On April 3, 1963, twenty Black protesters were arrested for sitting at whites-only lunch counters in downtown Birmingham, kicking off what became mass demonstrations in the city 60 years ago that would help break down the city’s racial segregation laws.

Bishop Calvin Woods Sr., 29 then and 89 now, recalled the sit-ins in an interview with AL.com.

“We were trying to draw the support of the white population,” Woods said. “We were dramatizing how we could spend our money there, but they didn’t want us to be treated like first-class citizens.”

Police Commissioner Eugene Connor accused four of the five downtown stores in which sit-ins were staged of failing to cooperate with police by closing instead of allowing demonstrators to be arrested. Only Britt’s – where all 20 sit-in demonstrators were arrested – cooperated, he said.

Lunch counters were closed for the day when Black customers sat at the “whites-only” lunch counters at Loveman’s, Pizitz, Kress’ and Woolworth’s.

“You couldn’t use the same restroom, couldn’t drink from the same water fountain,” Woods said. “It was disgraceful. It had to be pointed out. It was so traditional, a lot of people couldn’t see the ugliness of it.”

Earlier that morning, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had led a march to City Hall. Then came the dramatic confrontation at the lunch counters.

It was a way of pointing out the unfairness of segregation, Woods said.

“It had to be pointed out,” Woods said. “You had to turn the light on, so people could see that.”

Albert Boutwell had just been elected in the mayoral race on April 2, 1963, defeating Connor.

“We had hopes that Mayor Boutwell was going to make an improvement,” Woods said. “Of course, as time went on, some of the civil rights workers came up with a slogan about him. They said, ‘Mayor Boutwell is his name; he’s not well, he’s ‘bout well. He ain’t about done what he said yet. He’s ‘bout to do it, but he ain’t.’”

King wanted to take action while Connor was still in office, knowing that the staunch segregationist nicknamed “Bull” would likely create a scene with a police crackdown that would help starkly dramatize the clash over racial segregation.

“I will fill that jail full,” Connor said, warning of further protests. That included the arrest of King on April 14. While in jail, King wrote his famous “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” which became a manifesto for the civil rights movement. The jails truly were filled after the start of the Children’s Crusade on May 2, as children joined the ranks of marchers.

“You have to dramatize the situation,” Woods said. “You try to get them to respond. When they wouldn’t do it, we’d have to go and take another step, make sure the public understood what we were doing, and why we were doing it.”