00:00:00HUNTLEY: As you well know, what we're attempting to do is to develop, really, a
history of Birmingham through the struggle with individuals like yourself who
were participants of the Movement. And we'll start with a number of questions,
and then we'll get into questions about the Movement itself.
HENDRICKS: Okay.
HUNTLEY: Let me first get a little background.
HENDRICKS: Okay.
HUNTLEY: Where were your parents from? Were both from Birmingham?
00:01:00
HENDRICKS: No, neither were from Birmingham. My mother was born in Standing
Rock, Alabama, and my father was born in La Grange, Georgia.
HUNTLEY: And you were born in Birmingham?
HENDRICKS: Yes.
HUNTLEY: How many brothers and sisters do you have?
HENDRICKS: I have only one sister.
HUNTLEY: One sister. Were you the older?
HENDRICKS: I'm the oldest.
HUNTLEY: You're the oldest. What about education--your parents' education?
HENDRICKS: I don't think either one of them finished high school. Went to
elementary, that's all.
HUNTLEY: Okay. What were their occupations?
HENDRICKS: My mother was a cook, and my father worked for a coal company as a
truck driver.
HUNTLEY: Did she work outside of the home for other people?
HENDRICKS: Yes she did.
HUNTLEY: Did she live in the home for the people that she worked for? Or did she
live at home?
00:02:00
HENDRICKS: No, she lived at home with the family.
HUNTLEY: Okay.
HENDRICKS: She would leave us and go to work every day.
HUNTLEY: What about your education? How much education do you have?
HENDRICKS: I finished Parker High School, and I have two years of Booker T.
Washington Business College.
HUNTLEY: Tell me a little about Booker T. Washington Business College. What did
you do there?
HENDRICKS: At Booker T. Washington Business College, I took Business
Administration. We had Business Law, Shorthand, Typing, English.
HUNTLEY: Then you were clerical.
HENDRICKS: Yes.
HUNTLEY: Then I assume that your occupation was in that area?
HENDRICKS: Yes, it was.
HUNTLEY: Tell me a little about what you did, and who did you work for?
HENDRICKS: Okay. After finishing Booker T. Washington Business College, I
started working for Alexander & Company, and I worked for them until 1963, when
I went into the Federal Government, and Social Security Administration.
00:03:00
HUNTLEY: Alexander & Company was an insurance company.
HENDRICKS: Right.
HUNTLEY: And you worked there as a...
HENDRICKS: As a clerk-typist and insurance writer.
HUNTLEY: And then you went to work for the government. What did you do for the government?
HENDRICKS: I started working in files. That was the beginning of the
integration. And they were bringing us in at those very low grades. I started in
files, and I worked in files for about two years. And then I was promoted to
Clerk Typing and Award Typing. And after that, I worked for Quality Appraisal as
a Secretary and Unit Clerk.
I stayed with Social Security until 1967. I left in 1967 and went to the Equal
Employment Opportunity Commission and worked for them as a secretary and then a
Supervisor of Control and Equal Employment Technician and, eventually, Equal
00:04:00Employment Opportunity Specialist. So I stayed with them from 1967 to 1983. And
in '83 I took a break in service because my mother got ill and I took care of
her. I went back to Social Security in 1988 and I worked until I retired.
HUNTLEY: Well you started working at Social Security in the mid [19]60's. That
meant that you were probably one of the first [African American administrative employees].
HENDRICKS: Yes.
HUNTLEY: Can you tell me about that? How did you get hired?
HENDRICKS: Okay. Yes, I was among the first to come into the Federal Government.
And the reason I know that is when I started working and was promoted upstairs
to Award typing, I sat in front of a White female who was very nice and she
shared with me the things that they were told when they were getting ready to
bring us into the Building. She said, 'Lola, I have no problem with people who
00:05:00are a different color, but some of these people here are very prejudiced.'
And she went on to name the different people in the office to watch out for. She
said, 'They called us together at a meeting after they started bringing Blacks
in, and told us that the Federal Government was now beginning to bring Blacks on
here in the city of Birmingham to work, and if we started any disruption or
caused any racial encounters here, that they were going to fire us.' And she
said, of course, that wasn't received too well by many people. And, so, she told
me the things I needed to watch out for and the people to be careful about.
HUNTLEY: And they actually warned White people that were there if they
participated in any way [in opposing integration of the work force], they would
be fired.
HENDRICKS: Yes, they did. They warned them.
