In response to the violence , the city formed a bi-racial Human Relations Council ( HRC ) made up of prominent white business and religious leaders , but when they attempted to integrate the " whites-only " public library on Sunday afternoon , September 15 , 1963 ( the same day as the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham ) , further violence ensued and two black ministers , N.Q. Reynolds and Bob McClain , were severely beaten by a mob . The HRC chairman , white Presbyterian minister Rev. Phil Noble , worked with an elder of his church , Anniston City Commissioner Miller Sproull , to avoid KKK mob domination of the city . In a telephone conference with President John F. Kennedy , the President informed the HRC that after the Birmingham church bombing he had stationed additional federal troops at Fort McClellan . On September 16 , 1963 , with city police present , Noble and Sproull escorted black ministers into the library . In February 1964 , Anniston Hardware , owned by the Sproull family , was bombed , presumably in retaliation for Commissioner Sproull 's integration efforts
16th Street Baptist Church bombing
16th Street Baptist Church bombing
Anniston, Alabama