an ardent supporter of the SCLC. He gathered 75 people to hear Dr. King and Shuttlesworth talk about the movement and its plans. When Shuttlesworth said, “You have to be prepared to die before you can begin to live,” everyone in the room was profoundly moved. The meeting generated a lot of support, as Harry Belafonte and the others pledged money to help bail protestors out of jail.

In addition to the meeting at Harry Belafonte’s apartment, the movement received support from multiple organizations. The NAACP even raised $75,000. Dr. King returned to Birmingham on April 2nd and started reconnecting with the 250 volunteers from the month before. He and his associates managed to reach 65 of them, and the direct-action campaign began the very next day.