 Norton U.S. History Tour: “Bombingham” Birmingham, Alabama
1963 Birmingham had a long history of resistance to integration. It earned the nickname “Bombingham” for the many bombings of the houses of civil rights activists. In 1961 Freedom Riders were attacked at the local bus station. Martin Luther King Jr. chose Birmingham as the site of a massive protest in May 1963. Televised images of protesters being attacked by police dogs and knocked down by water cannons stunned the nation and led President John Kennedy to ask Congress for civil rights legislation. 1 Photograph showing the wreckage of a bomb explosion near the Gaston Motel where Martin Luther King Jr. and leaders in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference were staying during the Birmingham campaign of the civil rights movement. Police using Attack dogs 
(Library of Congress) 
(Library of Congress) Statement written by Robert F. Kennedy on the Civil Rights violations in Birmingham, Alabama. 
(National Archives) Congress of Racial Equality conducts march in memory of Negro youngsters killed in Birmingham bombings, All Souls Church, 16th Street, Washington, D.C. 
(Library of Congress)
1 Carrier, 220–21.
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