Mighty Times: The Children’s March is a documentary film which premiered in 2004. The topic is the struggle against segregation in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1963.
Here is some basic information about this film:
** Director: Robert Houston (born 1955)
** Producer: Robert Hudson (born 1960)
** Narrator: Nick La Tour
** Distribution: HBO
** Run time: 40 minutes
INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND
In the spring of 1963, Martin Luther King, Jr. came to the city of Birmingham in the state of Alabama. It was a difficult time for him and for the civil rights movement. King and the movement had scored a big success with the Montgomery Bus Boycott, but this was back in 1955 and 1956; almost ten years ago.
Now he needed to move forward. He needed to score another victory somewhere. He chose Birmingham, because it was one of the most segregated cities in the south. If he could score a victory in this place, the doors would be open to other victories in other places.
King and some local people organized a peaceful demonstration. They were marching for an end to segregation, but things did not go well. King was arrested.
When he was released, he spoke at a public meeting in town. The plan was to copy a technique used by Mahatma Gandhi. The plan was to fill the jails with so many people that the authorities would have to give in.
But when King asked his audience who was ready to march with him, nobody volunteered. All adults were afraid to be arrested and to lose their jobs. They needed a job and a salary to feed their families. They hated segregation as much as King, but they were not ready to run a risk.
At that moment, someone had an idea: what about the children? Why don’t we let the children march? The children do not have jobs, so they cannot be fired. Perhaps the children can march?
King objected to this idea. He felt it was too dangerous. Several parents objected as well. They felt the same way. But once the idea had been planted in the community, it began to grow.
Reverend Bevel contacted Shelley “The Playboy” Stewart, a local disc jockey, who was popular among the young people of Birmingham. He was ready to help. Using his radio program, he could send secret messages to the children. Messages that only young people would understand, because he was speaking in a “young” language.
The reverend also contacted the local stars: members of the football team and the cheerleaders. If they were ready, other young people might be ready to follow them. They liked the idea. And so, the groundwork was laid, slowly and secretly.
The march took place over several days in May 1963. It was a huge confrontation. The local police had never experienced anything like it. The police officers could not believe what was happening here: children marching for freedom!
In this film, we learn:
** How the march was prepared, slowly and secretly
** What happened during the days when the children were marching
** What happened when the march was finally over
In this film, there are many talking heads. Many of them were children in 1963. Many of them took part in the children’s march. They lived to tell the story.
Archive footage is used between the talking heads. Archive footage is used to illustrate what happened during those fateful days in May 1963.
Archive footage includes one or two clips with Eugene “Bull” Connor (1897-1973) who was Commissioner of Public Safety in Birmingham for many years (1936-1954 and 1957-1963).
PARTICIPANTS
Here are the names of the people who are interviewed in the film (listed in alphabetical order):
** Harry Belafonte (1927-2023) – an actor - a singer – a civil rights activist
** Reverend James Bevel (1936-2008) – SCLC - he is the man behind the children’s march
** Clifford Clark (1906-1998) – a lawyer – political advisor to several Democratic presidents, including John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson
** Reverend Tony Cooper
** Richard Custer (died in 2013) – Birmingham Fire Department
** Gwen Gamble – the children’s march
** Mrs. Cleo Goree – a teacher in a local school
** Richard “Dick” Gregory (1932-2017) – a comedian – a civil rights activist
** Audrey Faye Hendricks (1953-2009) – the youngest child in the children’s march – she was only 9 when she was arrested – the story of her life is told in the following book written for young readers: The Youngest Marcher: The Story of Audrey Faye Hendricks by Cynthia Levinson (2017)
** Myrna Carter Jackson (born 1941) - NAACP
** Janice Wesley Kelsey – the children’s march
** Gloria Lewis – the children’s march
** Mary Hardy Lykes – the children’s march
** Carolyn Maull McKinstry – she is the author of a book about events in Birmingham in 1963 which she witnessed: While the World Watched: A Birmingham Bombing Survivor Comes of Age during the Civil Rights Movement (2013)
** James Orange – the children’s march
** Detective James Parsons (1933-2013) - Birmingham Police Department
** Nolan Shivers (born 1935) – Birmingham Police Department
** Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth (1922-2011) - movement leader
** Shelley “The Playboy” Stewart (born 1933) – a local disc jockey
** Jerome Taylor – the children’s march
** Reverend Andrew Young – movement leader
** Gwen Webb (born 1949) – the children’s march
BIRMINGHAM IN MAY 1963
The children's march began on 2 May 1963. This was day 1. On that day the confrontation began. The police stopped the children and arrested them. Children were loaded into school buses and transported to a prison. But whenever the police had arrested 50 children, another group of 50 children would start marching. They were also arrested, and so on and so forth.
