In May 1963, police in Birmingham, Alabama, responded to marching African American youth with fire hoses and police dogs to disperse the protesters, as the Birmingham jails already were filled to capacity with other civil rights protesters. Televised footage of the attacks shocked the nation, just as newspaper coverage shocked the world. This excerpt from CBS Eyewitness: Breakthrough in Birmingham, broadcast on May 10, 1963, includes televised footage seen by millions, as well as a brief interview with Martin Luther King, Jr., (1929–1968), one of the leaders of the movement in Birmingham, who discusses the importance of achieving success there.
Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division. Courtesy of CBS News
