Speaker 1: Just a heads up. This episode contains topics of violence
Speaker 1: towards children and animals that may be disturbing to some.
Speaker 1: Please take care while listening. You're listening to American Shadows,
Speaker 1: a production of I Heart Radio and Grim and Mild
Speaker 1: from Aaron Mankey. It's a story we grew up with
Speaker 1: in the history classes of our youth, the Revolutionary War
Speaker 1: and the events leading up to it, though some violent
Speaker 1: or heavily political aspects were removed until we were older,
Speaker 1: such is the case with the Boston Tea Party as
Speaker 1: we've come to know it. The American colonies had just
Speaker 1: started to recover from the French and Indian War, which
Speaker 1: was part of a larger conflict that played out across
Speaker 1: the globe. As countries fought for more territory, war costs
Speaker 1: money and to offset its debt, the British Parliament taxed
Speaker 1: the colonists. In seventeen sixty five, the Stamp Act taxed
Speaker 1: all paper goods, from newspapers to legal documents to playing cards.
Speaker 1: In seventeen sixty seven, Parliament added the town Send Acts,
Speaker 1: which tax consumer goods like paint, glass, lead, and tea,
Speaker 1: among other things. Colonists were displeased that the British taxed
Speaker 1: them on raw materials that they supplied and shipped to England.
Speaker 1: They were less happy that the products were heavily marked
Speaker 1: up and sent back. Anger and resentment grew, especially since
Speaker 1: colonists felt they had little to no representation in the
Speaker 1: Parliament that was claiming to act on their behalf. As
Speaker 1: the resentment grew, so did the violence. In seventeen seventy
Speaker 1: the Boston Massacre sparked further discord. The last straw was
Speaker 1: the Tea Act of seventeen seventy three. The problem had
Speaker 1: started when the British repealed the town Send taxes on
Speaker 1: other products but kept the tax on tea. You see,
Speaker 1: the revenue from one point to million pounds of tea
Speaker 1: was to appealing. Tea loving ownials found a solution, though
Speaker 1: they boycotted the British East India Company and purchased more affordable,
Speaker 1: if smuggled, Dutch tea. This left the British East India
Speaker 1: Company holding millions of pounds of tea. All was not
Speaker 1: lost for the company, though it was large enough and
Speaker 1: had plenty of political connections. In May of seventeen seventy three,
Speaker 1: Parliament passed the Tea Act, the East India Company could
Speaker 1: sell tea duty free, helping to undercut Dutch tea prices. However,
Speaker 1: the lower prices cut into the profit of smugglers like
Speaker 1: Sam Adams and John Hancock. Since it wouldn't come across
Speaker 1: as patriotic to complain about the loss of income from smuggling,
Speaker 1: they instead decried taxation without representation, making tea their rallying point.
Speaker 1: In December of seventeen three, three ships carrying tea from
Speaker 1: the East India Company arrived in Boston Harbor. To their surprise,
Speaker 1: and angry mob met them at the port. Much of
Speaker 1: the crowd had been whipped into a frenzy by clandestine
Speaker 1: political group that called themselves the Sons of Liberty. The
Speaker 1: mob refused to allow the ships to unload, and the
Speaker 1: governor refused to allow the ships to return to England.
Speaker 1: This impast lasted until December six. That night, members of
Speaker 1: the Sons of Liberty, wearing disguises, quietly slipped onto the
Speaker 1: ships and tossed the tea overboard. The men left as
Speaker 1: quietly as they boarded, and disappeared into the night. We've
Speaker 1: come to know this event as the Boston Tea Party.
