Children’s participation in the Civil Rights movement

Black children’s protest of white supremacy did not start in Birmingham, it started with Slavery and continued. During slavery, countless children, women, and men were murdered, hunted, and punished for protesting and fighting for their freedom. Understanding the horror of slavery and white supremacy are important to documenting the crimes of the United States against African Americans. However, it should not overshadow the fight of African Americans against their abuse. Forgetting their uprising, escape, resistance, and protest paints them as powerless to a degree that pacifies them. African Americans prevailed through the violence inflicted upon them and attempted genocide for centuries. They were never passive recipients of their oppression and abuse.

Self-Expression as Protest

During Slavery Black adults and children lived in environments controlled by white supremacy. African American slaves had almost every aspect of their lives controlled by white slaveowners. Who they had children with, where they lived, and the hours of the day they spent working were all controlled. A slave’s life could be taken at any moment’s notice by a white slaveowner. Furthermore, African Americans’ right to make music, practice religion, and read were regulated or prohibited.

This oppression and depravity of self-governance caused African Americans to find ways to rebel and protest. The strict rules of their activities meant that self-expression was a rebellion. Music was at the forefront of this rebellion.  In many cases, this rebellion took place right under the nose of slave owners. The strict rules about Spirituals meant that even the act of singing, playing music, or dancing could result in punishment. Despite this, African Americans continued to sing and adapt their rebellion. These practices of music and other cultivation of Black expression in the United States established a culture that existed with White society but operated distinctly from that society.

Furthermore, Spirituals and other Black music carried messages about the underground railroad and protested the abuse of Slavery. These messages were coded with religious overtones. The coding was necessary for the protection of their lives. The fact that the messages were coded does not detract from the singing and the messages as an act of protest against white supremacy. Spirituals and other Black music were some of the first organized protests by African Americans. Women, children, and men all joined in this rebellion. Slaves would sing in the fields and call and respond to each other.  

Slaves and their children sang of freedom in the North or in eternity in “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot”. They bid each other farewell before they left with “Fare ye Well”. They sang about their earthy burdens lifted in “Ain’t that Good news”. Black women, men, and children sang about their value as people with “This Little Light of Mine”. They made songs about the way of escape, “Go Down Moses” and “Steal away”. They sang of the lives they hoped their children would inherit “Old Zion’s Children”.

Steal Away

Music, therefore, played a role in establishing Black identity and self-determination. Children young enough to learn songs could begin to learn the purpose of Black music and the importance of protest. With this, they could experience self-governance and rebellion through songs.

Children grew up learning African American music and being taught the meaning of their words. By the time the Civil Rights Movement was taking place the meaning and importance of Spirituals were deeply rooted in Black empowerment, protest, and identity. They were central to many protests during the Civil Rights movement as well.

Children could understand the direct messages of songs themed after Spirituals or actual spirituals. Songs like “We Shall Overcome” were clear in their resolve. The easy-to-understand messaging of Freedom songs and their similarity to the familiar Spirituals prompted children to follow the movement. In some cases, Black children’s impressibility and energy lead them to answer the call to action with more fervor than adults.

Children as Leaders

Empowering messages in Spirituals and freedom songs caused children to be very aware of their agency. Following the footsteps of the Movement, the Black children would not sit back while being mistreated. One such child was Claudette Colvin. In 1955, nine months before Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on the Highland Gardens bus, she would not give up her seat despite the threat of being arrested. This refusal resulted in her arrest and charges being pressed. When asked later how she did this she said “I knew had to take a stand sometime.” (Hoose, 2001). She was only 15 years old but willing to take a stand against segregation. She as a child took the initiative.

I Want to be Ready

Another example of a children’s initiative was in Birmingham during the Children’s Crusades. In 1963, impetuous was diminishing in the Civil Rights movement. At this point, desegregation had begun in many schools but Birmingham and most of Alabama were resisting the desegregation heavily. Few adults were willing to continue protesting due to the risks of violence and arrest.

James Bevel, a member of SCLC then had the idea to recruit children instead to protest. Children, although at risk of dangerous attacks from police and mobs, were believed to be less at risk than adults. Some of the reasoning could have also been related to economics since children did not have jobs they could lose due to arrests and protests (Clarke, 2020). That being said, the situation did give rise to some ethical questions about child endangerment.

Reflecting upon her own involvement in the movement in Little Rock in 1957, Melba Pattillo Beal wrote,

Martin Luther King Jr. was in jail when the idea began. He wrote that he was worried about the children’s safety if they marched in Birmingham. In the end, despite MLK Jr. and others’ uneasiness about the children marching, plans were set for the Birmingham march.

Recruitment for children’s participation then began.  The campaign aimed for popular high school students to join in hopes that their influence would draw more students (Clarke, 2021). The call was to all children of school ages who could march. The broad inclusion and the element of student-led recruitment both called on the agency of children.

Parents were also concerned about the children’s participation in the Civil Rights Movement. They knew that their child’s participation could make the whole family a target for the Khun Klux Klan and white supremacist mobs. Therefore, the whole family whose children wanted to march in Birmingham had to accept the risk of their participation. The children in some cases had to convince their parents to allow them to march.

