Bloody Tuesday (1964)

On 9 June 1964 a group of peaceful African-American Civil rights marchers were beaten, arrested and tear gassed by police in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. The demonstrators were walking from the First African Baptist Church to the Tuscaloosa County Courthouse in order to protest against segregated restrooms and drinking fountains in the Courthouse which were designated for whites only.^[1]

Thirty-three men, women and children were sent to the hospital and another 94 were arrested by the Tuscaloosa Police Department. The events and number of injuries were similar to the Bloody Sunday events of the Selma to Montgomery marches a year later, but whereas the later events were viewed by journalists and captured on film, causing nationwide revulsion and political change in the United States, the Tuscaloosa events were not witnessed by journalists and had little impact at the time outside the local community.^[2]

The events took place nearly a year after Alabama Governor George C. Wallace blocked the schoolhouse door in an attempt to prevent two African-American students from entering the University of Alabama.

See also

• Civil rights
• Martin Luther King, Jr.
• Stand in the Schoolhouse Door
• William Chace

References