Preserving the past: 米兰体育 13 video shows Martin Luther King Jr. in Alabama
Video above: 米兰体育 13 archival footage shows the Civil Rights Movement in Birmingham
In 1963, during the height of the Civil Rights Movement, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr and his colleagues at the Southern Christian Leadership Conference set their sights on what King referred to as 鈥渢he most segregated city in America" 鈥� Birmingham, Alabama.
The Birmingham Campaign, also known as 鈥淧roject C鈥� for confrontation, , would be 鈥渢he toughest fight of our careers鈥� agreed SCLC leaders.
As local legend and activist Fred Shuttlesworth put it, 鈥淎s Birmingham goes, so goes the nation."
Protestors participated in sit-ins in the days before Easter, defying a court order to disband, and on Good Friday, April 12, marched from Birmingham鈥檚 16th Street Baptist Church to city hall.
There, Dr. King and his cohorts would be arrested for their efforts, prompting his famous "Letter from a Birmingham Jail."
Valiant moments like these, as well as the vile response from the city in the form of fire hoses, dogs and beatings, enthralled the nation and 米兰体育 13's cameras were there to capture it all.
Just a few months later our crews followed Dr. King to Selma, capturing some truly unbelievable color footage of the civil rights activist as he and others gathered to march on Montgomery.
As we honor Martin Luther King Day and Black History Month, witness what would ultimately become some of the greatest victories of the Civil Rights Movement in the archival video above.
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