South at the White House

South at the White House. March Route to Retail. The Birmingham Movement was a defining moment for African Americans determined to win equal citizenship in their own country. Pictures and stories from the Birmingham struggle touched the hearts of the nation and the world. Often injured by violence, the non-violent leaders of the local Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights and the national Southern Christian Leadership Conference effectively used sit-ins, boycotts and marches in their struggle for civil rights. Together, they and their army of non-violent foot soldiers - thousands of ordinary men, women and many children - put their faith to the test and their lives on the line to end state-approved segregation throughout the South and across the United States. , Paired marker , September 19, 1963 , Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. - standing with Rev. Fred L. Shuttlesworth and other Black Birmingham leaders – speaks to the national press in front of the White House in Washington, D.C. He reports on their meeting with President John F. Kennedy, where they talk about conditions in Birmingham just days after the Sixteenth Street Church bombing kills four little girls. The President responds by assigning a special committee to work with White and Black leaders to ease racial tensions in Birmingham. Eventually, the SCLC-ACMHR's 1963 Birmingham Campaign directly influences the passage of the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964., "Your destiny is in your hands. That's what we have to teach all our children." President Barack Obama , First African-American president of the United States in 2009 , 2009 Novel Peace Prize winner, Lesson 21: What ran presidents, Congress and the U.S Supreme Court do to establish justice for all American citizens?