Birmingham campaign

===Selective buying campaign===
Modeled on the [[Montgomery bus boycott]], protest actions in Birmingham began in 1962, when students from local colleges arranged for a year of staggered boycotts.  They caused downtown business to decline by as much as 40&nbsp;percent, which attracted attention from Chamber of Commerce president Sidney Smyer, who commented that the "racial incidents have given us a black eye that we'll be a long time trying to forget".<ref>Fairclough, p.&nbsp;113</ref> In response to the boycott, the City Commission of Birmingham punished the black community by withdrawing $45,000 (${{formatnum:{{inflation|US|45000|1962|r=-4}}}} in {{CURRENTYEAR}}) from a surplus-food program used primarily by low-income black families. The result, however, was a black community more motivated to resist.<ref name="Garrow"/>

The SCLC decided that economic pressure on Birmingham businesses would be more effective than pressure on politicians, a lesson learned in Albany as few black citizens were registered to vote in 1962. In the spring of 1963, before Easter, the Birmingham boycott intensified during the second-busiest shopping season of the year. Pastors urged their congregations to avoid shopping in Birmingham stores in the downtown district. For six weeks supporters of the boycott patrolled the downtown area to make sure black shoppers were not patronizing stores that promoted or tolerated segregation. If black shoppers were found in these stores, organizers confronted them and shamed them into participating in the boycott. Shuttlesworth recalled a woman whose $15 hat (${{formatnum:{{inflation|US|15|1962|r=-1}}}} in {{CURRENTYEAR}}) was destroyed by boycott enforcers. Campaign participant Joe Dickson recalled, "We had to go under strict surveillance. We had to tell people, say look: if you go downtown and buy something, you're going to have to answer to us."<ref>
{{cite web
 |url         = http://www.bcri.org/resource_gallery/interview_segments/index.htm#
 |title       = Interview with Joe Dickson
 |date        = 1996-04-15
 |format      = [[QuickTime]]
 |publisher   = Birmingham Civil Rights Institute Online
 |url-status     = dead
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20080101133527/http://www.bcri.org/resource_gallery/interview_segments/index.htm
 |archive-date = 2008-01-01
}}</ref> After several business owners in Birmingham took down "white only" and "colored only" signs, Commissioner Connor told business owners that if they did not obey the segregation ordinances, they would lose their business licenses.<ref>Nunnelley, p.&nbsp;132.</ref><ref>Davis, p. 200.</ref>