HUNTLEY: Did you have to take a test?
HENDRICKS: Yes, I took a test for the federal service and passed it and was
selected off the register.
HUNTLEY: Were there any efforts prior to your being hired to take tests for
00:06:00either jobs or for getting the right to vote? Did you take any test prior to that?
HENDRICKS: No.
HUNTLEY: Did you know other people that were taking tests at the same time?
HENDRICKS: Yes, yes. There were others who took tests at the same time
particularly in the County Personnel Board. Dr. Jonathan McPherson, who is
pastor at St. John in Hueytown, he passed. He was on the staff at Miles College
at the time and he passed all of those tests, and he was never hired. And also
Reverend George Johnson took tests to be a policeman, and he was never hired.
Any number of Blacks--
HUNTLEY: They actually passed the test.
HENDRICKS: Yes.
HUNTLEY: How did they know they passed the test?
HENDRICKS: Well they got letters saying they were on the register. They were
given their scores and they were on the Personnel Register.
HUNTLEY: So their names simply remained on the list, but they were never called.
HENDRICKS: Yes, but never selected.
00:07:00
HUNTLEY: What community did you live in during the time that you were growing up?
HENDRICKS: During the time that I was growing up, we lived on the Southside,
primarily over in the area of Fourth Avenue and about Fifteenth Street South.
And when I finished Parker High School we were living in the Norwood section.
And, then, after I got married, during the Movement time, we lived at 842
Centerway Southwest in the Titusville area.
HUNTLEY: How would you describe the different communities that you lived
in--racial make-up, occupation of people there, recreation, different
organizations that may have been available?
HENDRICKS: Both neighborhoods were all Black. No Whites in the neighborhood. I
guess you would say in the Titusville area the income level was a lot higher
00:08:00that it was when I lived on the Southside and in Norwood. It was very low-income
people there.
HUNTLEY: Southside had the low income?
HENDRICKS: Right, right. In Titusville the income level from their community was
a lot higher. And as far as recreations.... In the two, Norwood and Southside,
there was nothing that I was made aware of as a child that was available to us
in that community, but over in the Titusville area, when we moved over there,
Memorial Park was available, which was at that time a Black park.
HUNTLEY: Which Park was that?
HENDRICKS: Memorial Park.
HUNTLEY: What kind of activities did they have at Memorial Park?
HENDRICKS: I'm not sure if they had the swimming pool at that time, but I know
they had the park where you played ball, picnics and games out there on the field.
HUNTLEY: And the swimming pool came later?
00:09:00
HENDRICKS: The swimming pool I think came later...right.
HUNTLEY: What about occupations in the various communities?
HENDRICKS: In the Southside and the Norwood communities, most people were either
maids or janitors--the low paying jobs. In the Titusville area, we had a mixture
of teachers, doctors, lawyers, a lot better.
HUNTLEY: Were there any steel workers in either community?
HENDRICKS: I'm sure there were some steel workers in the Titusville area, but on
the North side and South side of town, where I lived there on Fourth Avenue,
there were none.
HUNTLEY: What was your community's relationship to the Birmingham Police Department?
HENDRICKS: It was nothing during the early years. Things have improved since the
Civil Rights Movement for the police department. Our relationship with the
00:10:00police department has improved.
HUNTLEY: Some suggest that the police department was there to protect and serve.
Is this the impression that you had of the police department?
HENDRICKS: No, I did not have that impression, no. Because I didn't ever
remember seeing policemen in the neighborhood where I lived in Norwood or on the
Southside. They weren't around there. I guess it was a neighborhood where
nothing happened where they had to call the Police or anything, but I just don't
ever remember seeing policemen when I was younger.
HUNTLEY: Were you a member of any community organizations after you grew up,
particularly in the Titusville area? If so, what kind of organizations were you
involved in?
HENDRICKS: Okay. I was a member of the Alabama Christian Movement for Human
Rights and I also was a member of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference,
a member of NAACP, and the Southern Conference Educational Fund. I became a
00:11:00member of the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights after they were
organized, after the NAACP was outlawed.
HUNTLEY: Were you all founding members of the Alabama Christian Movement?
HENDRICKS: Well, I don't think I was a founding member, but I started the second meeting.
HUNTLEY: Oh, I see. What was the second meeting like?
HENDRICKS: The second meeting was very impressive, because it was at a time when
I think that all of us who attended that mass meetings were aware that things
were bad in Birmingham and it was not getting any better and that it was time
for us to do something about trying to make things better for Blacks in Birmingham.
