| | Nonviolent confrontation failed politically in Albany, Georgia, in 1962, where white authorities were equally nonviolent. In 1963 it succeeded in Birmingham, Alabama, where Police Commissioner Eugene ("Bull") Connor turned fire-hoses and police dogs on the marchers—in full view of reporters and television cameras. The civil rights activists thus exposed racist hatred to the scorn of national and world opinion. Jailed during the demonstrations, King wrote his classic "Letter from Birmingham Jail," the most influential and eloquent expression of the goals and philosophy of the civil rights movement.<ref>Edward I. Berry, "Doing Time: King's 'Letter from Birmingham Jail." ''Rhetoric & Public Affairs'' 9#1 Spring 2005, pp. 109-131 in [[Project Muse]]</ref> King's great speech, "I Have a Dream" during the March on Washington, August 28, 1963, galvanized the movement, putting forth a goal of an integrated color-blind society.<ref>Mark Vail, "The 'Integrative' Rhetoric of Martin Luther King Jr.'s 'I Have a Dream' Speech," ''Rhetoric & Public Affairs'' 9#1 Spring 2006, pp. 51-78 in [[Project Muse]]; Alexandra Alverez, "Martin Luther King's 'I Have a Dream': The Speech Event as Metaphor," ''Journal of Black Studies'' 3 (1998):337–57</ref> President [[Lyndon Johnson]], a long-time supporter of civil rights, had replaced Kennedy and he seized the moment to mobilize a majority coalition of northern Democrats, Republicans, white churches, and white labor unions to break a Democrat filibuster and pass 1964 [[Civil Rights Act]], which desegregated public facilities. Overnight Jim Crow vanished, with little protest or violence. | | Nonviolent confrontation failed politically in Albany, Georgia, in 1962, where white authorities were equally nonviolent. In 1963 it succeeded in Birmingham, Alabama, where Police Commissioner Eugene ("Bull") Connor turned fire-hoses and police dogs on the marchers—in full view of reporters and television cameras. The civil rights activists thus exposed racist hatred to the scorn of national and world opinion. Jailed during the demonstrations, King wrote his classic "Letter from Birmingham Jail," the most influential and eloquent expression of the goals and philosophy of the civil rights movement.<ref>Edward I. Berry, "Doing Time: King's 'Letter from Birmingham Jail." ''Rhetoric & Public Affairs'' 9#1 Spring 2005, pp. 109-131 in [[Project Muse]]</ref> King's great speech, "I Have a Dream" during the March on Washington, August 28, 1963, galvanized the movement, putting forth a goal of an integrated color-blind society.<ref>Mark Vail, "The 'Integrative' Rhetoric of Martin Luther King Jr.'s 'I Have a Dream' Speech," ''Rhetoric & Public Affairs'' 9#1 Spring 2006, pp. 51-78 in [[Project Muse]]; Alexandra Alverez, "Martin Luther King's 'I Have a Dream': The Speech Event as Metaphor," ''Journal of Black Studies'' 3 (1998):337–57</ref> President [[Lyndon Johnson]], a long-time supporter of civil rights, had replaced Kennedy and he seized the moment to mobilize a majority coalition of northern Democrats, Republicans, white churches, and white labor unions to break a Democrat filibuster and pass 1964 [[Civil Rights Act]], which desegregated public facilities. Overnight Jim Crow vanished, with little protest or violence. |
| | However, within days of the passage of the powerful new law, rioting broke out in black ghettos, as the civil rights leadership discovered it could not control the angry masses. Nor could it control the radical students in SNCC and like-minded groups who were moving rapidly to the left, rejecting alliances with whites, discarding the goal of integration and demanding instead black separatism and "Black Power."<ref>Akinyele O. Umoja, "1964: The Beginning of the End of Nonviolence in the Mississippi Freedom Movement," ''Radical History Review'', Jan 2003; 2003: 201 - 226. online in Duke journals</ref> | | However, within days of the passage of the powerful new law, rioting broke out in black ghettos, as the civil rights leadership discovered it could not control the angry masses. Nor could it control the radical students in SNCC and like-minded groups who were moving rapidly to the left, rejecting alliances with whites, discarding the goal of integration and demanding instead black separatism and "Black Power."<ref>Akinyele O. Umoja, "1964: The Beginning of the End of Nonviolence in the Mississippi Freedom Movement," ''Radical History Review'', Jan 2003; 2003: 201 - 226. online in Duke journals</ref> |