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Growing up in Alabama during the Civil Rights Movement

By Seth Helton

Murray, KY – Dr. Jacqueline Carter grew up in the political heat of 1960's Birmingham, Alabama. She witnessed firsthand many of the events that would define the early Civil Rights Movement and rubbed shoulders with people who would later become prominent African American figures. I sat down with Dr. Carter at her home to learn what the Civil Rights Movement looked like firsthand.

"The atmosphere in Birmingham was tense," Dr. Carter said of the city. Birmingham was the largest city in Alabama in the 1960s. It was a center of industry in the South, home to many steel mills and industry jobs. "It was a place of influence. People would come from all over the South to shop and visit the city."

The importance of the city, both economically and socially, set the stage of the early civil rights movement. Blacks and whites would often find themselves working alongside each other in the many factories of Birmingham.

Dr. Carter explains that racism in the south during her childhood was mostly political. On a personal level, she says, blacks and whites often got along. She tells the story of her grandfather, a steel-worker who was well respected by his white peers.

"When people saw that he was a good worker, they would stand up for him when he was being harassed. And these were whites defending a black."

Dr. Carter remembers watching protesters in Kelly-Ingram Park, the park famous for its demonstrations, being pinned to trees by water hoses and attacked by police dogs under the direction of the infamous Chief Eugene "Bull" Conner.

"At the time, my father was a contractor for a building being remodeled that overlooked the park. Each night, we would watch the police set up water cannons and prepare for the next day's protests."

Additionally, Dr. Carter attended the 16th Street Baptist Church that was bombed resulting in the death of four young girls. She personally knew the victims of the bombing, attending a UNICEF circus at one of the victim's houses the night before the bombing.

"You can imagine my surprise when I came home from Sunday school to find out that there had been a bombing."

Chicago, Milwaukee, and Birmingham are a few of the cities that Dr. Carter has lived and worked in. She has experienced the full range of race relations in this country, from north to south, east to west. She describes America's racial unrest as a result of people "just not knowing each other."

"You tend to believe the stereotypes you see in the media. But once you get to know someone of different race, culture, and nationality; you begin to appreciate their identity and it makes you more open. We are here (in America) because we are the tired and poor from all over the world. We come here seeking a better life."