Birmingham campaign

===Resolution===
{{Further|Birmingham riot of 1963}}
[[File:Bomb wreckage near Gaston Motel (14 May 1963).JPG|thumb|alt=A black and white photograph of a building in ruins next to an intact wall|Wreckage at the [[A.G. Gaston Motel]] following the [[Birmingham crisis|bomb explosion]] on May 11, 1963]]

On May 8 at 4&nbsp;am, white business leaders agreed to most of the protesters' demands. Political leaders held fast, however.  The rift between the businessmen and the politicians became clear when business leaders admitted they could not guarantee the protesters' release from jail. On May 10, Fred Shuttlesworth and Martin Luther King Jr. told reporters that they had an agreement from the City of Birmingham to desegregate lunch counters, restrooms, drinking fountains and fitting rooms within 90&nbsp;days, and to hire black people in stores as salesmen and clerks. Those in jail would be released on bond or their own recognizance. Urged by Kennedy, the [[United Auto Workers]], [[National Maritime Union]], United Steelworkers Union, and the [[American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations]] (AFL-CIO) raised $237,000 in bail money (${{formatnum:{{inflation|US|237000|1963|r=-4}}}} in {{CURRENTYEAR}}) to free the demonstrators.<ref>Garrow, (1989) p.&nbsp;182.</ref> Commissioner Connor and the outgoing mayor condemned the resolution.<ref>Nunnelley, p.&nbsp;157.</ref>

On the night of May 11, a bomb heavily damaged the [[A.G. Gaston Motel]] where King had been staying—and had left only hours before—and another damaged the house of [[Alfred Daniel Williams King|A. D. King]], Martin Luther King Jr.'s brother. When police went to inspect the motel, they were met with rocks and bottles from neighborhood black citizens.  The arrival of state troopers only further angered the crowd; in the early hours of the morning, thousands of black people rioted, numerous buildings and vehicles were burned, and several people, including a police officer, were stabbed.<ref>
[http://cgi.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1996/analysis/back.time/9605/15/ "Freedom-Now" ''Time'', May 17, 1963] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150309014723/http://cgi.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1996/analysis/back.time/9605/15/ |date=2015-03-09 }}; Glenn T. Eskew, ''But for Birmingham: The Local and National Struggles in the Civil Rights Movement'' (University of North Carolina Press, 1997), p. 301.
</ref> By May 13, three thousand federal troops were deployed to Birmingham to restore order, even though Alabama Governor George Wallace told President Kennedy that state and local forces were sufficient.<ref>Cotman, pp.&nbsp;89–90.</ref> Martin Luther King Jr. returned to Birmingham to stress nonviolence.

Outgoing mayor Art Hanes left office after the Alabama State Supreme Court ruled that Albert Boutwell could take office on May 21, 1963. Upon picking up his last paycheck, Bull Connor remarked tearfully, "This is the worst day of my life."<ref>Nunnelley, p.&nbsp;162.</ref> In June 1963, the [[Jim Crow laws|Jim Crow]] signs regulating segregated public places in Birmingham were taken down.<ref name="fairclough-aftermath"/>