 Historian Glenn Eskew wrote that the campaign " led to an awakening to the evils of segregation and a need for reforms in the region . " The black middle class generally assumed leadership in Birmingham and the SCLC , and the black underclass still struggled . According to Eskew , the riots that occurred after the bombing of the Gaston Motel foreshadowed rioting in larger cities later in the 1960s . ACMHR vice president Abraham Woods claimed that the rioting in Birmingham set a precedent for the " Burn , baby , burn " mindset , a cry used in later civic unrest in the Watts Riots , the 12th Street riots in Detroit , and other American cities in the 1960s . A study of the Watts riots concluded , " The ' rules of the game ' in race relations were permanently changed in Birmingham . " 
