May 1963

Over 1,000 Black children, some as young as six, marched from Sixteenth Street Baptist Church into downtown Birmingham on May 2. On May 3, Bull Connor ordered police to use fire hoses and attack dogs on the young protesters at Kelly Ingram Park. Photographs of children knocked down by hoses shocked the nation and the world.

Birmingham Public Safety Commissioner Bull Connor ordered police dogs and high-pressure fire hoses turned on Black demonstrators, including hundreds of children, during Project C (Confrontation). Hoses with 100 psi pressure tore clothing and knocked marchers against buildings. Images shocked the nation and world.

Birmingham Public Safety Commissioner Bull Connor ordered police dogs and high-pressure fire hoses turned on Black demonstrators, including hundreds of children, during Project C. Hoses at 100 psi tore clothing and knocked marchers against buildings. Images shocked the nation.

Over May 3-5, Birmingham police and fire departments continued attacking peaceful Black marchers with dogs and fire hoses. Over 2,500 demonstrators, many of them children, were jailed. SCLC's Fred Shuttlesworth was slammed against a wall by a fire hose and hospitalized. Bull Connor reportedly expressed satisfaction.

After weeks of protests, the Kennedy administration brokered an agreement between Birmingham business leaders and the SCLC: lunch counters, restrooms, and drinking fountains would be desegregated; Black workers would be hired in clerical and sales positions. The agreement was a partial victory that directly pressured Kennedy toward federal legislation.

Jackson, Mississippi police arrested over 600 Black students during a lunch counter sit-in campaign, using electric cattle prods. Protestors were held in livestock compounds at the state fairgrounds with little food or sanitation. NAACP leader Medgar Evers organized the protests; he was assassinated weeks later.

Jackson, Mississippi police arrested over 600 Black students during a lunch counter sit-in campaign, using electric cattle prods against demonstrators. Protestors were held in livestock compounds at the state fairgrounds in inhumane conditions with little food or sanitation. NAACP leader Medgar Evers organized the protests and was assassinated weeks later.

Children marchers face dogs and fire hoses; the images shock the nation.

Thousands of Black schoolchildren march in Birmingham; images of fire hoses and police dogs turned against children shift the nation.