Speaker 1: And though some residents cheered, many reacted with disgusted. George
Speaker 1: Washington berated Bostonians for their conduct. Other prominent patriots, including
Speaker 1: Benjamin Franklin, argued in favor of compensating the East India
Speaker 1: Company for their losses, but ultimately Parliament's punitive reaction to
Speaker 1: the Boston Tea Party was one of the sparks that
Speaker 1: started the Revolutionary War, making it perhaps one of the
Speaker 1: most notable protests in history, and protests have been part
Speaker 1: of American life ever since. The reasons have varied, and
Speaker 1: while we understand the rationale behind some, others have existed
Speaker 1: only in the darkest recesses of an individual's mind. I'm
Speaker 1: Lauren Vogelbaum. Welcome to American Shadows. After the American Revolution,
Speaker 1: the French found themselves preoccupied with growing problems back home,
Speaker 1: leaving much of the colonized territories in Michigan wide open. Sadly,
Speaker 1: the indigenous peoples living there weren't much of a consideration
Speaker 1: when colonists moved in. After a few battles and skirmishes,
Speaker 1: the settlers took over the prime farming land. Considering New
Speaker 1: England's weather, many found the climate more temperate natural resources
Speaker 1: were also more abundant. It didn't take long before more
Speaker 1: people moved to the area. In eighteen o five, the
Speaker 1: Michigan Territory was aided, lowing in more colonists. The population
Speaker 1: increased again after the Erie Canal's completion in eighteen twenty five,
Speaker 1: and by eighteen thirty seven one Silas Rose, along with
Speaker 1: his wife, five children, and all their livestock, relocated from
Speaker 1: New York to Michigan. The family promptly carved out a
Speaker 1: portion of land they called Bath in honor of their
Speaker 1: hometown back in New York. In a few years, Bath
Speaker 1: had a few dozen settlers. Most were farmers seeking a
Speaker 1: way to make a living and pass down land from
Speaker 1: generation to generation. In eighteen forty three, Bath became a township,
Speaker 1: and the citizens held their first election on April eighteenth
Speaker 1: of that year. By the mid eighteen hundreds, the town
Speaker 1: had a sawmill, a brick factory, shops, and a post office.
Speaker 1: Rail service soon followed, allowing their goods to be sold
Speaker 1: to other towns. They even had a one room schoolhouse
Speaker 1: where children of all ages learned side by side. Most
Speaker 1: children stayed long enough for a grammar school education. Roughly
Speaker 1: eight years. At the time, most kids who wanted to
Speaker 1: attend high school had to pass an entrance exam. Since
Speaker 1: high schools weren't common in rural areas, children pursuing further
Speaker 1: education often went to stay with a relative who lived
Speaker 1: in town. As Bath grew over the coming decades, neither
Speaker 1: the kids nor the community benefited from these small schoolhouses.
Speaker 1: Across the nation, larger schools provided education for children in
Speaker 1: grades one through twelve. By the nineteen teens, every morning,
Speaker 1: motor buses drove through districts of other cities to pick
Speaker 1: up kids and drop them off at school. Each school
Speaker 1: had teachers for each of the grades and subjects. By
Speaker 1: approximately twelve thousand of these new modern schools had been
Speaker 1: built across the country. While some people were happy about
Speaker 1: furthering their children's educations, others took offense. Many stated that
Speaker 1: they had turned out just fine with the old way
Speaker 1: of teaching. Others wanted to know who would pay for
Speaker 1: the new schools of uses and extra teachers. Of course,
Speaker 1: like in all cities across America, money for schools meant
Speaker 1: higher taxes. Bath residents argued bitterly for years as some
Speaker 1: parents wanted more for their children than what they had
Speaker 1: been given. Others thought the cost was too high. Eventually,
Speaker 1: Bath voted to create a new school. To save money,
Speaker 1: they opted to renovate an existing one. The local brick
Speaker 1: factory provided materials. Construction on the school began in the
Speaker 1: fall of and when they finished, residents boasted that the
Speaker 1: school was one of the most modern in mid Michigan.
