The police force in Birmingham, Alabama switches tactics and responds with violent force to stop the "Birmingham campaign" protesters. Images of the violent suppression are transmitted worldwide, bringing new-found attention to the civil rights movement.

Birmingham is a city in the north central region of Alabama, United States. It is the second-most populous city in the state with a population of 200,733 at the 2020 census and estimated at 196,357 in 2024, while the Birmingham metropolitan area with over 1.19 million residents is the largest metropolitan area in Alabama and 47th-most populous in the US. Birmingham serves as a major regional economic, medical, and educational hub of the Deep South, Piedmont, and Appalachian regions. It is the county seat of Jefferson County.

The Birmingham campaign, also known as the Birmingham movement or Birmingham confrontation, was an American movement organized in early 1963 by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) to bring attention to the integration efforts of African Americans in Birmingham, Alabama.

The civil rights movement was a social movement in the United States from 1954 to 1968 which aimed to abolish legalized racial segregation, discrimination, and disenfranchisement in the country, which most commonly affected African Americans. The movement had origins in the Reconstruction era in the late 19th century, and modern roots in the 1940s. After years of nonviolent protests and civil disobedience campaigns, the civil rights movement achieved many of its legislative goals in the 1960s, during which it secured new protections in federal law for the civil rights of all Americans.