Schedule | TNT Originals | Turner Learning
Historical Connection
The Children's Crusade
By the time the events of PASSING GLORY transpire in 1965, the
integration of New Orleans was well along its way. A few years prior, in New
Orleans and many other places, Black Americans had suffered at the hands of
brutal mobs of Whites-sometimes including the police-as they forcefully
integrated public places. And as PASSING GLORY suggests, young African-Americans
were part of that history.
One such incident was in Birmingham, Alabama, just two short years prior to the
events depicted in PASSING GLORY. Led by Martin Luther King, Jr., the Southern
Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) came to desegregate Birmingham in 1963.
After an initial surge of activity involving numerous protests and arrests, the
movement stalled. The SCLC leadership decided that the best way to regain the
momentum was to involve young people. This strategy would be less disruptive to
Black families, since parents could continue working while young Blacks served
the necessary jail time. High school, junior high and even elementary school
students were recruited to march out of school and be arrested. On May 2, 1963,
959 children were arrested; the next day 1000 more children marched to protest
discrimination. This same day Police Chief Bull Conner turned powerful fire hoses on the
young protesters. Shown on the national news, this grisly spectacle shocked the
nation. By May 6th, 2500 Blacks-2000 of them children-had been arrested.
Feeling the pressure from the movement and fearful that riots would tear the
city apart, most White businesses agreed to integrate their establishments.
When you read the following testimonials from people who were involved in the
segregation of Birmingham when they were children, ask yourself how you would
feel in their position, at their age. Try to imagine how you would feel if you
were their parents. When you see the film, try to imagine how each of the
characters (priests, young men, parents) would feel about involving themselves
and their loved ones in a very dangerous situation.
Audrey Faye Hendricks
"The night before at a meeting, they told us we'd be arrested.
I went home and told my mother that I wanted to go. She just said, 'Okay.' I
was in third grade. . . . I did not go to school the day that I went on the
march. I wasn't nervous or scared. We started from Sixteenth Street
Church. . . . [We] marched about half a block. Then the police put us in paddy
wagons, and we went to Juvenile Hall. There were lots of kids, but I think I
may have been the youngest child in there. I was nine. . . . I was in jail
seven days. . . . We slept in little rooms with bunk beds. There were about
twelve of us in a room. . . . My parents could not get word to me for seven
days."
Judy Tarver
"I didn't know when I left home for school that day that I was
going to participate. . . We left school after lunch. . . I was seventeen . . .
I was fortunate. I was there just one night . . . I was glad to get out. My
parents didn't know when I left home that Friday that I was going to
participate. Once we were arrested, we couldn't call our parents. . . . When
I got out, they said that they didn't want to tell me to go, but they were glad
that I went. They were proud of me."
Larry Russell
"When I got involved in the demonstrations in 1963, I was in high
school. My parents supported my decision to get involved, but they were not
involved. I went to a lot of mass meetings. . . . We knew about them from two
radio disk jockeys [who] used to call the meetings 'a party.' . . . I was
sixteen in 1963, and I expected to be arrested. I wanted to be
arrested. . . . . Jail was a totally different experience. . . . We weren't
treated like kids. . . . our intent was not to be bailed out. . . . the
first thing I did was to call my mother. 'Don't worry about me . . . I'll be
okay. . . . Whatever you do don't come and get me out.' . . . I was in for ten
days."