Speaker 1: A sense of pride replaced anger for most residents who
Speaker 1: had been against the school, all except Andrew Keyhoe, who
Speaker 1: had moved to Bath from to Come See. His parents
Speaker 1: had once had high expectations for him. As a child,
Speaker 1: Keyhoe had shown talent with mechanical devices. His aptitude for
Speaker 1: mechanics had helped modernize the family farm back into Come
Speaker 1: See life. Chain deb eighteen, when his mother died and
Speaker 1: his father remarried a woman twenty five years younger. Keyhoe
Speaker 1: didn't care for his father's new wife, and he left
Speaker 1: home for a while before returning. By then he had
Speaker 1: a half sister, Irene, whom he also did not like.
Speaker 1: To show his displeasure, he killed Irene's cat. Then, in
Speaker 1: nineteen eleven, the gas stove mysteriously caught fire while his
Speaker 1: stepmother was making dinner. Keyhoe watched her burn for a
Speaker 1: while before fetching a pail of water. She did not
Speaker 1: survive small towns. Being small towns where everyone knows everyone
Speaker 1: else's business, it had been no secret that Keyhoe hated
Speaker 1: his stepmother and half sister, and like most small towns,
Speaker 1: rumors began to swirl that he had rigged to the
Speaker 1: stove to catch fire. On May fi, just eight months
Speaker 1: after his stepmother's death, Keyhoe married one Ellen Agnes Price.
Speaker 1: Had met Ellen, known simply as Nellie to family and friends,
Speaker 1: while attending Michigan State College. The couple settled on his
Speaker 1: family farm. Like other residents, Nellie was an avid churchgoer. Keyhoe, however,
Speaker 1: was not oh Once when the town planned to erect
Speaker 1: a new church, Keiho threatened the parish priest with violence
Speaker 1: for requesting a four hundred dollar donation. When his father died,
Speaker 1: Keihoe purchased farm land in Bath from Nellie's aunt. He
Speaker 1: paid half in cash and took a mortgage for the remainder.
Speaker 1: The population in Bath was just over three hundred, so
Speaker 1: newcomers were exciting, and many residents recalled Nellie from her
Speaker 1: childhood trips to her aunt and uncle's farm. They were
Speaker 1: none the wiser when it came to Keyhoe's past. Some
Speaker 1: regarded him as a kind gentleman who said hello to
Speaker 1: the children and tipped his hat to the ladies. Others
Speaker 1: thought he was trick Obsessed with the newest farm technologies
Speaker 1: like gas powered tractors, Keyho didn't dress like most farmers.
Speaker 1: He took to the day wearing a suit, vest and
Speaker 1: shiny dress shoes. Visitors to the farm noted that his
Speaker 1: tools were kept clean and orderly, not even a rake
Speaker 1: out of place, But talk of his quirky ways and
Speaker 1: gentlemanly manners soon stopped as he returned to his old
Speaker 1: ways of being short tempered and suspicious of everyone. He
Speaker 1: shot the neighbor's dog for barking, and when a horse
Speaker 1: he purchased didn't live up to his expectations, he beat
Speaker 1: it to death. And of course, there were the odd
Speaker 1: explosions on the property. While dynamite wasn't unheard of on
Speaker 1: farms to break up land, and most considered it useful
Speaker 1: only in the most experienced hands, even so, the couple
Speaker 1: remained popular among the townsfolk. Keyho enjoyed spending time at
Speaker 1: the local farm bureaus, where he showed off his talent
Speaker 1: with modern technical marvels. He also joined the school board,
Speaker 1: though the couple had no children themselves. Neighbors considered Keyhoe's
Speaker 1: interest in extension of his commitment to the community. He
Speaker 1: was well educated, so his involvement with education seemed natural.
