President Johnson signed the voting-rights bill for Negroes on Friday, August 6, and immediately set the vast machinery of the U. S. Government into motion to enforce the law.

On Saturday, August 7, the U. S. Department of Justice certified the States where racial discrimination in voting is officially declared to exist.

Justice Department officials worked through the week-end, choosing the key 'hard-core' counties and rushing federal examiners into those counties to start registering Negro voters on Tuesday, August 10.

Segregation of white and Negro children in public schools of a State solely on the basis of race, pursuant to state laws permitting or requiring such segregation, denies to Negro children the equal protection of the laws guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment-even though the physical facilities and other 'tangible' factors of white and Negro schools may be equal...

Where a State has undertaken to provide an opportunity for an education in its public schools, such an opportunity is a right which must be made available to all on equal terms.

There can be no gainsaying the fact that racial injustice engulfs this community. Birmingham is probably the most thoroughly segregated city in the United States. Its ugly record of brutality is widely known. Negroes have experienced grossly unjust treatment in the courts. There have been more unsolved bombings of Negro homes and churches in Birmingham than in any other city in the nation. These are the hard, brutal facts of the case. On the basis of these conditions, Negro leaders sought to negotiate with the city fathers. But the latter consistently refused to engage in good-faith negotiation.

Then, last September, came the opportunity to talk with leaders of Birmingham's economic community. In the course of the negotiations, certain promises were made by the merchants --- for example, to remove the stores humiliating racial signs. On the basis of these promises, the Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth and the leaders of the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights agreed to a moratorium on all demonstrations. As the weeks and months went by, we realized that we were the victims of a broken promise. A few signs, briefly removed, returned; the others remained.

You may well ask: "Why direct action? Why sit-ins, marches and so forth? Isn't negotiation a better path?" You are quite right in calling, for negotiation. Indeed, this is the very purpose of direct action. Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue. It seeks so to dramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored. My citing the creation of tension as part of the work of the nonviolent-resister may sound rather shocking. But I must confess that I am not afraid of the word "tension." I have earnestly opposed violent tension, but there is a type of constructive, nonviolent tension which is necessary for growth.

3. Subdivision for housing

Just recently a project for a sub-division for Negroes was presented before the City Commission for approval. Protests from whites and other objections prevented the development. There is no section wherein Negroes can expand to build decent homes. What of Lincoln heights?

4. Jobs for qualified Negroes.

Certain civil service jobs are not open to Negroes, yet many are qualified. Negroes need jobs commensurate [equal] with their training. Everybody cannot teach.

Montgomery Negroes will continue to boycott city busses until a "satisfactory" seating arrangement is devised, a spokesman told officials of City Bus Lines yesterday.

The Rev. M. L. King, speaking for a delegation that conferred with bus lines officials for four hours, proposed that bus patrons be seated on a "first come, first served" basis with no sections reserved for either race.

Negroes would continue to seat from the rear and whites from the front, he said, but there would be no reassignment of seats once the busses were loaded.

He laid down two other conditions sought by Negroes: More courteous treatment and the hiring of Negro drivers on routes "predominantly" Negro.

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At that time, we used the media. The media was showing to the country what was going on, and by the same token, they had to explain why we were out there demonstrating. At the time, some people who thought we shouldn't be doing that, like "How dare you?" Especially in the South, they weren't ready to see what we were doing, so it sure made them angry. It brought about a lot of Klan activity. Sure that hurt, but it was a part of the whole thing that was necessary. We couldn't avoid that. Those people had been oppressed by these forces all the time. It was a time for confrontation, to bring it all out to the surface, so in that sense, the sit-ins, the marches, and all of that was necessary, and it helped.

1. Any for of the rights African Americans demanded.
   • These could include equal voting rights, equal housing, equal education, desegregation, an end to violence and racism, equal rights in court, better jobs and equal pay, or recognition by the nation's leaders as equal citizens.
2. Any three ways African Americans attempted to change their status.
   • These could include sit-ins, marches, media coverage, boycotts, attempts at communication with government leaders, or nonviolent action. I would also expect students to thoroughly describe the action (i.e., what it entailed.)
3. Their opinion as to whether or not African Americans succeeded.
   • Due to the fact that this is an opinion question, the only requirement I would have is that the students support their claims. They should use at least two pieces of evidence, meaning facts that support their conclusion.