By examining the events prior to Martin Luther King, Jr.’s arrest, his time in jail, and the events that occurred immediately after his release, one can see how this case of non-violent direct action lead to a positive social change for the Black American public.

In the early months of 1963, most public schools in the south were still segregated; even though racial segregation in public schools was invalidated by the Supreme Courts unanimous decision in Brown v. Board of Education, in 19

Soon federal troops were released and allowed to return home, and slowly Birmingham began to reconstruct its public facilities. “For the first time ever, whites and blacks began to share public restrooms, drinking fountains and parks.” Eventually blacks were hired onto the police force, and many schools admitted their first black students. The city even set up a biracial committee to improve Birmingham’s troubled community. This incident is only one of many that swept the southern United States during the 1960’s.

Bevel began recruiting young college and high school students, focusing mainly on student athletes and leaders. He and his wife, Diane Nash, provided a workshop for these young adults on non-violent direct action, showing them a film of the sit-ins in Nashville. Quickly the attendees signed up and went out to recruit their friends. Before long, the age range of the youth involved lowered, with some of the youngest recruits being as young as six. Bevel understood that the young people of Birmingham were vital to the campaign; for, with their innocence they were not yet caught in the web of segregation. “They brought the special energy, idealism, and dedication of the young.” On May 2, 1963, nearly one month after the first protest in Birmingham, the youth took to the streets in protest, a day proclaimed as “D-Day” by Bevel and King. Connor, and his local police force were there waiting for the protestors. With the national media, present Bull began to arrest all protestors, including the children one at a time regardless of age. Soon the jail was filled with children. However, the leaders of the SCLC had planned the protest in such a way that there were waves of protestors to replace those who were arrested. This continued throughout the day, and when Connor realized he was not getting anywhere he ordered the police to open the water hoses. These were fire hoses attached to fire hydrants and had enough pressure to remove the bark off a tree. For the first time in the civil rights movement, the national media was there to cover the atrocities that occurred. By night’s end, images of children being arrested, blasted by high power hoses, and even attacked by dogs was displayed on the National Broadcast Network’s (NBC) nightly news, in American homes around the country. The next day continued in a similar manner, with D-Day two; at the end of the day the Birmingham jail, which days earlier held King, was overflowing with children. The struggle in Birmingham continued on this way for over a week, until the Kennedy administration became actively involved. On Friday, May 10, after an all-night negotiating session with local white and black business leaders, and after Attorney General Bobby Kennedy raised enough money from the Northern Union leaders and others sympathetic to the administration and the cause to bail out all protesters in the city’s jails, a settlement was announced. All 2,500 who had been jailed would be freed; public facilities in the city would be desegregated within ninety days; and there would be further negotiations on better jobs for blacks and improved race relations.

The statute you cite as authority for sending troops to the city of Birmingham even though invoked previously by you is in direct conflict with Art. 4, Section 4 of the constitution of the United States which states that the U.S. shall guarantee to every state of the Union a republican form of government and which also provides that the U.S. can use its National Military forces to quell domestic violence only when requested to do so by Legislature of that State or Governor if the Legislature cannot be convened. Neither the Legislature or I, as Governor, has requested you to end troops into the state to quell domestic violence. The constituted authorities of the State of Alabama, City and violence which has occurred in the City of Birmingham.

Nine days later King accepted the bail

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