Speaker 1: No one realized his motives were anything but generous. Keyhoe
Speaker 1: was frugal, to say the least. While he freely spent
Speaker 1: money on himself in the farm's latest technology, Keyhoe felt
Speaker 1: he shouldn't have to pay for anything that didn't benefit
Speaker 1: him directly. Nothing set off his temper like taxes, especially
Speaker 1: taxes for school. In his mind, since he had no children,
Speaker 1: he shouldn't have to pay towards their education. But when
Speaker 1: the board held a vote on November twelfth, of only
Speaker 1: twenty out of seventy six opposed a plan to fund
Speaker 1: the new school's athletic field by raising property taxes. Additional
Speaker 1: taxes were needed to hire teachers and staff. When the
Speaker 1: doors opened in the fall of nWo Keiho watched the
Speaker 1: community rally behind the school with complete contempt. A man
Speaker 1: by the name of Emery Haike, a veteran and one
Speaker 1: of the school's teachers also took on the position of superintendent.
Speaker 1: Hike worked hard to make the bussing system successful and
Speaker 1: focused on earning the school's accreditation. In nineteen twenty five.
Speaker 1: He succeeded, making the bad consolidated school one of the
Speaker 1: best schools in Michigan. Keiho seethed, so when the board
Speaker 1: treasurer was up for reelection, Keiho ran against him and won.
Speaker 1: He was sworn in a week later. Keiho took on
Speaker 1: additional roles as well, working as a janitor and handyman.
Speaker 1: For the next few years, he fought with the school
Speaker 1: board in the town over his property's value, trying to
Speaker 1: reduce it to lower his taxes. Keiho argued that the
Speaker 1: taxes had risen to the point where Pe could no
Speaker 1: longer pay his mortgage. His wife, Sant, who held the
Speaker 1: mortgage on the farm, threatened foreclosure. He shouted at her
Speaker 1: that if he couldn't of their no one would a
Speaker 1: word regarding Keyhoe's obstructionist behavior and policies caused him to
Speaker 1: lose the election for town clerk in and adding to
Speaker 1: his stress, Nellie had tuberculosis, which was often fatal, especially
Speaker 1: in rural areas like Bath. The townsfolk quietly observed the
Speaker 1: Keyhos temper had reached a fever pitch by the end
Speaker 1: of the school year. Neighbor Monty Ellsworth noticed a two
Speaker 1: ft long box full of rifle shells and Keyhoe's truck.
Speaker 1: Though Ellsworth didn't tell anyone the amount of weapons and
Speaker 1: ammunition his neighbor had stockpiled made of nervous If Ellsworth
Speaker 1: had known what else his neighbor had stoppiled, it might
Speaker 1: have sent off alarm bells loud enough for the entire town.
Speaker 1: Lightning and thunder rumbled across Bath on the morning of
Speaker 1: May eighte The farming town was happy about the much
Speaker 1: needed rain. The resulting power outage was another matter. The
Speaker 1: storm took out the school generator, preventing the school bell
Speaker 1: from ringing. The residents carried on as usual everywhere in Bath,
Speaker 1: students prepared for the last day of school. A nine
Speaker 1: year old Robert Hart had spent the morning feeding chickens
Speaker 1: before realizing he was running late. He shouted goodbye to
Speaker 1: his mom as he ran off to school. Third grader
Speaker 1: Arnold Boyerla tried convincing his parents to let him stay
Speaker 1: home and go shopping with them in Lansing. Unfortunately, he
Speaker 1: had missed enough school already and they sent him on
Speaker 1: his way. Twelve year old Lola Hart lamented to her
Speaker 1: mother that she had a test that day that would
Speaker 1: surely kill her. In response, her mother assured her everything
Speaker 1: would be fine. To brighten the day, Lola stopped to
Speaker 1: pick lilacs to take with her to class. Seven year
Speaker 1: old Ralph Cushman walked to school with his older sister, Josephine.