The first meeting was at Sardis [Baptist Church] and this one was at New Pilgrim
[Baptist Church], and we had a lot of ministers and people who were motivational
00:12:00speakers to motivate you to see where all the wrongs were and how we were being
mistreated and we couldn't get jobs and we could not go to parks and do a lot of
things in Birmingham that Whites were allowed to do. So, this was quite
impressive to those of us that attended.
HUNTLEY: Were you afraid at all to attend the Movement meetings?
HENDRICKS: Never. I never had any fear. I felt that if the bombings or shootings
or whatever was going to happen, it just happened, because we were treated like
we were second-class citizens.
HUNTLEY: Did you hold any office in either of the organizations?
HENDRICKS: Yes. In the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights, I served as
Correspondence Secretary for that organization.
00:13:00
HUNTLEY: How and why did you get involved in the Civil Rights Movement?
HENDRICKS: The reason why I became involved in the organization was the one
thing that had bothered me since I heard about or read about in the paper--a
gentleman by the name of Judge Aaron, who was attacked by some White men in
Tarrant City. I was very upset about that because they didn't know nothing about
the man.
They just picked him out and castrated him, and it just really upset me. And
then when I heard about the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights, it
brought back that memory to me, and the fact that growing up in Birmingham,
Alabama, I had been a person who would ride the bus downtown and sit behind this
'Colored' board, and I always had a problem with it, and my mother never would
let me do what I wanted to do.
00:14:00
HUNTLEY: What did you want to do?
HENDRICKS: I wanted to do what Rosa Parks did--not get up when they came to move
the board. And we would ride that bus and they would move that board, and we
would have to get up and stand up most times. So I really thought about all
those kinds of things and how we had been treated, and now was the time, I
thought. No better time than now to do something about it.
HUNTLEY: Was there ever a time on the bus when you were asked to move, or others
were asked to move, and you refused?
HENDRICKS: No, never. People always were submissive then. I asked my mother and
father why were they submissive and their answer to me was, 'Well, we just have
to stay in our place.' And I couldn't accept that.
HUNTLEY: So when you got involved in the Movement, what role did you play?
HENDRICKS: During the Movement days, after I became Corresponding Secretary, I
00:15:00became very active and stayed very busy dealing with the correspondence for the
organization. I also had an opportunity to help with setting up the conference
for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference when they came to Birmingham. I
had an opportunity to set up the conference for the Southern Conference
Educational Fund when they met here in Birmingham.
I was also instrumental in assisting Dr. King's staff working with Dr. Wyatt T.
Walker when we invited them to come to Birmingham in [19]63. I went to Dr.
Gaston to secure an office space for them, because before they came we did not
have an office space. I was instrumental in getting that set up for him and
putting him in contact with the people that he needed to contact in Birmingham
that would help us get the direct action campaign taken care of. Then, the other
00:16:00things that I did-- My family and I were very active. My ex-husband and I filed
a lawsuit during the fifties, which was to integrate the parks here in
Birmingham, Alabama.
HUNTLEY: So you were really on the front lines?
HENDRICKS: Yes.
HUNTLEY: As Corresponding Secretary, what did you actually do?
HENDRICKS: Okay. All mail coming into the Alabama Christian Movement for Human
Rights at that time-- Like I said, we did not have an office. We were operating
out of Reverend Shuttlesworth's church, so all the mail that came for the
Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights was directed to his church and I
would have to answer the mail involving Reverend Shuttlesworth's speaking
engagements or funds coming in from different organizations about supporting us
or people who wanted to come to Birmingham to speak or wanting him to come to
00:17:00other places across the country to speak. I had to correspond and take care of
that mail for him.
HUNTLEY: How long did you handle that operation?
HENDRICKS: I worked as Corresponding Secretary from 1956 to 1963, when I went to
the Federal Government.
HUNTLEY: So, obviously, you attended the Mass meetings on a regular basis?
HENDRICKS: Yes.
HUNTLEY: Can you describe to me what the Mass meetings were like in the early
days and, then, whether they were similar or different during the time that
Martin Luther King was in town?
HENDRICKS: Okay. The Mass meetings from [19]56 to '63, before Dr. King came,
were meetings where we met and dealt with the local problems, the filing of
lawsuits, singing and praying, and we had a motivational speaker every Monday night.
00:18:00
HUNTLEY: Who were some of those speakers?
