Lola Haynes Hendricks: Activist and Leader in the Birmingham Movement

Recently, we lost a civil rights stalwart and a great lady.  Mrs. Lola Haynes Hendricks (1932-2013) served as corresponding secretary of the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights (ACMHR) during the turbulent Birmingham Movement of the 1950s and 1960s. Mrs. Hendricks was a native of Birmingham, so she knew firsthand what Birmingham justice looked like for Black Birminghamians during that time. Unsolved bombings across the city were commonplace as several neighborhoods in Birmingham transitioned from all-white to racially mixed.  Two pivotal events in her road to activism were the murder of Emmett Till in Mississippi in 1955 and the castration of Judge Aaron in Birmingham in 1957 (White 2002).  Both of these victims were Black men. These incidents convinced her to get involved in the new organization for civil rights in Birmingham.

Hendricks first learned of the ACMHR through her church, New Pilgrim Baptist Church.  Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth, a local minister, organized the ACMHR in 1956 to pressure white leaders to address civil rights issues in Birmingham following an injunction preventing the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) from operating in the state of Alabama.  He was joined by a group of young ministers and a few community leaders, such as W.E. Shortridge, local funeral home owner, and Rev. Nelson Smith, pastor of New Pilgrim Baptist and Mrs. Hendricks' pastor (Manis 1999, 95, 99). Since many of the mass meetings were held at her church, Hendricks began to participate and saw the ACMHR as a way to fight for equal rights in the city.  Eventually, Hendricks' husband Lincoln, their children, and her brother-in-law became foot soldiers in the fight against Jim Crow in Birmingham (Eskew 1997, 233).  

Once Hendricks got involved, she served in a variety of capacities, including the membership committee, investigations committee, and as the person responsible for keeping Rev. Shuttlesworth's calendar.  She also served as assistant corresponding secretary for the organization.  In an oral history interview with the author, Hendricks recounted her experiences working late into the night at the home of Mrs. Lucinda Robey to record memberships for the organization. She had a deep respect for Mrs. Robey, and often referred to her as her idol in the Movement. Mrs. Hendricks also talked about the many incidents of violence committed against Blacks and how she, Rev. Shuttlesworth, and others would pile into a car and speed to the scene to investigate.  When the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) came into Birmingham in 1963 to increase the pressure on the city's white power structure through nonviolent direct action campaigns, Mrs. Hendricks worked directly with Wyatt Walker and Andy Young to help them develop their plans for protests and the citizenship education program.  Mrs. Hendricks also played a central role in publicizing the Birmingham campaign beyond Alabama through her East Coast speaking tour with Carl and Anne Braden of the Southern Conference Education Fund in 1962.  This brought her in contact with the young Angela Davis who learned of the movement in Birmingham at their Brandeis speaking engagement.  Hendricks remained involved in the ACMHR and the civil rights struggle in Birmingham through the 1970s and 1980s         (White 2002).

Hendricks made a considerable contribution after the Birmingham Campaign as one of the people committed to collecting and preserving the story of the ACMHR and the local movement.  She volunteered with the Oral History program at the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute (BCRI), working with Dr. Horace Huntley to capture the stories and experiences of those who had risked their lives for social change and racial equality. Mrs. Hendricks devoted countless hours to assisting researchers and providing first-hand accounts of her courageous stand against segregation and discrimination in Birmingham. 

Lola Hendricks was a devoted activist, leader, mother, church member, interviewer, volunteer, and chronicler of  Black citizens' determination to end racial segregation and discrimination in Birmingham.


Selected Sources:  

Eskew, Glenn T. 1997. But for Birmingham: The Local and National Movements in the Civil Rights Struggle. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press.

Manis, Andrew Michael. 1999. A Fire You Can't Put Out: : The Civil Rights Life of Birmingham's Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press.

White, Tara Y. 2002. "Black women in the civil rights movement, 1954-1963: women of the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights in Birmingham, Alabama." M.A. thesis, State University of New York College at Oneonta. 

Another Birmingham Civil Rights Giant Transitions: Lola Haynes Hendricks

I met Mrs. Hendricks when I was selected to participate in the Young Scholars internship program at the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute (BCRI).  Mrs. Hendricks was a fixture at BCRI and spent most of her time telling the story of the Movement through tours, public programs and through the Institute's Oral History Program that my former professor, Dr. Horace Huntley, directed.  As I worked on more and more programs, I got to know Mrs. Hendricks personally.  She was a very bright woman and a tireless worker.  Her determination to make sure that she documented the stories of the Movement was unmatched.  She was critical in making sure that  the stories from participants and activists of the ACMHR and the Birmingham Movement were recorded, documented and preserved. As the former ACMHR corresponding secretary, she also helped to identify archival collections and organizational papers that were useful to historians studying the civil rights revolution in Birmingham.

My relationship with her took a turn one day at the former WENN radio station.  She and I were there to promote upcoming BCRI programs.  As we waited for news director Bennie Myles to complete her segment before our interview, Hendricks told me that she had heard that I was on my way to graduate school.  I told her that I was excited about the new opportunity, a little hesitant about my pending move to upstate New York, and at a loss for what I would study once I arrived in Cooperstown.  Without batting an eyelash, Hendricks told me that I already had a topic for my masters thesis.  Stunned, I looked at her and asked her to continue.  She then TOLD me that I would write my masters thesis on the women in the Birmingham Movement.  In typical black Southern fashion, I said "Yes ma'am" and we kept going.  I did not question her request (demand??).  Once I got to Cooperstown, I immediately told my professors that I had a topic and started the research.

During the course of this project, Mrs. Hendricks did not waver in her commitment to assist me with completing the thesis for my M.A.  She gave me the same focus and dedicated assistance that she gave to every project.  She made contacts and cajoled, fussed out, pleaded and flattered to get former activists to talk to me.  And, she gave of her own time, months on end, to review, revise, correct and explain things that I did not understand.  She was kind and warm, and I remember many days meeting her in her lovely Center Street home to review the latest.  Sometimes, there were meals but there were always words of encouragement and a commitment to seeing the thesis project through.   Over time, we talked about life and adulthood ( I was every bit of 25!) and she had advice there, too.  I was one of her children and I looked forward to visiting BCRI and seeing her beautiful smile and those deep dimples in her cheeks! She was precious to me then and she remains so.  My very last conversation with her was after she got her Alzheimer's diagnosis.  She was worried about it but was determined to do whatever she could "before it all went away." From time to time, I would ask others about her.  I got an opportunity to chat with her daughter Audrey in 2007 about her before her untimely death.  Mrs. Hendricks was a lovely lady, a jewel, really.  And I am grateful that she chose me to tell her story and the stories of the countless women leaders of the Birmingham Movement.



HENDRICKS, LOLA H. passed away on May 17, 2013 at the age of 80. Interment will be held at Elmwood Cemetery on Friday, May 24, 2013 at 11 am. A Memorial service will follow at 12 noon at New Pilgrim Baptist Church. Davenport & Harris directing.

Published in The Birmingham News from May 21 to May 22, 2013

Links to other stories about Hendricks' death: http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2013/05/lola_hendricks_key_behind_the.html