Speaker 1: He talked excitedly about the long summer ahead and all
Speaker 1: the games of baseball he intended to play once at
Speaker 1: the school. Josephine smiled and promised her little brother she
Speaker 1: would seem at lunch, before disappearing into the sea of
Speaker 1: students heading to their classes. Principal Floyd Huggett stood on
Speaker 1: the school steps at eight thirty, ringing a bell signifying
Speaker 1: that class was about to begin. After the last students
Speaker 1: stepped inside, Huggett walked next door to the church to
Speaker 1: check on the details for the commencement celebrations planned for
Speaker 1: the following night. Keyho drove into the parking lot and
Speaker 1: headed inside. One of the faculty asked him to check
Speaker 1: on the boiler. It frequently gave them trouble, and though
Speaker 1: that asked him several times to take a look, it
Speaker 1: had never been fixed. Many thought it was odd, given
Speaker 1: Keyhoe's ability to fix almost everything. One teacher, Miss gudakanst
Speaker 1: allowed her class to start a little late that day.
Speaker 1: By eight thirty five, over two hundred and fifty students
Speaker 1: were in attendance. A group of senior boys stepped outside
Speaker 1: to celebrate their last stay with an impromptu baseball game,
Speaker 1: and the day had started out bleary but seemed to
Speaker 1: be shaping up nicely, and several minutes after arriving, Keyhoe
Speaker 1: left the school and drove away. The first explosion tore
Speaker 1: apart the north wing of the school at walls collapsed
Speaker 1: onto the children, Floors and ceilings shook, windows burst, and
Speaker 1: brick and plaster shot through the air like missiles. The
Speaker 1: boys playing baseball outside were grown to the ground. Survivors
Speaker 1: and nearby residents scrambled to help. They plowed at the
Speaker 1: debris to find anyone buried underneath. Parents screamed and sobbed
Speaker 1: as they clung to lifeless forms on the lawn. A
Speaker 1: few men passing the Keyhoe farm noticed smoke. They stopped
Speaker 1: to help and found the bar and ablaze. Realizing it
Speaker 1: was too late to save any of the animals, they
Speaker 1: headed to the house, but promptly left and they found
Speaker 1: a stack of dynamite with a timer. They only narrowly
Speaker 1: escaped the blast threw them against their cars. A neighbors
Speaker 1: stood stunned as Keyho jumped into his truck and yelled
Speaker 1: at them to get to the school before speeding away.
Speaker 1: The fire marshal and other first responders at the school
Speaker 1: noticed the smell of explosives. Rescue efforts were underway to
Speaker 1: get the wounded to the nearby hospital. Adults took uninjured
Speaker 1: children to a nearby home to prevent them from seeing
Speaker 1: so much death and destruction. Ke Ho roared into the
Speaker 1: parking lot and stopped next to Superintendent Hike's car. He
Speaker 1: jumped out, rifle in hand. Hike walked over to him,
Speaker 1: either mistaking his intentions to help or possibly to stop Keyhoe.
Speaker 1: Once he saw the rifle, Keiho turned and fired into
Speaker 1: his own truck, where had stashed a considerable amount of
Speaker 1: dynamite and boxes of nuts, bolts and nails. The shot
Speaker 1: ignited the dynamite and a ball of gas and flames
Speaker 1: incinerated the men. The nails and other loose items became
Speaker 1: lethal shrapnel, hitting bystanders. One of the children who had
Speaker 1: survived the initial old blast died after sharpnel lodged into
Speaker 1: his spine. Josephine Cushman stood in the parking lot, confused
Speaker 1: in shock. People ran, screamed, or were lying on the ground.
Speaker 1: She caught a glimpse of her parents and ran to them.
Speaker 1: Sobbing blood streamed from her leg. Until then, she had
Speaker 1: no idea she had been hit by shrapnel. Her parents
Speaker 1: asked where her brother was. Josephine shook her head. She
Speaker 1: had no idea. Rescuers found him still sitting at his
Speaker 1: desk next to Ralph sat, another classmate. Neither boy had
Speaker 1: had time to escape. They were among the forty five
Speaker 1: killed in the mask Here fifty eight others were injured.
Speaker 1: The rescue efforts and clean up went on late into
Speaker 1: the night. Nothing like this had occurred at a school before.
