United States Civil Rights, 1947-1969

Over the years Birmingham Public librarians collected newspaper articles about the Civil Rights Movement and arranged them in scrapbooks. The articles were clipped from several newspapers including The Birmingham News, Birmingham Post-Herald, Montgomery Advertiser, and The Tuscaloosa News. Covering the years 1945-1969, these scrapbooks are now available online.

Volume 1 (1945-1957)
Topics covered: Georgia "White Supremacy" Bill; Truman Civil Rights proposals; Southern reaction to Truman proposals; Shuttlesworth leads fight in Birmingham, Alabama; MacArthur speech to Congress; Eisenhower State of the Union Address.

Volume 2 (1956-1957)
Topics covered: racial violence in Tennessee; Kentucky racial problems; W. Wilson White named assistant attorney general for civil rights; bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama ends; Texas defies integration plans; Florida, Louisiana, Arkansas vow to continue segregation; Senator Lyndon B. Johnson supports civil rights.

Volume 3 (1957-1959)
Topics covered: jury trials voted into rights bill; civil rights bill approved; Georgia defies federal integration policy; Little Rock, Arkansas asks halt to integration; W. Wilson White to head Civil Rights Commission; Virginia and Arkansas to defy integration.

Volume 4 (1959-1960)
Topics covered: Governor John Patterson of Alabama warns Congress on civil rights; Atlanta, Georgia ordered to form integration plan; racial violence in Little Rock, Arkansas; peaceful integration in North Carolina and Virginia; Civil Rights Commission asks for federal voting registrars; new voting discrimination probe to begin in Alabama.

Volume 5 (1960-1961)
Topics covered: sit-ins, demonstrations continue throughout the South; Supreme Court defeats injunctions against Civil Rights Commission; New Orleans, Louisiana defies integration; racial violence in Greenville, South Carolina; Jacksonville, Florida racial violence; Atlanta, Georgia sit-ins; racial violence in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Volume 6 (1961-1962)
Topics covered: Freedom Riders assailed by MacDonald Gallion; U.S. Marshals ordered into Alabama; Freedom Riders linked to Communist Cuba; Civil Rights Commission extended for two year period; ICC orders interstate bus, terminal integration.

Volume 7 (1962-1963)
Topics covered: "Reverse Freedom Riders"; Albany, Georgia racial violence; school desegregation continues throughout the South; Albany Prayer Vigil; federal judge orders University of Mississippi to admit James H. Meredith.

Volume 8 (1963-1964)
Topics covered: Civil Rights Bill of 1963; Chicago Freedom March; Baltimore, Maryland rally at Gwynn Oak; Jefferson County Board of Registrars suit filed by Justice Department; Washington March.

Volume 9 (1964)
Topics covered: Senator Lister Hill's speech; NAACP boycott of Jacksonville, Florida stores; mother of Massachusetts governor jailed in Florida; Nashville, Tennessee demonstration; civil rights bill text.

Volume 10 (1964-1966)
Topics covered: Justice Department files suits against Tennessee and Louisiana; civil rights murder case in Mississippi; Lester Maddox cafeteria goes out of business; President's Council on Equal Opportunity created; Birmingham, Alabama bombings.

Volume 11 (1966-1968)
Topics covered: creation of Adult Education Program; new civil rights proposal; threats of national violence; Atlanta, Georgia violence; Grenada, Mississippi violence.

Volume 12 (1968-1969)
Topics covered: arrival of Poor People's Mule Train in Washington, D.C.; Supreme Court upholds 1866 civil rights law; "Resurrection City" leaders are jailed; violence in Washington, D.C.

Birmingham City Council Scrapbooks Online

Sixteen scrapbooks created by the Birmingham City Council are now available online. The scrapbooks consist of newspaper articles about government related issues and cover the years November 1962 through December 1964.

v.1.1 November 1, 1962 - February 21, 1963
Topics covered: controversy between Commission or Mayor-Council form of city government; campaigns of candidates for Mayor and City Council positions.

v.1.2 February 21, 1963 - April 12, 1963
Topics covered: election controversy; campaigns of candidates; Boutwell-Connor run-off election for Mayor; platforms of mayoral candidates; election of Albert Boutwell; new era for Birmingham.

v.1.3 January 22, 1963 - April 13, 1963
Topics covered: bond issue; annexation proposals; Red Mountain Expressway; problems of transit system; "City of Fear" article, 2/25/63; "Bad Birmingham Image" article, 3/5/63; segregation-integration controversy; "Outside Agitators" article, 4/4/63.


v.1.4 April 13, 1963 - June 1, 1963
Topics covered: change in the form of city government; swearing-in of Mayor Albert Boutwell and City Council members; ouster of the City Commission and subsequent controversy.


v.1.5 April 13, 1963 - July 4, 1963
Topics covered: racial issues; transit strike ends; opposition to amendments to Council (Dominick Bill); reopening of municipal golf courses; budget problems.

v.1.6 July 5, 1963 - August 6, 1963
Topics covered: annexation proposals; budget; public schools desegregation controversy; formation of Community Affairs Committee; repeal of city segreationg ordinances, 7/23/63; "breach of peace law" adopted, 7/24/63; problems with transit system.

v.1.7 August 6, 1963 - September 23, 1963
Topics covered: budget problems; Dominick Bill; transit system problems; Loveman's "bombing"; threats on the life of Mayor Boutwell; Arthur D. Shores' home bombed, 8/21/63; annexation; school desegregation problems; bombing of Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, 8/16/63; Royall-Blaik fact-finding team.

v.1.8 September 23, 1963 - November 16, 1963
Topics covered: representatives from Birmingham meet with President Kennedy; Royall-Blaik fact-finding team; black policemen controversy; transit system sale; overview of racial situation in Birmingham, 10/13/63; city seeking new sources of revenue.

v.2.1 November 17, 1963 - January 17, 1964
Topics covered: High school stadium issue; local reaction to assassination of President Kennedy; drive to return to city commission form of government; expressway problems; sales tax issue.

v.2.2 January 18, 1964 - March 4, 1964
Topics covered: tax plans; Legion Field; expressway problems; black policemen survey.

v.2.3 March 4, 1964 - April 28, 1964
Topics covered: airport expansion; "Birmingham Tomorrow" project; opening of community centers; "Sell Birmingham" program; city schools need improvements; April rainfall brings sewage problems.

v.2.4 April 28, 1964 - June 9, 1964
Topics covered: merger proposal; demand for the hiring of black policemen; visit by Governor George Wallace; Legion Field expansion; new postal facility; "Church Bombers in City", 5/30/64; budget requests.

v.2.5 June 9, 1964 - July 14, 1964
Topics covered: plan for a mayoral assistant; budget hearings; merger controversy; Legion Field expansion controversy; postal facility funding; new civil rights law in effect; proposed 20th Street mall.

v.2.6 July 14, 1964 - September 11, 1964
Topics covered: merger controversy; school integration plan; record budget sent to City Council; industrial site survey submitted; black protest of school integration plan.

v.2.7 September 11, 1964 - November 18, 1964
Topics covered: Connor vs New York Times trial; "Thrill Hill"; merger controversy in Homewood; sinkholes in Inglenook; cable television.

v.2.8 November 18, 1964 - December 20, 1964
Topics covered: merger controversy; fight to return to city commission government fails; plans for new civic center; medical center expansion.