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.