What Happened on May 12th – The Birmingham Race Riots

Birmingham Race Riots May 1963

The Birmingham riot of 1963 was a civil disorder in Birmingham, Alabama, that was provoked by bombings on the night of May 11, 1963. The bombings targeted leaders of the Birmingham campaign, a mass protest for racial justice. Their targets were a motel owned by A. G. Gaston and the parsonage of Rev. A. D. King, brother of Martin Luther King, Jr. The bombings were probably planned and carried out by members of the Ku Klux Klan.

Bomb wreckage near Gaston Motel

The attacks triggered riots by nearby blacks starting on May 12, 1963, who met with repression from the Birmingham Police Department. The situation provoked a controversial military response from the United States federal government, and was a pivotal event in President Kennedy’s decision to propose legislation which became the Civil Rights Act of 1964.