HENDRICKS: We had speakers like Reverend Edward Gardner, Reverend J. S. Phiffer,
Reverend T. L. Lane, Reverend Shuttlesworth, Reverend N. H. Smith, Reverend
Parnell, out of Irondale, Reverend Thomas of Ensley, Reverend Woods, the Woods--
HUNTLEY: All of these were local Ministers?
HENDRICKS: All of these were local ministers, yes. We did not have an awful lot
of out-of-town ministers during the early days, because it was really the
Birmingham Movement and we were just doing things here in Birmingham without the
outside help. So, occasionally, we may have a visiting minister come, but for
the most part we did not solicit any visitors like that. These were local
ministers who would speak to us to keep us motivated on keeping the dream that
we had alive at that time.
HUNTLEY: How did the meetings differ in the early days versus after Dr. King came?
00:19:00
HENDRICKS: After Dr. King came to town the meetings were very different. The
meetings were on a high hyped-up session, I would say, because Carlton Reese was
involved more and you had a lot more speakers at those affairs. We had so many
people coming in to Birmingham to assist and they were really dynamic speakers,
and they kept us in a situation where we were all excited and so caught up with
the moment until we were all on a high.
HUNTLEY: Were Birmingham policemen present at the meetings?
HENDRICKS: Yes, they were. Detectives. Note-taking detectives. They were sitting
in the back of the church taking notes.
HUNTLEY: They were present at every meeting?
HENDRICKS: Yes, at every meeting.
00:20:00
HUNTLEY: What was their demeanor? Did they just come in and sit down? Did they
say anything to anyone?
HENDRICKS: No, they just came in and sat down, never said anything to anyone.
HUNTLEY: How did those that attended the meetings react to the police being
there, and how did the leaders react?
HENDRICKS: Well, Reverend Shuttlesworth and some of the others like Reverend Woods--
Reverend Shuttlesworth would throw out little hints at them like they knew what
their purpose was and, 'You all [detectives] take this down real good so Bull
Connor will know what our plans are tomorrow because we know that's what you're
here for.' And those of us in the audience just ignored them and acted like they
were not there. We really did not care. We were not afraid.
HUNTLEY: Do you think they were there partly for intimidation purposes?
HENDRICKS: I think so. I think they were there so a lot of people would be
afraid. It would turn some people around, I'm sure, but, for the most part, for
the mass of people, it didn't effect us at all.
00:21:00
HUNTLEY: Did you go to jail?
HENDRICKS: No, I was not able to go to jail. I wanted to go, but I did not get
to go. Reverend Wyatt T. Walker told me that I knew the people locally and that
he wanted me out. He didn't want me in jail, so I had to work with him directly.
HUNTLEY: So you worked very closely with Wyatt. What did you do for him?
HENDRICKS: When he came to town, I had to put him in touch with the ministers
here, the churches here, the business people here, and when he got ready to go
to certain department stores and set up the ground rules for the boycotting and
demonstrations, I had to take him to the various areas in the city of Birmingham
to show him which stores were targeted and the libraries and things like that.
HUNTLEY: So you were, more or less, his right-hand person in developing Project C?
HENDRICKS: Yes, right. Project C.
HUNTLEY: Are there any incidents that may have taken place as you and Wyatt rode
00:22:00around the city in relationship to what was happening in the group at the time?
Anything that may come to mind?
HENDRICKS: For when we were getting prepared to do this?
HUNTLEY: Yes. Wyatt talked about making the walk from the headquarters, A. G.
Gaston Motel, to various places downtown. Did you ever accompany him on those?
Were there any other things that may have taken place that you would remember?
What is the most vivid thing that you remember about your relationship with Wyatt?
HENDRICKS: I can't think of anything out of the ordinary when we were doing
things because most of my work was contained there at the office giving him
directives and locations where to go. So he, Bevel, and Andy Young--that group
00:23:00of men--went out and did the actual leg work out in the streets. I just gave
them the directions for who to see, who to contact. So I really didn't have any
contact with him going out in the field to do that. They did that.
HUNTLEY: During 1962, during the selective buying campaign, you did some
traveling. Can you tell me about that?
HENDRICKS: Yes. On December 1, 1962, I went to New York, Boston, and Brandais
University. That's where I saw Angela Davis. I went there on a tour with
Reverend William Howard Melish of Brooklyn, New York, who was one of the field
directors for the Southern Conference Education Fund. I was in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania with Carl Braden, who was a staff member also.