The police used water cannons and dogs to stop the marchers. Pictures of police brutality against children were shown all over the US and caused an outrage among many people.
This went on for several days. On 8 May, after several days of marching, the authorities finally caved in. They were ready to talk. Negotiations began. On 10 May, after three days of negotiations, a solution was reached:
** The leaders of white Birmingham accepted that segregation would come to an end.
** Eugene “Bull” Connor, who was the symbol of enforced segregation and brutal repression, was fired from the post he had held for many years. The position was abolished.
The children had accomplished what the adults could not do: put an end to segregation and racial discrimination. It was a great triumph for the civil rights movement in Birmingham and in the US.
But while the authorities had surrendered, some members of the Ku Klux Klan could not accept a defeat.
Four months later, four members of the KKK planted a bomb in the 16th Street Baptist Church. On Sunday 15 September 1963 the bomb exploded, killing four young girls and injuring many others in the area. The road to freedom is long and filled with hardship.
REVIEWS AND RATINGS
What do reviewers say about this film? On IMDb it has a rating of 80 percent, which corresponds to four stars on Amazon.
In 2005, the film won an Oscar at the 77th Academy Awards for Documentary Short Subject.
The topic is important and I think the film will make a big impression on most viewers. While the Oscar is well-deserved, the four-star rating on IMDb makes sense. This film is good, but not great. There are two significant flaws. Let me explain:
FLAW # 1
The film opens with an on-screen message which says:
“Portions of this film were reenacted
using vintage cameras and film stocks.”
When the filmmakers wanted to tell the story of the children’s march in May 1963, they found some archive footage, but they soon realized that what was available did not cover the whole story. For obvious reasons, not every important moment was filmed. This was 1963, and not everyone had a smartphone to record every little detail.
In order to fill in the gaps, they decided to re-enact the missing moments. They did this with vintage cameras. The intention was good, but the result is unfortunate: the viewer cannot see what is what. The viewer cannot distinguish between the original footage from 1963 and the modern footage which was created for dramatic purposes many years later.
In a documentary film, we expect original documentation. Some historical moments can be re-enacted, this is fine, but if this is done, it should be clear when it happens. Sadly, this is not possible here!
FLAW # 2
The film is short. Too short to tell the whole story. It runs for only 40 minutes. Within this time frame, the filmmakers present more than twenty talking heads. Between the talking heads there is archive footage. How much time is left for the talking heads? Perhaps 20 minutes. On average one minute per talking head. Not much.
In fact, some talking heads get less than one minute. Some clips are so short that there is not enough time to see the face and read the identification before the clip is over. Only 10 or 15 seconds!
What is the solution to this problem?
One solution would be to cut out at least five talking heads, thus leaving more time for those who are still included.
Another solution would be to make the film longer; to add 20 minutes, so the total run time would be 60 minutes.
Why is the film so short? Why was it so important to keep the film within a 40-minute frame? Why not let the story run for 60 minutes? I guess it has something to do with the format of US television.
During one hour there are several commercials. These commercials will probably run for 15-20 minutes. Before and after the program. Sometimes even in the middle of the program. This means that there are only 40-45 minutes left for the real program.
I guess this is why the film has been compressed to 40 minutes, even though the story deserves more, and even though each talking head deserves at least one minute and not only a few seconds!
CONCLUSION
I like this film and I want to give it a good rating, but as you can see there are some flaws, which cannot be ignored, which cannot be overlooked. I have to remove one star because of these flaws. Therefore, this film cannot get more than four stars.
PS # 1. The Children’s March is also known as the Children’s Crusade. But the Children’s March in Birmingham in 1963 should not be confused with the Children’s Crusade which may have taken place in 1212.
PS # 2. Robert Houston and Robert Hudson worked together on another project about the civil rights movement in the US: Mighty Times: The Legacy of Rosa Parks, a documentary film, which premiered in 2002.
PS # 3. The following article is available online: Charlayne Hunter-Gault, “Fifty years after the Birmingham Children’s Crusade,” The New Yorker, 2 May 2013.
*****
*****
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