Talk:Children's Crusade (1963)

Redirect to Children's Crusade section of "Birmingham Campaign"

I was going to attempt to flesh this article out when I discovered a very detailed, well-sourced history of the event is documented at the Birmingham campaign article. I'm being bold and going ahead with a redirect to that section of the page. - Owlsmcgee (talk) 22:51, 11 November 2017 (UTC)

Re: Children's Crusade (civil rights)

Do you have a source for the age of the children in the crusade? Jerry lavoie 03:53, 23 February 2007 (UTC)

Note: this user changed the age in the paragraph at events to read "children as young as four" versus the original "children as young as six". Jerry lavoie 20:47, 23 February 2007 (UTC)

I am reverting the edit for now. Please provide a citation of a verifiable source before changing it again. Thanks. Jerry lavoie 03:56, 23 February 2007 (UTC)

well i can't give you an exact link or anything but i watched a video about the children's march [titled epononymously], and a man who was thrown in jail [being interviewed] claimed that he asked a four year old child why he was in jail that he could only say "Teedom." LollyLo 04:27, 23 February 2007 (UTC)

I do not think this is sufficiently verifiable at the moment to warrant inclusion in the article. I suggest putting it on the article talk page so that perhaps another editor will know a link to a transcript of the show or an article that quotes it. Jerry lavoie 20:47, 23 February 2007 (UTC)

Interview with Child Crusader Rev. Gwendolyn Cook Webb

In a History of the Sixties in America course at Baruch College, I had the pleasure of interviewing a former participant of the Children's Crusade (1963) and current CEO of Foot Soldiers International, Reverend Gwendolyn Cook Webb. I conducted this interview for my final research project and it has not been officially published because I am awaiting her consent, so I decided to publish it on this article's talk page. So, please do not refer to this interview elsewhere; I simply thought it necessary to get a firsthand account out there as public knowledge. My essay's aim was to highlight a participant of the Civil Rights Movement who deserves more credit than she has been given, which aligns with the focus of Rev. Webb's organization. Foot Soldiers International seeks to “stimulate and help provide services, assistance and other activities which give promise of progress toward the eradication of violence, racism, domestic violence and poverty through developing work shops, employment opportunities, improving human performance, motivation and productivity”. In 1963, she was a participant of an event that created some of the most iconic images of the Civil Rights Movement: the Birmingham Children’s March on City Hall. Most of us have seen horrific videos of people being hosed by white firemen and K9 German shepherds biting and chasing people. One of the misconceptions surrounding this moment in Civil Rights history is that it was Dr. King’s idea and that he was at the helm of offering up children since he knew it would be televised heavily. This is one of the many things I was curious about and asked her. In truth, MLK was horrified with sending children to the front lines. On the strategy of filling the jails, Rev. Webb said: “That was not Dr. Kings strategy, only Dr. Bevels [sic], that's why Dr. King sent for his organizer which was Dr. Bevel. Dr. King never would have done that. I thought it was a brilliant move. Like playing chess, you're in it to win it”. Further, I asked her if she volunteered herself and she said: “We as young people volunteered under our own volition, even though we knew it could mean death for some of us” . In fact, as aforementioned, it was that dangerous. On D-Day, the name given to the first day of the March, almost 1000 children, young men and women electively got arrested. It shocked the white community. They fought back viciously. I asked Rev. Webb: “There is such an incredible juxtaposition between the triumphant and even joyous arrests of D-Day, Day 1, and the sheer violence of fire hoses and police dogs of the following days. How did this impact the sentiment of the movement? Did you feel demoralized, or rather, invigorated with a stronger fervor in the fight for freedom?”. Her definitive and triumphant response was: “I, We were invigorated, with a stronger fervor in the fight for freedom. They were demoralized, they were beaten by us kids, without violence. We did it the way Christ did it, and still forgave them. I became the second black female cop on that racist department :-)!!!!!!!”. I also asked her some questions about how she felt about the SCLC ‘s nonviolent strategy and how she felt it succeeded. I found out that her family did not teach her much about discrimination, white supremacy, or lynching. Her dedication and willingness to be jailed repeatedly and cruelly hosed down rang true. Many parents were against their children marching at first, but probably knew someone had to if it could not be them. I asked her how non-participants felt. She said that the white establishment threatened many nonparticipants. Of course, parents would also be running the risk of losing their jobs. I asked her why Birmingham was chosen out of all major hubs in the South, and what was the reason the movement erupted in Birmingham when it did. She said that it was the “most racist” and “most vicious” . There had been so many bombings to incite fear and quell resistance. Crucially though, was the administration of Bull Connor. Since he had been Commissioner of Public Safety for six terms already, he was extremely popular and had administrative authority over the police and fire departments, schools, public health service and libraries. He infamously said that he’d be ready for the Freedom Riders who arrived in Birmingham in 1961, leaving the Riders viciously beaten and no Klansmen arrested. I was curious whether Dr. King voiced his feelings about the Black Power movement to the children organizing in black churches. For one thing, he believed it drew the wrong kind of attention to the black community, and that they were fighting the wrong battle. Remembering King, who reminded her of Moses, Rev. Webb said: “[he] said it wasn't about Black Power or White Power, it was about Green Power!” . Later, I asked her to compare her group’s reason for maintaining a nonviolent strategy, and whether she believes it shares any similarities with that of Black Power. “[I]f we didn't change society lawfully and with love, not with violence, we would not have a better and brighter future for all people... always remember, our movement was a non-violent movement, not by what ever means necessary” . Finally, I asked her what she believes are the biggest triumphs of the Children’s March. She said that one of the biggest triumphs was beating Bull Connor. An institution of white supremacy in one man. He had become so unpopular and looked so weak, partially because of these heroic children, and was forced out of office. KahloCorrigan (talk) 16:39, 4 May 2017 (UTC)KahloCorrigan

• Hi KahloCorrigan! Are you asking if this content can be added to the article? If so, then the answer is unfortunately no in this situation since this wasn't published in a reliable source. This can be one of the most frustrating aspects of Wikipedia when it comes to sourcing, as personal interviews like this can't be used to source information unless it's published in a place that can be verified. This aspect of Wikipedia is so restrictive that there was actually a case where a notable writer wanted to change some of the basic information on his article (like correcting employment dates and college information type of stuff), but all of his edits were reverted because at that point in time the correct information had never been published anywhere. I wish I could remember the author's name, but the guy actually made a point to mention this information in an interview with a major publication just so the article could be corrected. It's just that hard for something to be considered a verifiable reliable source on here. Shalor (Wiki Ed) (talk) 04:08, 11 May 2017 (UTC)

References

Wiki Education assignment: HIST 121 - U.S. History since 1877

This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 1 February 2024 and 10 May 2024. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): LBaugustana, Frivelyn (article contribs).

— Assignment last updated by Schnickelfritz66 (talk) 21:45, 6 March 2024 (UTC)