Birmingham: Testament of Nonviolence; A Happy Day in Birmingham, May 10, 1963 [Part 1 of 2]
Description:
A documentary recorded on Friday, May 10, 1963, in Birmingham, Alabama, where an agreement between leaders of the civil rights movement and city officials had recently been negotiated to end racial segregation in lunch counters, fitting rooms, restrooms, and water fountains; to end employment discrimination in industry; to release jailed demonstrators; and to establish a biracial committee to integrate schools, the police force, and parks, in addition to dealing with other issues. The agreement was reached after images of police attacking protesting children with dogs and fire hoses shocked the nation and world, and more than 1,000 students were jailed. The documentary includes commentary from various unnamed persons in Birmingham, in addition to speeches by Dr. Ralph D. Abernathy and Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. King optimistically views the agreement as a path "to the creation of a new kind of community." He notes that the worldwide circulation of pictures of police using dogs and fire hoses to attack protesting children disturbed President Kennedy, who was trying to win the hearts and minds of neutral nations in Asia and Africa during the Cold War conflict with the Soviet Union. The program was produced by Riverside Radio, WRVR, the FM station of the Riverside Church, New York City, for the Educational Radio Network, and the National Association of Educational Broadcasters. It was distributed by the National Association of Radio Broadcasters Network. For information on the Birmingham movement, see Glenn T. Eskew, But for Birmingham: The Local and National Movements in the Civil Rights Struggle (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1997).
![Birmingham: Testament of Nonviolence; A Happy Day in Birmingham, May 10, 1963 [Part 1 of 2]](/assets/commonwealth-vlr-engine/dc_audio-icon-7312a1de11c2ffdd2cdc9faf9b80e20f2fa60293e11335a1c4b887c3ad82d100.png){kind=icon}