The Stand for Freedom

The Stand for Freedom. March Route to Government. "Bull” Connor's police force still tried in vain to stop the marches to City-Hall. The number of well-organized protestors overwhelmed the police. Some marchers actually made it to Woodrow Wilson Park (now Linn Park) that connects City Hall and the Jefferson County Courthouse. The federal courts desegregated Birmingham public parks in 1961. But the Birmingham City Commission closed 67 public parks to Negroes in 1962 rather than integrate them. During this time, it was against city law for Blacks to gather in city parks that were not set aside for them. , Paired marker , May 1963 , Miles College students quietly take their stand for equal rights near the fountain here in Woodrow Wilson (now Linn) Park. With their arms interlocked, they are disobeying a city law that bans Blacks from most city parks. Behind the students is the Jefferson County Courthouse, where Rev. Shuttlesworth faced local charges for breaking segregation laws, and where he brought many NAACP-supported lawsuits against such laws. Shuttlesworth is recognized as having brought more legal cases to the U.S. Supreme Court than any other person. Blacks win many freedoms through their persistence in challenging unfair laws at the courthouse., "There is no issue of states' or national rights. There is only the struggle for human rights." , President Lyndon B. Johnson , 1965, Lesson A13: Discuss the achievements that the City of Birmingham has made since 1963.