" In the spring, the
S.C.L.C. spearheaded a massive campaign in Birmingham for
desegregation and fair employment. Marches occurred almost daily.
The marchers maintained their nonviolent tactics in the face of
many arrests and much intimidation. In May, when the police
resorted to the use of dogs and high-pressure water hoses, the
nation and the world were shocked, Sympathy demonstrations
occurred in dozens of cities all across the country, and
expressions of indignation resounded from all around the world.
In June, the head of Mississippi's N.A.A.C.P., Medgar Evers, was
shot in the back outside his home and killed. Scores of sympathy
demonstrations again reverberated throughout the country.
Violence in the South was on the increase.
Although President Kennedy had intended to use his executive
authority as his main weapon in securing civil rights, the
mounting pressure on both sides of the conflict forced him to
take more drastic action, and he submitted a Civil Rights Bill to
Congress. Opponents of the Bill were particularly perturbed by
the section which sought to guarantee the end of discrimination
in all kinds of public accommodations--stores, restaurants,
hotels, motels, etc.
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