00:24:00
We went into the homes of people they had set up for us and talked to them about
what was happening in the South and the struggles that we had going in our
attempt to start this selective buying campaign because we felt that this was
the only way to get jobs and the White merchants to start hiring Blacks. They
were very gracious to us. Not only did we meet in their homes, but in most
instances we spent the night there. They put us up in their homes and they sent
a lot of money back to our organization after that tour. At Christmas time, they
sent boxes and boxes of toys and clothes for our children for Christmas, and
what I did was, after they came-- Not only did they send toys, they sent
wrapping paper. Then I got a group of people together. We wrapped the gifts and
toys and carried them to the Movement and they were distributed to people within
00:25:00the Movement who needed them for their children for Christmas.
HUNTLEY: That way people did not have to go downtown to shop.
HENDRICKS: Right. Exactly.
HUNTLEY: Were there other tours, or was it just this one tour where you went up East?
HENDRICKS: That was the only tour that I went up East. The other ones were done
by the ministers when they'd go off and speak and preach. That was the only one
that I did.
HUNTLEY: Was this under auspices of SCLC, or the Alabama Christian Movement?
HENDRICKS: The Southern Conference Educational Fund. I was working with them.
HUNTLEY: Did others in your family participate in the Movement?
HENDRICKS: Yes, they did. My daughter, at the time of the Movement, was nine
years of age, and she was arrested and stayed in jail for five days. My
ex-husband was arrested for riding the bus and he was in jail for about one
week, I believe it was. And he also was a security guard for Reverend
00:26:00Shuttlesworth out at the church. He was also among the men who went to Anniston
to bring the Whites and Blacks that were on the bus that was burned in Anniston
back to Birmingham, and we kept two of them in our home.
HUNTLEY: How did you feel about your nine year old daughter spending time in jail?
HENDRICKS: Well, it didn't bother me at all. We had a communication line with
the person at the Juvenile, and we would call once a day to check and see if
anybody was sick and how the kids was getting along. This person would give us
information about her and we didn't have any problem at all.
HUNTLEY: Where was she housed?
HENDRICKS: She was housed at Juvenile.
HUNTLEY: Was there a mass of children there?
HENDRICKS: Yes, there was a mass of children there.
HUNTLEY: I talked with another individual and they talked about something called
'kites.' People that go to jail, they would send them a kite out--in other
00:27:00words, a message written on any kind of paper. Are you familiar at all with that terminology?
HENDRICKS: No.
HUNTLEY: When your child went to jail was she one of those who came out of school?
HENDRICKS: Yes.
HUNTLEY: Can you tell me anything about that?
HENDRICKS: Since our involvement was so intense, our whole family was involved.
She told me because I was surprised that she went. And when I got the call that
she was in jail, and after she came out, I said, 'What made you decide?' She
said, 'Well, you all were involved and I thought if it was right for you all to
be fighting for our rights, we should help, too.'
HUNTLEY: So this was not something that you sat down and planned that she was
going to actively be involved in?
HENDRICKS: No, I did not ask her to do it.
00:28:00
HUNTLEY: How did other members of your family react to your participation?
HENDRICKS: They were very supportive. All of our family members were very
supportive. My mother and father were very frightened about it, but they said
they knew it was the right thing to do.
HUNTLEY: What church were you a member of?
HENDRICKS: New Pilgrim Baptist Church.
HUNTLEY: What was the level of involvement of your church and your pastor?
HENDRICKS: New Pilgrim Baptist Church was very involved and our pastor was
Secretary of the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights. He, too, went to
jail on two occasions, so our church is very rich with civil rights history.
HUNTLEY: So, because your pastor was involved, did that create any difficulty
for him with others in the congregation?
HENDRICKS: Not at all. They were very supportive.
HUNTLEY: So then your church itself was very actively involved?
00:29:00
HENDRICKS: Yes, yes.
HUNTLEY: Were there meetings held at your church?
HENDRICKS: Yes, indeed. All the time. And the second meeting, after the first
meeting at Sardis, was at New Pilgrim.
HUNTLEY: And that's when you got involved?
HENDRICKS: Yes, at New Pilgrim.
HUNTLEY: What benefits did you, your family, and community realize as a result
of the Movement?
HENDRICKS: Well, I think as a result of the Movement, as far as my family is
concerned, it made us better individuals as it relates to knowing what we were
entitled to be and what we had been deprived of. We had been denied a lot of
opportunities and after the Movement started and doors started opening up for
us, we were able to walk into doors that we never would have done if we had not
started this.
