With May 1963 the most pivotal month of the Birmingham Civil Rights Movement, Nadine Smith can proudly remember her fight for freedom.
Smith, 13 years old at that time, would become one of more than 1,000 children ranging from elementary to high school ages demonstrating en masse against the Birmingham Police Department and arrested beginning May 2, most in groups ranging in size from 30 to 60.
“I went to jail the day after, May 3 and I was in jail for nine days,” Smith told The Birmingham Times. “They took us to the city jail and because we were too young to be there, they put us back on a bus and took us to juvenile court. That’s where we got processed. From juvenile court, they took us to the Alabama Fairgrounds which is now the CrossPlex. When they took us to the CrossPlex, it was an old air force barracks and that’s where I stayed for those nine days.”…