The Birmingham Children’s March started on May 2, 1963. Flyers had been distributed in black schools and neighborhoods that said, “Fight for freedom first then go to school.”
The Birmingham Children’s March started on May 2, 1963.
Flyers had been distributed in black schools and neighborhoods that said, “Fight for freedom first then go to school” and “It’s up to you to free our teachers, our parents, yourself, and our country.” On May 2, more than a thousand students skipped school and gathered at the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church. Demonstrators marched to the downtown area, to meet with the Mayor, and integrate the chosen buildings. More than 1,200 children were arrested the first day in a demonstration that received national attention.
Teachers can request a free copy of the excellent film, The Children’s March, from Teaching Tolerance: http://zinnedproject.org/posts/832.
For more resources for “teaching outside the textbook” about the Civil Rights Movement, check out this list from the Zinn Education Project website:http://bit.ly/zca8vH.
More about the march on the King Papers Project website: http://mlk-kpp01.stanford.edu/index.php/encyclopedia/encyclopedia/enc_childrens_crusade/
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