HUNTLEY: If you were in control of the Movement and could go back and change
some things, what would you change?
HENDRICKS: I wouldn't change anything. Not anything. I wouldn't change anything.
00:30:00
HUNTLEY: Reverend Shuttlesworth says the same thing. He would not change
anything. And I ask him would he change the beating that he received at Phillips
High School. He said, 'No.'
What is your assessment of the Birmingham Movement. How successful was it? What
did it accomplish?
HENDRICKS: The one thing that I was very proud of [was] it showed unity. It
brought us together as a Black race, and some Whites. It wasn't just all Blacks.
It was some Whites. It brought us together as a community working together to
break down the barriers of segregation and discrimination.
Jobs for the citizens of Birmingham, the opportunity to go into the stores and
shop as well as have clerks and employees hired in these stores, and the
00:31:00opportunity to go into schools. There were some stores at that time where you
could go and buy a dress, but you couldn't even try it on in those stores. So,
that, along with the fact that we have policemen that we see and we're very
proud that they are Black, and our chief of police and our mayor is Black. I'm
very proud of the successes of Birmingham.
HUNTLEY: You mentioned that there were Whites that were involved in the Movement?
HENDRICKS: Yes.
HUNTLEY: There were local Whites?
HENDRICKS: Yes.
HUNTLEY: What were their roles?
HENDRICKS: Well, we had some Whites who would give money, but, for fear of their
life and their own jobs, they were afraid to be visible. But there were some
Whites who did give money and then there were Whites who would be supportive in
ways that they could, without it being known to others. We had an attorney named
00:32:00Morgan, Charles Morgan, who was active and was helpful to us. Of course, he had
to leave the city, but he was active. And then there was a man by the name of
Reverend Lamar Weaver who was active and sat at the bus station with Reverend
Shuttlesworth and his wife when they sat at the Birmingham Terminal Station in
the White Section. Of course, he had to leave. But there were Whites that did.
HUNTLEY: Were there any Whites that demonstrated in the Birmingham Movement
during April and May of 1963?
HENDRICKS: Not to my knowledge. The Whites that I knew were there were from out-of-town.
HUNTLEY: You mentioned that in 1962 you went to Brandais and you saw Angela
00:33:00Davis. How did you know Angela Davis?
HENDRICKS: She came up to me after the meeting was over, and told me who she was
and where she lived. And she said, 'I'm just shocked to hear all of this. That's
my home. I have been sheltered.' She said, 'I heard the bombs, but I had no idea
what was causing that bombing.' And I said, 'Well, Angela, I hate you were
sheltered, but that is Birmingham.' And she was really shocked to know that all
these things had gone on in Birmingham. She said her mother and father kept her
sheltered from that.
HUNTLEY: Have you seen her since then?
HENDRICKS: No, only on television and in the magazines.
HUNTLEY: Is there anything else that you would like to add that we have not
dealt with that relates to the Movement and how it actually evolved at the time?
00:34:00
HENDRICKS: I am very proud that I had the opportunity to be a part of this
Movement. I don't regret anything that I contributed to the Movement, and I
think that Birmingham-- In fact, I know Birmingham is a much better city to live
in than prior to the Movement.
HUNTLEY: Were you ever one of those that rode the bus with Reverend
Shuttlesworth during the early stages--[19]56, '57, '58? Many people were riding
the bus and riding in front of the board. Did you participate in that?
HENDRICKS: No. I never did.
HUNTLEY: As you said, you needed to stay where you were because of your position.
00:35:00
HENDRICKS: Right.
HUNTLEY: Can you tell me just a little inclusion about the suit that you and
your husband had against the Park Board?
HENDRICKS: Okay. The lawsuit was filed back in the fifties when we were filing
for desegregation of buses. We were not allowed to go into the parks and let our
children play like other children in the City of Birmingham. We could not go to
the one on Third Avenue West, the fair grounds. Those were places that we could
not enter, so Reverend Shuttlesworth brought it up in one of our meetings and I
told him we would sign for that law suit and be the party for it, and that's
what we did. And the laws would later change and it was desegregated.
HUNTLEY: I certainly do thank you for coming out today and sitting with me.
This, obviously, will add quite a bit to the story of Birmingham and I hope to
00:36:00do this with you again, because I know you have much, much more. Thank you very much.
HENDRICKS: Thank you.