Resource: Henry Hampton Collection: Interview of James Armstrong

This interview was done for Henry Hampton's Eyes on the Prize: America's Civil Rights Years (1954-1965). James Armstrong along with eight other black families filed suit in 1957 against the School Board in Birmingham, Alabama, which led to the desegregation of Graymont Elementary in 1963. After the lawsuit his sons, Dwight and Floyd, becoming the first black children to attend that school. Violence resulted from the integration of the school, including when an all-black Church in Birmingham was bombed on September 15, 1963 and four young girls were killed. Armstrong participated in other demonstrations such as the attempt to integrate the Greyhound Bus Station's waiting room and another to integrate the stores in downtown Birmingham.