Sixty years ago, Birmingham became ground zero in the struggle for human rights. Many events in Birmingham and Alabama made 1963 a transformative year that would change the city, and the world, forever. Throughout 2023 in “Bending Toward Justice,” Alabama News Center is featuring stories about the events of 1963 and their impact, including a month-by-month timeline listing many of the year’s milestones.

APRIL 1963

Tuesday, April 2

Former Lt. Gov. Albert Boutwell decisively defeats Commissioner of Public Safety Eugene “Bull” Connor in the mayoral race, capturing 29,630 votes to 21,648 for Connor, according to unofficial returns from the city’s 151 boxes. Connor and supporters decide to contest the election, creating two competing city governments operating at the same time for months, until settled by a court.

Wednesday, April 3

The “Birmingham Manifesto,” which calls for widespread desegregation, fair hiring practices, dismissal of charges against nonviolent protesters and reopening of parks and pools on an integrated basis, among other demands, is released at the outset of the planned Birmingham Campaign. The Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights (ACMHR) and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) lead sit-ins at downtown Birmingham lunch counters; police arrest 20 participants at Britt’s lunch counters, while Kress, Loveman’s, Pizitz and Woolworth’s close their counters.

Friday, April 5

Police arrest 10 sit-in demonstrators, including six at Lane Drugstore (First Avenue and 20th Street) and four at Tutwiler Drugstore (Fifth Avenue and 20th Street).

Saturday, April 6

The Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth leads a march from the A.G. Gaston Motel toward City Hall; police intervene at 18th Street and Fifth Avenue, arresting 32 participants.

Sunday, April 7 (Palm Sunday)

The Revs. A.D. King, Nelson Smith and John Porter lead a march beginning at St. Paul Methodist Church (Sixth Avenue and 15th Street); police arrest 26 people and use police dogs to disperse Black onlookers.

Wednesday, April 10

Demonstrators attempt sit-ins, but lunch counters are closed; police arrest 27 protesters in the 400 block of 19th Street.

Thursday, April 11

The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and other leaders receive a court order from Circuit Court Judge William Jenkins prohibiting “boycotting, trespassing, parading, picketing, sit-ins, kneel-ins, wade-ins and inciting or encouraging such acts.”

Friday, April 12 (Good Friday)

The Revs. King, Ralph Abernathy and Shuttlesworth defy the injunction and lead a march that begins at St. Paul United Methodist Church; they are arrested within yards of the site of the Palm Sunday arrests. White clergymen issue “a Call for Unity,” urging an end to demonstrations to show support for the incoming City Council. During his incarceration for this offense, King writes his “Letter from Birmingham Jail.”

The Revs. Fred Shuttlesworth, Ralph Abernathy and Martin Luther King Jr., just before their arrest in April 1963. (Birmingham Public Library)

Saturday, April 13

The clergymen’s letter, in which eight prominent Alabama clergy members criticize the demonstrations as “unwise and untimely,” is published in The Birmingham News. King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail” is addressed to the eight clergymen and responds to their letter point by point.

Sunday, April 14 (Easter)

Blacks attend worship services at predominantly white churches, including First Baptist Church and First Presbyterian Church. Other churches turn away Blacks who try to attend services. About 1,000 people attempt to march to City Hall, but police stop them and arrest 32 marchers.

Wednesday, April 17

A local pastor and 15 Black women march from the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church to the Jefferson County Courthouse to register to vote; police arrest them in the 1600 block of Sixth Avenue.

Wednesday, April 17

Birmingham City Council members, in their second meeting, transfer all authority of the “former city commissioners” to themselves. The three commissioners refuse to leave, contending they are still the official government, and ignore the council.

Friday, April 19

Police arrest 11 protesters at the 2121 Building lunch counter.

Saturday, April 20

Police arrest seven picketers outside the Pizitz lunch counter and seven protesters at a sit-in at Britt’s. They also arrest four people inside Atlantic Mills and seven people in Tillman Levenson. King is released from jail on bond.

Sunday, April 21

Fifteen Black worshippers attend white church services at First Baptist, First Presbyterian and the Episcopal Church of the Advent; several other churches turn away Blacks.

Monday, April 22

Sit-ins take place at the Woolworth’s, H.L. Green and Britt’s lunch counters. Demonstrators are not served, and no arrests are made.

Monday, April 22

Presiding Judge J. Edgar Bowron hears a suit by Birmingham’s new mayor and city council members that seeks to oust the city commissioners.

Lt. Gov. Albert Boutwell at the state Capitol, 1961. A judge in 1963 confirmed Boutwell was duly elected as Birmingham’s new mayor. (Alabama Department of Archives and History. Donated by Alabama Media Group. Photo by Ed Jones, Birmingham News.)

Tuesday, April 23

Bowron rules in favor of Boutwell, saying the newly elected mayor and the nine recently elected council members are “the duly elected” officials of the city. The three commissioners appeal the ruling to the Alabama Supreme Court.

Friday, April 26

Striking Birmingham Transit Co. bus drivers vote 201 to 162 to return to work.

Sources: “1963, How the Birmingham Civil Rights Movement Changed America and the World,” by Barnett Wright; Pennsylvania State University, “The Rhetoric of the Civil Rights Movement” Birmingham Timeline; BHAMWIKI 1963; “Parting the Waters, America in the King Years 1954-63,” by Taylor Branch; Alabama Department of Archives & History.