Julie+D.+A+Year+in+History

“Segregation now, segregation tomorrow, and segregation forever!” exclaimed George C. Wallace, governor of Alabama. This proclamation was just a small segment of Wallace’s inaugural address given on January 14, 1963. It was only the beginning of the year and segregation continued to guide the United States, full speed ahead. However, Wallace was not the only voice to be heard during this monumental year. Others began to speak out, and so began a “loud” year in history.

Just two short weeks after Wallace delivered his address, African American student Harvey Gantt entered Clemson University in South Carolina, the last state to hold out against racial integration. The nation was making strides, but the fight to end segregation was far from over. April began an active period of upheaval in the United States. On the third, Southern Christian Leadership Conference volunteers kicked off the Birmingham campaign against segregation with a sit-in. This was not a form of upheaval per se; but, within a month of the sit-in, the country saw action like it had not quite seen before. May 2, 1963 marked a violent day against African American protestors. Public safety commissioner Eugene “Bull” Connor unleashed police dogs and fire hoses on the demonstrators in Birmingham, Alabama. No one expected such hostility from a man in his position of power.

The back and forth between pro-segregation and pro-integration individuals and groups continued as the year progressed. On June 11, George C. Wallace reared his head once again in the public spotlight. Wallace decided to stand in the door of the University of Alabama to show his disdain toward integration before he had to step aside and allow James Hood and Vivian Malone to enroll. That same day marked a promise from President John F. Kennedy. He stood before the nation and delivered a Civil Rights Address in which he promised a Civil Rights Bill and asked for “the kind of equality of treatment that we would want for ourselves.”

The next two months, from a Civil Rights standpoint, were fairly quiet. On August 18, 1963 a major stride forward was taken as African American James Meredith graduated from the University of Mississippi. Ten days later marked one of the greatest events of the Civil Rights movement. On August 28, Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his “I Have a Dream” speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. King was surrounded by an audience of at least 250,000 during the March on Washington for jobs and freedom.

August was a step forward for Civil Rights, but with September came two steps backward. The violence against African Americans continued and on the fifteenth, the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham killed four children and injured twenty two other members. The culprits were members of the Ku Klux Klan. The bombing provoked banter between big names such as Wallace, Connor, and King; but more importantly, it brought strangers together. More than 8,000 people attended funeral services for the victims. The bombing stole the spotlight of America for some time, but another monumental event took place two months later that shocked the country. The Civil Rights struggle took a back seat to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. He was laid to rest on November 25, 1963 in Arlington National Cemetery; three days after Lyndon Baines Johnson took over as President. Lee Harvey Oswald, Kennedy’s assassin, was shot dead on November 24 in Dallas, Texas on live national television.

The assassination of JFK overshadowed most everything that took place during the year 1963. However, there are a number of events outside of this tragedy and the Civil Rights movement that merit a mention.

1963 was a year of several significant court rulings. On March 18, the decision in // Gideon v. Wainwright //was announced. The Supreme Court decided that state courts are required, under the Constitution, to provide counsel in criminal cases for defendants who are not able to afford attorneys. Three months later, on June 17, the verdict for // Abington School District v. Schempp // was made known. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of Schempp 8-1 that school-sponsored Bible reading was unconstitutional.

This was also a year with an unusual number of disasters resulting in large numbers of casualties. Late in the year, two mines caused destruction. One collapsed in Germany which left eleven miners stranded for a total of fourteen days. On November 9, a coal mine exploded in Japan, killing 458 and sending 839 to the hospital due to carbon monoxide poisoning. These two mine incidents followed an earthquake that left 1,800 dead in Skopje, Yugoslavia and a landslide behind the Vajont Dam that left over 2,000 dead in northeast Italy.

On a global scale, 1963 was a year of progress. Female suffrage was enacted in Iran, Canada named its fourteenth Prime Minister, and the Organization of African Unity was established in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. At the close of the year, Kenya and Zanzibar each became independent nations. This was also the year of the first woman in space. Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova ascended aboard Vostok 6 on June 16 and returned three days later. There are two more events from 1963 that cannot go without being mentioned. On March 22 the Beatles released their first album titled // Please Please Me //. To end the year, for all sports fanatics, instant replay was invented and aired during the Army/Navy game on December 7; one of the most important advances in the realm of sports.

1963 was an important stepping stone for years to come. Through all of the ups and downs, the world pressed on and became stronger because of it all.