Bloody Tuesday (1964)

Bloody Tuesday
Part of the Civil Rights Movement
DateJune 9, 1964
Location
Caused byRacial segregation in the Tuscaloosa County Courthouse
Parties
  • Tuscaloosa Citizens for Action Committee (TCAC)
  • Tuscaloosa County Commission
  • Tuscaloosa Police Department
Lead figures

TCAC member

  • T. Y. Rogers

Police Chief

  • William Marable

Bloody Tuesday was a march that occurred on June 9, 1964, in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, during the Civil Rights Movement. The march was both organized and led by Rev. T. Y. Rogers and was to protest against segregated drinking fountains and restrooms in the county courthouse. The protest consisted of a group of peaceful African Americans walking from The First African Baptist Church to the Tuscaloosa County Courthouse; however, protesters did not get very far before being beaten, arrested, and tear gassed by not only police officers standing outside the church, but a mob of angry white citizens as well.[1]

These events were similar to Bloody Sunday during the Selma to Montgomery marches, which took place a year later and received an extensive amount of media coverage, while there were no journalists to capture the events of Bloody Tuesday.[1] During Bloody Tuesday thirty-three men, women, and children had to be hospitalized, and ninety-four African Americans were arrested by police, this all taking place right outside the church with the marchers not having an opportunity to get to the courthouse.

  1. ^ a b "'Bloody Tuesday': Tuscaloosa Remembers Civil Rights Marchers Brutalized 50 Years Ago". AL.com. Retrieved 2017-05-26.