| Children's Crusade | |||
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| Part of the Birmingham campaign in the Civil Rights Movement | |||
| Date | May 2–3, 1963 | ||
| Location | |||
| Parties | |||
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| Lead figures | |||
SCLC member
Commissioner of Public Safety
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The Children's Crusade, or Children's March, was a march by over 1,000 school students in Birmingham, Alabama on May 2–10, 1963. Initiated and organized by Rev. James Bevel, the purpose of the march was to walk downtown to talk to the mayor about segregation in their city. Many children left their schools and were arrested, set free, and then arrested again the next day. The marches were stopped by the head of police, Bull Connor, who brought fire hoses to ward off the children and set police dogs after the children. This event compelled President John F. Kennedy to publicly support federal civil rights legislation and eventually led to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Malcolm X[1] and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.[2] were both opposed to the event because they thought it would expose the children to violence.
- ^ Manis, Andrew (1999). A Fire You Can't Put Out: The Civil Rights Life of Birmingham's Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth. University of Alabama Press. p. 370. ISBN 0-585-35440-5.
- ^ "The Children's Crusade: When the Youth of Birmingham Marched for Justice". history.com. Retrieved 2022-10-06.