The United State’s Children’s Crusade (1963) In early May 1963, several thousand African American school children left their classrooms and took to the streets of Birmingham, Alabama, one of the nation’s most segregated cities. Their nonviolent protest against white supremacy was one of the most dramatic moments in America’s long struggle for racial equality. The city’s white leadership ordered the march to be stopped and authorized the use of force. It was impossible not to be shocked and profoundly moved by the photographs and film footage of children blasted by fire hoses, attacked by vicious police dogs, and arrested and jailed. The Children’s March galvanized support for the black freedom struggle worldwide. In the aftermath of the events, tens of thousands of civil rights protesters took to the streets of cities nationwide, including Philadelphia. Inspired by Birmingham’s kids, they demanded “Freedom Now!” The Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. reassured Birmingham’s parents that their children were part of a just cause. The event moved President John F. Kennedy’s to express support for federal civil rights legislation and the eventual passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. #americanhistory #BlackHistory #martinlutherkingjr #civilrights #childrenscrusade #humanrights #nonviolence #protests #children #fyp #eachoneteachone #justice #freedom #justjudy - @orignlsweetlucy