This story is part of a series of articles, “Bending Toward Justice,” focusing on the 60th anniversary of events that took place in Birmingham during 1963 that changed the face of the city, and the world, in the ongoing struggle for equality and human rights. The series name is a reference to a quote by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.: “Let us realize the arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice.” The series will continue through 2023.

Nadine Peterson Smith recalls her participation in the Children’s Crusade in Birmingham, Alabama, 60 years ago from Alabama News Center on Vimeo.

As a child in Birmingham, Nadine Peterson Smith saw firsthand how segregation caused inconvenience and humiliation. But most of all she felt its inequality.

From the separation on buses to the inability to try on clothes in stores (“They had a fitting room, it wasn’t fit for you,” she says), Smith felt the sting of segregation.

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So when there was talk of a Children’s Crusade in Birmingham, Smith, then 15 years old, knew she wanted to play a part.

She talks about the preparation and her participation in a seminal event in civil rights history that started in Birmingham 60 years ago today. Smith participated with her two brothers. She was arrested on May 4 and spent nine days incarcerated.