Originally published on July 15, 2024 (Episode 367)
Introduction
Just before 10 AM on June 9, 1964, in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, the First African Baptist Church of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, was attacked by a mixed-mob of police, Klansmen, and deputized whites. They were intent on brutally suppressing a planned march to the new courthouse.
The violence left dozens beaten and injured, over a hundred jailed, and an entire sanctuary drenched in water and tear gas. It has been known ever since in Tuscaloosa, at least by those who had the violence inflicted upon them, as Bloody Tuesday. It would prove to be a crucial moment for the Johnson Administration’s work towards the Civil Rights Act.
Yet this turning point in the Civil Rights movement has been largely forgotten, overshadowed by Selma and other national events. John M. Giggie joins me to recover the story of Bloody Tuesday and the entire story of the struggle for justice in Tuscaloosa.
About the Guest
John M. Giggie is Associate Professor of History and Director of the Summersell Center for the Study of the South at the University of Alabama. He created History of Us, the first Black history class taught daily in an Alabama public school. Giggie also directs the Alabama Memory Project, which seeks to memorialize the over 650 victims of lynching in the state, and is a founding member of the Tuscaloosa Civil Rights History and Reconciliation Foundation. His most recent book is Bloody Tuesday: The Untold Story of the Struggle for Civil Rights in Tuscaloosa (OUP, 2024).
For Further Investigation
John Giggie, Bloody Tuesday: The Untold Story of the Struggle for Civil Rights in Tuscaloosa (OUP, 2024).
—, “How Tuscaloosa’s Bloody Tuesday Changed the Course of History,” Time.com, June 7, 2024
“Remembering Bloody Tuesday,” Alabama Heritage, June 2024
“The Tuscaloosa Campaign and Bloody Tuesday,” Encyclopedia of Alabama
E. Culpepper Clark, The Schoolhouse Door: Segregation’s Last Stand at The University of Alabama (Alabama, 1995)
B.J. Hollars, Opening the Doors: The Desegregation of the University of Alabama and the Fight for Civil Rights in Tuscaloosa (Alabama, 2013)
Simon Wendt, The Spirit and the Shotgun: Armed Resistance and the Struggle for Civil Rights (Florida, 2007)
Charles E. Cobb Jr., This Nonviolent Stuff’ll Get You Killed: How Guns Made the Civil Rights Movement Possible (Basic Books, 2015)
Charles Marsh, God’s Long Summer: Stories of Faith and Civil Rights (Princeton, 2024)
David L. Chappell, A Stone of Hope: Prophetic Religion and the Death of Jim Crow (UNC, 2005)
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💬 Listen & Discuss
Why do some pivotal moments in the Civil Rights struggle fade from public memory while others become icons? Should Bloody Tuesday be taught alongside Selma and Birmingham in every classroom? Share your thoughts in the comments — and pass this episode to someone who thinks Alabama history begins and ends with football.
