Birmingham Campaign Vs Albany Campaign

 

      There were many successful and unsuccessful campaigns in the civil rights movement.  Albany gives an example of a failure, and Birmingham gives an example of a success.  By examining what made Birmingham success and what caused Albany to fail one can see how to lead a better campaign.

      Birmingham was the more successful of the two campaigns.  This campaign was led by the SCLC.  It was focused on desegregation and fair employment.  The activists stayed nonviolent even though they were attacked with dogs and fire hoses.  People across the globe were shocked by this attack on non-violent people.  This resulted in world-wide media coverage and sympathy demonstrations all across the country.  These demonstrations caused violence to rise in the South.  This forced Kennedy to call for freedom. He submitted a Civil Rights Bill to Congress.

      Birmingham was a clear success for the civil rights movement.  The Albany campaign, however, was not.  This campaign was a failure for many reasons.  First this campaign was started by the SNNC.  The SNNC was obviously over it's head, so Martin Luther King brought in the SCLC to bail them out.  The SNNC resented this.  This caused friction between the organizations.  As a result, they did not work together closely.  This lack of cooperation caused this campaign to lack focus.  Without focus they could not effectively put pressure on their oppressors.

      The failure in Albany was not all the Black's fault.  It was also aided by Bull Pritchards use of non-violence against the activists.  He was equally racist as the Birmingham police who sicked dogs on the blacks, but he was more shrewd.  He knew non-violence would take away the advantage that the blacks had.  They counted on violence to draw attention to their cause.  Without this attention, their campaign failed.

      Comparing the Albany and Birmingham campaigns allows one to see what is needed for a non-violent campaign to work.  Obviously, one needs non-violence.  One also needs focus and unified leadership.  Also, the campaign is more effective if your opponent uses violence. These components greatly increase the viability of a campaign.