Celebrity Star Power

Celebrity Star Power. March Route to Retail. Celebrities of all races - but particularly Black singers and actors such as Harry Belafonte, Sammy Davis, Jr., Eartha Kitt, Lena Horne, and Ossie Davis with wife Ruby Dee - played important roles in the Movement. Some, including comedian Dick Gregory and blind jazz singer Al Hibbler, actually led marches during “Project C.” White folk singer Joan Baez, who held a fundraising concert at Miles College, tried to attend a Black church, but “Bull” Connor threatened to arrest her and other Whites for breaking the City's segregation laws. "Project C” organizers used wealthy celebrities' generous donations to bail protestors out of jail. Their money also covered the cost of food, lodging and other expenses related to operating the Birmingham demonstrations. , May 13, 1963 , Many celebrities used their star power to raise publicity and money for the Movement. Here, Rev. Wyatt T. Walker (the SCLC's executive director and top aide to Dr. King) and heavyweight boxing champion Floyd Patterson stand beneath a sign with the City's welcome slogan at the Birmingham airport. Patterson and baseball great Jackie Robinson both come to town. They come to offer their assistance to Dr. King, Rev. Shuttlesworth and the many unsung heroes who are marching in the streets for civil rights., (In 2009, this same airport was re-named the Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport by the Birmingham Mayor and City Council to honor Rev. Fred L. Shuttlesworth and the Birmingham Movement.), "On Birmingham Sunday a noise shook the ground, and people all over the earth turned around." , Joan Baez , Lyrics from "Birmingham Sunday," a song about the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church bombing, Lesson 17: Do an Internet search to learn which celebrities were fundraisers for the American Civil Rights Movement.