Birmingham campaign

===Standoff===
Black onlookers in the area of Kelly Ingram Park abandoned [[nonviolence]] on May 5. Spectators taunted police, and SCLC leaders begged them to be peaceful or go home. James Bevel borrowed a [[bullhorn]] from the police and shouted, "Everybody get off this corner. If you're not going to demonstrate in a nonviolent way, then leave!"<ref>
{{cite news
|last=Hailey
|first=Foster
|title=U.S. Seeking a Truce in Birmingham; Hoses Again Drive Off Demonstrators; Two Aides Meeting With Leaders—Negroes Halt Protests Temporarily
|work=[[The New York Times]]
|date=1963-05-05
|page=1}}</ref> Commissioner Connor was overheard saying, "If you'd ask half of them what freedom means, they couldn't tell you."<ref>Nunnelley, p.&nbsp;152.</ref> To prevent further marches, Connor ordered the doors to the churches blocked to prevent students from leaving.

By May 6, the jails were so full that Connor transformed the stockade at the state fairgrounds into a makeshift jail to hold protesters. Black protestors arrived at white churches to integrate services. They were accepted in [[Roman Catholic]], [[Episcopal Church in the United States of America|Episcopal]], and [[Presbyterian]] churches but turned away at others, where they knelt and prayed until they were arrested.<ref name="nyt5-6-63">
{{cite news
|last=Hailey
|first=Foster
|title=Birmingham Talks Pushed; Negroes March Peacefully
|work=[[The New York Times]]
|date=1963-05-06
|page=1}}</ref> Well-known national figures arrived to show support. Singer [[Joan Baez]] arrived to perform for free at Miles College and stayed at the black-owned and integrated Gaston Motel.<ref name="nyt5-6-63"/> Comedian [[Dick Gregory]] and [[Barbara Deming]], a writer for ''[[The Nation]]'', were both arrested. The young [[Dan Rather]] reported for [[CBS News]].<ref>Nunnelley, p.&nbsp;153.</ref> The car of [[Fannie Flagg]], a local television personality and recent [[Miss Alabama]] finalist, was surrounded by teenagers who recognized her. Flagg worked at Channel 6 on the morning show, and after asking her producers why the show was not covering the demonstrations, she received orders never to mention them on air. She rolled down the window and shouted to the children, "I'm with you all the way!"<ref>McWhorter, p.&nbsp;402.</ref>

Birmingham's fire department refused orders from Connor to turn the hoses on demonstrators again,<ref>McWhorter, p.&nbsp;387.</ref> and waded through the basement of the 16th Street Baptist Church to clean up water from earlier fire-hose flooding.<ref>McWhorter, p.&nbsp;406.</ref> White business leaders met with protest organizers to try and arrange an economic solution but said they had no control over politics. Protest organizers disagreed, saying that business leaders were positioned to pressure political leaders.<ref>McWhorter, pp.&nbsp;388–390.</ref>