The Intensity of the Children’s March

Voices of the Civil Rights Movement: Glenn Ellis

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I said, “Mama, Dad, I’ve got to go!”  And they said, “Absolutely not!  [Laughs] No way!”  And I did something you just did not do.  I said, “You guys are hypocrites.”  Well, you see, that may not sound like a big deal today, but at that time you did not say disrespectful things to your parents.  My dad could not believe I had said that.  He said, “Go to your room.  And stay there.” -Freeman Hrabowski on his desire to be a part of the Civil Rights Movement when he was twelve years old.

 Freeman Harbowski who was 12 years old had persuaded his parents to let him march with the Birmingham children.  His parents, recognizing his determination, let him go. On May 2, 1963, Freeman and around 1000 children meet at 16th Street Baptist Church. There were children from ages 7 to 18 marching. And as the children marched, they sang freedom songs.

Freeman led a group of marchers and sang songs to help the children face their fears and march on. Twelve years old might sound like a young teen, not a child. But he was a child facing the terrors of violent police, dogs, and mobs against them. These were terrors that some adults refused to march against. It was empowering but stressful as the children knew they were in harm’s way.

When the march began, the police knew they were marching and waited for them. They immediately dragged them into wagons and threw them in jail. The march ended with 2000 children in jail, some staying there for four days. The hostile events were recorded and captured by the press and spread across the country. The children’s sacrifice and actions reinvigorated the Civil Rights Movement in Birmingham, Alabama. Birmingham is an example of the Black children’s initiative and leadership.

In September, only 4 months after the Birmingham march, the 16th Street Baptist Church was bombed. The church was where the children had trained for the march. The bomb went off on “Youth Day” under the steps of the church before the service. Four girls 14-year-olds Addie Mae Collins, Denise McNair, Carole Robertson, and 11-year-old Cynthia Wesley, were killed as they played in the basement. Addie’s sister Sarah was there and survived but lost her eye (National Park Service).

It is undeniable that the bomb was a retaliation for the children’s march in Birmingham. Although children were often present at protests and sit-ins, they were not the targets of the hostility at these protests. However, once children started protesting and the desegregation of schools began, all Black children became targets.  Their involvement in the actual protests placed them at the focus of white supremacists’ aggression. In the end, the greatest dangers for children were not during the protest but in its aftermath.

Pressure to Perform

During the Children’s march in Birmingham, thousands of children participated. The children marched with the strength of their numbers, which likely helped distribute the stress and performance pressure of the march. However, in the case of the “Little Rock Nine”, the numbers were not in their favor.

The nine high school students were picked to affront the 1,100 white students of Central High.  They were chosen based on their academic excellence. The fact that the “Little Rock Nine” were chosen as model students meant they were individually held responsible for the success of integration at the school.

In no way were these conditions fair for the Black children desegregating schools. The Central High School in Arkansas is well-known for the events surrounding its desegregation. The “Little Rock Nine” were confronted by the National Guard and angry white mobs over the month of September 1957. When they finally did start classes, white students verbally and physically attacked them. When altercations did arise, the Black students were punished while white students were not held accountable.

 The “Little Rock Nine” were extremely conscious of the opposition surrounding them. The Black students risked not only their lives but also their futures since they could be expelled senselessly from the school. Minnijean Brown was one of the nine who often stood up for herself when assailed. She was expelled due to an altercation initiated by white students however she alone was expelled.

“The teacher didn’t see the purse thrown at my head,” Brown said. “The teacher did not see them following me, but she did hear me say, ‘Leave me alone, white trash.’ And that is the reason that I was expelled.” Minnijean Brown (Southern Poverty Law Center, Bennett, 2020).

This sent a clear message that even though the “Little Rock Nine” were working for the desegregation equal treatment was still in the distant future. They knew the institutions at the schools were mounted against them and their success.

Minnijean Brown’s actions did not warrant her removal from Central high. Minnijean’s expelling was seen as a victory for white supremacists. And when the news broke the white supremacist vilified Brown and other children derail the desegregation of schools. The “Little Rock Nine” had to attend classes while knowing they had to prove themselves or risk the progress of desegregation.

There was always the impending threat of mob killings and the KKK on the “Little Rock nine”. This threat was outside the classroom but directly caused by their attendance at the schools. In February of 1960, Carlotta Walls’ house was bombed. This was only a few months before she graduated from Central High school in Little Rock, Arkansas.   

All of these factors put huge amounts of pressure on the “Little Rock Nine”. Other children sent to desegregate white-only schools had similar experiences. For many of them, the stress itself was dangerous to the children’s health. Every Black child sent to white-only schools sacrificed their health, safety, education, and lives.

For years after the Brown v.s. Board of Education in 1954, Black classrooms continued to be a battlefield for equality. Little Rock was not considered desegregated until 1970. This meant that from 1954 to 1970 children bore the burden of desegregation. However, the hundreds of Black students sent to desegregate schools took that responsibility very seriously. They fought the harsh environments. Their actions and participation propelled the Civil Rights Movement forward.

Their Presence

Children were not always at the forefront of the resistance, however, they were present. They were present when their mothers screamed and thrashed for them during slave auctions. Black children along with adults also survived beatings, lynching, and hunger. Children followed when their relatives or friends held their hands or carried them for miles to freedom. Therefore, when Black children were asked to march it was not the first time they had walked and followed the footsteps of their parents. And when they were called to desegregate schools they stepped up in ways no adults could.