www.birminghamal.gov
Foot soldiers and more than 200 students will gather in Kelly Ingram Park today, May 9 to re-enact the 1963 Birmingham Children’s Crusade, also known as the Children’s March.
Participants will meet at the park’s pavilion at 8:30 a.m. At 9 a.m., they will gather at Sixth Avenue North and 17th Street North to start walking toward Birmingham City Hall. They will end their walk at Boutwell Auditorium, where they will watch a 40-minute documentary and hear from speakers. Organizers estimate that they will arrive at Boutwell around 9:30 a.m. Several community partners will have tables set up in the Boutwell lobby for students to collect resources.
Birmingham’s historic Children’s Crusade, which took place May 2-10,1963, involved more than 1,000 students walking downtown to talk to leadership at City Hall about segregation. At the time, many students left their schools to conduct peaceful marches. They were arrested, released from jail, marched again and arrested again. Children were sprayed with fire hoses and attacked by police dogs. The event, which compelled President John F. Kennedy to publicly support federal civil rights legislation, eventually led to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
“Back then, we couldn’t go to the library. We couldn’t walk across Kelly Ingram Park. We couldn’t go into the front door of a restaurant. We had to go in the back,’’ said Paulette Roby, a foot soldier and chairwoman of the Civil Rights Activist Committee “Home of the Foot Soldiers. “We couldn’t go into places like Loveman’s (department store) to even try on a dress. It was off limits to us. You had to guess your fit and hope it worked when you got home.’’
Roby was 13 years old in May 1963 when she participated in the Children’s Crusade. And even though she was arrested and spent a night at a makeshift jail at Fairpark Arena with other young protestors, she never gave up on her fight for equality. She continued to march in the 1960s. In 2014, she became chairwoman of the Civil Rights Activist Committee “Home of the Foot Soldiers,’’ which was formed in 1991.
High school students from Birmingham City Schools will join the Birmingham foot soldiers for the re-enactment, which will include the following route on the sidewalk:
Gather at the park’s pavilion at 8:30 a.m. (17th Street North runs behind the pavilion.)
At 9 a.m., the march will start at 17th Street North and Sixth Avenue North
Cross 17th Street North and walk down Sixth Avenue North
Cross 18th Street North
Cross 19th Street North and turn left onto 19th Street North
Walk down 19th Street North and turn right onto Park Place
Take an immediate left onto Short 20th Street North in front of City Hall
Walk down the sidewalk on Short 20th Street North
Cross Abraham Woods Jr. Boulevard and enter Boutwell Auditorium
Roby, who was featured as one of the City of Birmingham’s 2025 StrongHer honorees, said they will use the same route they used in 1963 when they walked to City Hall to talk to the mayor at that time about segregation. To see Roby’s StrongHer foot soldier story, please go here.