Speaker 1: But for the residence of Bath, one thing was clear.
Speaker 1: The explosion hadn't been a case of a faulty boiler.
Speaker 1: One man angry over taxes had meticulously planned the most
Speaker 1: heinous act. They could imagine there were other victims not
Speaker 1: at the school. Investigators found Nellie's charred body in a
Speaker 1: cart at the back of the farm. Keyhoe had also
Speaker 1: hobbled all the horses in the barn to prevent them
Speaker 1: from escaping on a fence. He had left a hand
Speaker 1: painted sign Criminals are made, not born. While the town
Speaker 1: didn't have all the answers as to why key Hoo
Speaker 1: had decided on such depth and destruction, they knew this much.
Speaker 1: He blamed everyone else for his actions. It was a
Speaker 1: miracle more hadn't died. Investigators found the keyho had been
Speaker 1: rigging the entire building for months. A short circuit and
Speaker 1: one of the wires had prevented another five hundred pounds
Speaker 1: of dynamite in the south wing from exploding. In the aftermath,
Speaker 1: doctor nurses and help from neighboring towns poured in. Businesses
Speaker 1: sent food and provisions. The American Red Cross arrived to
Speaker 1: assist and took in donations, And then there were onlookers.
Speaker 1: The neighbor Monte Ellsworth, owned a gas station just outside
Speaker 1: of town. He told reporters that a double row of
Speaker 1: cars passed through Bath nearly fifty thousand vehicles drove down
Speaker 1: the stretch of road through the town to pay their
Speaker 1: respects or bear witness. The traffic was so thick that
Speaker 1: it took four hours to drive three miles, yet Ellsworth
Speaker 1: never heard a single car horn. He noted that the
Speaker 1: cars resembled one long funeral procession of sympathy. Money came
Speaker 1: in from across the country. Lancing architect donated new plans
Speaker 1: for rebuilding the school. Michigan Senator James Cousins donated dollars.
Speaker 1: The town rebuilt slowly. A year later, the school was
Speaker 1: finished a new and classes returned from local storerooms to
Speaker 1: the schoolhouse. Newspapers wrote the Keyhoe had been a deranged
Speaker 1: and demented madman. No matter how anyone tried, they could
Speaker 1: not understand such an act. Killing children and staff over
Speaker 1: taxes made sense to no one. One thing was certain, though,
Speaker 1: Andrew Keyhoe unwittingly united a country in the name of
Speaker 1: those he sought so bitterly to destroy. There's more to
Speaker 1: this story. Stick around after this brief sponsor break to
Speaker 1: hear all about it. It was May of ninety three,
Speaker 1: and the civil rights movement in Birmingham, Alabama had stalled.
Speaker 1: Dr Martin Luther King Jr. And others worried about the
Speaker 1: lack of supporters. King had traveled to Birmingham to rally
Speaker 1: support and stand toe to toe against die hard segregationists.
Speaker 1: Protest sit ins and boycotts were met with increasing violence,
Speaker 1: all for the crime of taking part in exposing the
Speaker 1: cruelty and unjust nature of the Jim Crow mentality. King
Speaker 1: and other activists knew they needed a new strategy. One
Speaker 1: of them, James Bevel, made a controversial suggestion utilize America's
Speaker 1: younger generations. The suggestion was met with a lot of pushback.
Speaker 1: King and the others had seen the violence against the
Speaker 1: adult protesters, but the idea spread throughout Birmingham's communities. Young
Speaker 1: adults and teenagers had seen the violence softened firsthand against
Speaker 1: their own parents. Their parents were only trying to ensure
Speaker 1: that they have a better, more equitable future, and needed help.
Speaker 1: Older teenagers had already participated in the protests, often marching
Speaker 1: with their parents, but younger children had always stayed home.
