Primary Sources Birmingham Project PDF

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Primary sources on the 1936 Birmingham Campaign featuring:

Foster, H. "The Birmingham Story: Segregation is Teetering Under Fire." New York Times (1923-Current file): 58. May 26 1963. ProQuest.


“Civil Rights Movement scrapbooks. Alabama events volume 6”. Birmin...

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Primary Sources

Foster, H. "The Birmingham Story: Segregation is Teetering Under Fire." New York Times (1923-Current file): 58. May 26 1963. ProQuest. http://search.proquest.com/hnpnewyorktimes/docview/116426364/1FD5AB014A1E409BPQ/3 ?accountid=14572 This edition of the New York times provides us with an example of the national news reaction to the events in Birmingham, allowing us to make contrast with local newspapers. It is interesting to see how the New York times makes a criticism of local newspapers in their lack of reporting; “the city’s two newspapers carried only brief articles on the demonstrations. The only time the racial turmoil achieved page one was when turmoil achieved page one was when someone denounced “outside agitators” who were said to be sitting up the peace-loving local Negro community”. This critique allows us to see how there was resistance from the press at a local level, however this becomes irrelevant due to the mass appeal and far reach that the Birmingham campaign made through the media.

“Civil Rights Movement scrapbooks. Alabama events volume 6”. Birmingham Public Library Digital Collections. http://cdm16044.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/BPLSB02/id/2965 This collection of local Birmingham newspaper articles allows us to see a broad picture of how the events were covered on a local level. It is evidence in itself, the fact that there are only small stories and clippings of articles rather than front page news, that the white press in Birmingham resisted against the campaign by holding back in reporting. Newspapers such as the Birmingham Post-Herald will provide direct contrast to national newspapers such as the

New York Times and The Washington Post. The greatest of these comparisons being the way in which the story was given differing levels of importance based upon the agenda of each newspaper. For example, it is not until rioting occurred in the wake of the attempted bombing of Martin Luther King Jr that the newspapers put a front page focus upon the story; “cooperative calm returned to Birmingham today as federal troops massed in Alabama to put down possible renewal of wild racial disorders like destructive Negro rioting early Sunday” (p.10). By using a number of different local examples, it can show us how the press in some ways did not work as a tool for the Civil Rights movement, and could be an object of white supremacy that could be used against them.

Bill Hudson’s photo of William Gadsden This photo, captured by press photographer Bill Hudson, provides us with an excellent example of how photojournalism can be both powerful and in many ways more effective than words. The photo at first glance seemingly depicts a young African-American man being set on by a police dog, and it was assumed by many who saw this photo used in the New York times that Gadsden was a protestor involved with the campaign. However, Gadsden himself explained in an interview with Jet magazine that he was not a protestor, and was there simply as a bystander. The passive reaction which came to be a symbol of non-violence in the media is rather Gadsden acting out training which he had received on handling aggressive dogs when he was younger. With this in mind, the issue of whether this photo should be used as a representation for the campaign arises, as without context the photo seemingly fits in with the narrative of the campaign....