https://kpfa.org/episode/against-the-grain-november-3-2020/
"[The] conventional narrative places a lot of importance on the ability of the movement to win over the white majority, particularly in the north. But if we look more closely at how the movement [succeeded], the story is very different."
"[W]e found... that the movement in Birmingham succeeded because it was able to disrupt economic power centers in Birmingham itself, namely the downtown merchants and the folks who comprised the Chamber of Commerce in Birmingham."
(continued)
"It was only the pressure from the economic powerholders in Birmingham that brought them around and got them to consent to a deal with the protesters, and the organizers and strategists in the Civil Rights Movement understood this very well. ...[T]he thinking was that they could change the political power structure by putting pressure on the economic power structure."