Project C - Confrontation

The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. saw in Birmingham, Ala. an opportunity to shift the direction of the nonviolent civil rights movement in the South. So, his plans for the demonstrations there were carefully orchestrated. The strategy for the demonstrations was called Project C, with the "C" standing for confrontation.

The implementation of this tactic was delayed until 1963 as people in Birmingham tried negotiating with the mayor as a means of getting federal laws enforced by the city. However, it was set in motion on Apr. 3, the day after the municipal elections.

The brilliance of the plan was to meet the problem at its origin, causing a reaction from the police. The demonstrators did just that with sit-ins, picket lines and marches, some through police barricades.

While the police, led by Commissioner Eugene ("Bull") Connor, were the winners in these demonstrations, carting many volunteers off to jail and turning the rest back, the Black community was not deterred. They kept coming back. And the more they demonstrated, the more determined Bull Connor became in his efforts to maintain the status quo in Birmingham.

After weeks of this activity, the rank and file were growing weary. They had executed the strategy as planned, but the desired results seemed elusive. By May 1, demonstrators were beginning to believe Bull was unbeatable.

So, Dr. King called on Black youth. Beginning May 2, he gathered them at the 16th Street Baptist Church to march. As the police commissioner and his army of cops with dogs and barricades and firemen with hoses waited, crowds gathered on the street outside the church and the voices of children singing freedom songs could be heard.

Then there were children everywhere, marching on the barricades, slipping through to city hall and other points downtown. But there was no response from the police. The next day, the same thing occurred, except, Bull Connor had the hoses turned on the children, washing them away like fallen leaves. The policemen came in next, with clubs and dogs, arresting hundreds and taking them to jail.

This however, broke the deadlock. People in Birmingham, and across the country, were incensed at the use of those hoses and dogs on school children.

Eight days after the high-power hoses were turned on the children, the city of Birmingham announced agreement on a four-point program which would: desegregate lunch counters, restrooms, fitting rooms and drinking fountains, institute upgrading and hiring of Black workers in Birmingham businesses on a non-discriminatory basis, have jailed demonstrators released on a small bond, and create a biracial committee.

Shortly after the announcement, Rev. A. D. King's home was bombed as was the movement's headquarters in Birmingham. This kicked off a three-hour riot that devastated a nine block area and left 50 people injured.

But that explosion of rage ushered in a new day in Birmingham and for civil rights across the country.