Speaker 1: King warned the parents that the police would arrest kids
Speaker 1: and that jail wasn't a place for them, But children
Speaker 1: throughout the city were determined to make a difference. The
Speaker 1: idea angered some community leaders. They asked how anyone could
Speaker 1: suggest pitting young kids against bull Connor, Birmingham's public safety commissioner,
Speaker 1: known for his cruel methods of injuring black protesters. Still, children,
Speaker 1: parents and other community leaders pushed the grassroots movement forward.
Speaker 1: They attended meetings and told the kids what to expect.
Speaker 1: Each child was taught to act non violently. The group
Speaker 1: began to refer to the day they would first protest,
Speaker 1: May second of nineteen sixty three as D Day. When
Speaker 1: the day arrived, thousands of children gathered at the sixteenth
Speaker 1: Street Baptist Church. After a quick briefing, they left, some
Speaker 1: carrying signs to march throughout the city. Children ranging from
Speaker 1: just seven years old to eighteen marched peacefully, making their
Speaker 1: way to the Mayor's office, where they hoped to talk
Speaker 1: about segregation. Some sang freedom songs and some marched quietly.
Speaker 1: All had skipped school. When they reached their destination, they
Speaker 1: did not receive a warm greeting. They expected to be
Speaker 1: spat on, pushed, and called names no matter what happened.
Speaker 1: They had been instructed to not fight back. But no
Speaker 1: matter what they had been told, no one expected what
Speaker 1: would happen next The police were already there waiting to
Speaker 1: arrest them. They were grabbed off the street, kicked and pushed,
Speaker 1: tossed into wagons and school buses that took them to jail.
Speaker 1: The children persisted protesting for days. That's when law enforcement
Speaker 1: turned water hoses on them. Hitting them was forced strong
Speaker 1: enough to knock them off their feet and send them
Speaker 1: sprawling to the hard pavement. The police unleashed canine units
Speaker 1: to attack the children. Officers beat protesters for clubs. Bull
Speaker 1: Connor reportedly laughed when he saw black children running in fear,
Speaker 1: but the sight of children being brutally attacked moved adult
Speaker 1: witnesses to respond with violent of their own against the police.
Speaker 1: They threw rocks, bottles, and bricks. Reporters converged on the scene.
Speaker 1: Those with video cameras were hosed down and arrested. As
Speaker 1: the days went on, the brutality spurred outrage across the nation.
Speaker 1: Over two thousand children were arrested. When the jails and
Speaker 1: attention centers overflowed, Connor created a makeshift jail at the
Speaker 1: fair grounds. The children kept coming and kept protesting. Without
Speaker 1: more police to fight them, more and more places to
Speaker 1: put them. The kids finally won, O'Connor retaliated. On May
Speaker 1: theo Wright and Birmingham's school superintendent composed a letter to
Speaker 1: schools demanding that every student who had participated in the
Speaker 1: protest be immediately expelled or suspended. The Board of Education
Speaker 1: members who Connor had endorsed all upheld the decision. Though
Speaker 1: Connor had attempted to quiet the press, they also persisted
Speaker 1: showing videos of the attacks on television networks across the country.
Speaker 1: Business his owners also began calling for an end to
Speaker 1: the violence. President John F. Kennedy sent the Assistant Attorney
Speaker 1: General to Birmingham to take part in the community negotiations,
Speaker 1: and eventually lunch counters, public restrooms, and businesses were desegregated
Speaker 1: in Birmingham. The children who had protested did make a
Speaker 1: difference for their communities, their parents, and their own futures.
Speaker 1: American Shadows is hosted by Lauren Vogelbaum. This episode was
Speaker 1: written by Michelle Muto, researched by Ali Steed, and produced
Speaker 1: by Miranda Hawkins and Trevor Young, with executive producers Aaron Mackey,
Speaker 1: Alex Williams, and Matt Frederick. To learn more about the show,
Speaker 1: visit grim and mild dot com. From more podcasts from
Speaker 1: iHeart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or
Speaker 1: wherever you get your podcasts.