 On the night of May 11 , a bomb heavily damaged the Gaston Motel where King had been staying — and had left only hours before — and another damaged the house of A. D. King , Martin Luther King 's brother . When police went to inspect the motel , they were met with rocks and bottles from neighborhood blacks . The arrival of state troopers only further angered the crowd ; in the early hours of the morning , thousands of blacks rioted , numerous buildings and vehicles were burned , and several people , including a police officer , were stabbed . By May 13 , three thousand federal troops were deployed to Birmingham to restore order , even though Alabama Governor George Wallace told President Kennedy that state and local forces were sufficient . Martin Luther King returned to Birmingham to stress nonviolence . 
