The March on Washington
The Children’s Crusade
By 1963, Martin Luther King realized how powerful images in the media were. So, he decides to head south to one of the most segregated cities, Birmingham, Alabama. A police commissioner named Eugene “Bull” Connor was in charge of Birmingham, and he was determined to keep the city segregated. King and the leaders of his protest group, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SDLC), planned to confront Connor.
The SDLC led sit-ins, marches to city hall, held church services, and sang freedom songs. To prevent the SDLC from protesting, the city banned demonstrations. The SDLC protested anyway, and on April 12, protestors and King were arrested. King was released on April 20. At the suggestion of an adviser, he tried something new. He decided that if children protested instead, they wouldn’t get fired when they were sent to jail. So, he started the Children’s Crusade.
The SDLC talked to black school children all over the city and encouraged them to join the march. One of the children was fourteen-year-old Carolyn McKinstry. She could feel the excitement in the air and wanted to be a part of it, despite knowing her parents would think it was too dangerous.
The organizers taught the children about sit-ins and peaceful protests. On May 2, nearly one thousand black students stayed out of school and began the marching at 16th Street Baptist Church. They took to the streets fifty at a time, singing as they marched toward downtown. The children were almost all arrested, and by the end of the day, nearly 959 children had been taken to jail.
The next day, the children returned. Police Commissioner Connor tried to stop them with ferocious dogs that ripped their clothing and bit them. The police turned on fire hoses which were so strong, they knocked children to the ground. The water was powerful enough to tear bark off trees. And the press caught it all on camera.
Despite all of this, the children continued to march. Soon, Birmingham’s jails were overcrowded, and newly arrested students were brought to a local fairground where they would sleep on cots and sing freedom songs. The stories of the children’s arrests filled the newspapers and evening news programs. All of America watched in horror.
On May 10, Birmingham’s city leaders freed everyone who had been jailed, and they began to desegregate businesses. In mid-June, President John F. Kennedy announced his plans for the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which would ban segregation in all public places and make job discrimination based on race illegal. Civil rights leaders realized they needed strength in numbers to build support for the Civil Rights Act. So, they decided to plan another march—this time in Washington D.C.
Too Scary to Stay
Cousin Charles and his family are talking with Melody and her family. He explains to Melody’s parents that things are getting too tense in Birmingham. Charles’ wife, Tish, explains that it’s not just tense. It’s dangerous. The police turned dogs and fire hoses against the protesting children.
Melody knows what Tish is talking about. Everybody has heard about the protests and seen it on TV. Val, Charles and Tish’s daughter, is eleven. When Val first wrote to Melody explaining they’d be moving to Detroit, Melody was excited. But she had no idea the reason they were moving was because it was too scary to stay in Birmingham.
Val says there was always police in the streets at night, people getting arrested left and right. Melody exclaims that the kids were very brave. Val agrees, but they’re just children. Melody says they still count. It’s their world, too.