Shattered Glass in Birmingham: My Family's Fight for Civil Rights, 1961-1964

15. Celebrities

173 15 Celebrities The world had flocked to Birmingham for the big showdown over segregation . Dad met with more journalists and writers than he could remember, including some already famous and others who would later become household names. One school-day a#ernoon during the April 1963 demonstrations, Dad telephoned Mom from a pay phone. He excitedly urged her to take the bus downtown to the Gaston Motel, where comedian and activist Dick Gregory was holding forth at a table full of movement folks. Gregory had come to Birmingham to join the demonstrations. For civil rights activists like Dad, Dick Gregory had long been a favorite. His cu
ing-edge humor relieved some of the daily stress of fighting against segregation. Dad had been retelling Gregory’s jokes for more than a year. As she le# the house, Mom had the foresight to take Ann’s new autograph book with her to the Gaston Motel. Dick Gregory’s signature became the only “famous person” autograph in Ann’s li
le book. But Ann soon realized that she always had to explain to her friends at school who Dick Gregory was. (In 1996, at a Martin Luther King Day celebration in Washington, D.C., Ann finally caught up with the comedian and activist. She trailed a#er him as he le# the dais. “Mr. Gregory!” He ignored her call. “Mr. Gregory! My parents got your autograph for me in 1963 at the Gaston Motel. . . .” He turned on his heel and locked eyes with her. “. . . and I’d love to have another autograph to pass on to my kids.” He smiled, shook Ann’s hand and signed her program.) On Sunday May 5, as the children’s crusade continued to fill Bull Connor ’s jails, Mom asked Ann to drive into Birmingham with her. “Come on, Ann, it’ll be fun. She’s a young girl who plays the guitar and sings beautifully. Why don’t you come to Miles College with me to hear her?” Mom asked. Ann said: “Nah, that’s okay, Mom. Maybe next time.” 174 shattered glass in birmingham Having come to Birmingham to express solidarity with the civil rights demonstrators, Joan Baez performed an evening concert at the black college , whose students had led earlier sit-ins and marches. Mom went alone, enjoyed the combination of folk songs and movement anthems, and clapped along with the music. During breakfast, as we prepared for school, she raved about the concert. “This thin young girl walked onto the stage barefoot, carrying a guitar!” Mom exclaimed. “With almond-shaped eyes, black hair hanging down her back, dark skin—Mexican, I think.” “The audience was integrated, and I could feel electricity in the air,” Mom said. “She has the most beautiful high soprano voice.” She looked at Ann. “You would have loved it!” I said: “Mrs. Kraus has her first album. She played some of it for me a#er German lessons. My favorites are ‘Silver Dagger’ and ‘East Virginia.’ The high notes made me shiver.” Mom said: “When she sang ‘We Shall Overcome,’ everyone sang along, holding hands—arms crossed like this—and swaying side to side. It was incredibly moving. Especially with an integrated audience—right here in Birmingham!” Ann said: “Oh, Mom! I wish I had gone with you!” (Later that year, the album Joan Baez in Concert, Part 2, included her rendition of “We Shall Overcome.” The liner notes said the song was recorded at Miles College in Birmingham, Alabama.)™ In an ironic coincidence, the motion picture To Kill a Mockingbird first premiered in Birmingham on April 3, 1963—the very day that the Birmingham campaign (“Project C”) began. This sensitive portrayal of racial controversies in 1930s Alabama, released nationally late in 1962, had seemed too unsettling for the white power structure of the Magic City. The Junior Chamber of Commerce finally persuaded city authorities to allow the movie to be shown locally. A#er all, the two young co-stars, Mary Badham and Philip Alford, came from Birmingham. Now the controversial film about racial injustice arrived in their hometown on the very day that Martin Luther King Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference began their effort to overthrow segregation. Based on Harper Lee’s Pulitzer Prize–winning novel, To Kill a Mockingbird told about the unjustified conviction of a black man falsely accused of celebrities 175 raping a white woman. From...