Non-Violent Protest Groups

Major Civil Rights Groups There were four major nonviolent civil rights groups National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Congress On Racial Equality (CORE) Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) Southern Christian Leadership Coalition (SCLC) While each group was active in the movement, each group had a different role or function

Congress on Racial Equality Formed in Chicago in 1942; first major Civil Rights group in the US Primary role: Planning and organizing of protests Responsible for planning local demonstrations Focused on voting rights, de-segregation, and discrimination in the workplace/schools

Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee Formed in 1960 with money from the SCLC Primarily college age student activists More radical; sought change immediately rather than gradually Role: Provided manpower for nonviolent protests Tended to be more confrontational

Southern Christian Leadership Conference Composed of ministers and religious figures in the South; associated with Martin Luther King Jr., Advocated peaceful protest of racial policies in the South Instrumental in planning community-wide action like the Montgomery bus boycotts or marches

NAACP Provided legal support for civil rights movement Role: Legally challenging laws that prevented blacks from full equality Anti-lynching laws Brown v. Board of Ed. Housing segregation Thurgood Marshall was most prominent member

Integration Brown v. Board of Education (1954): Separate but equal is inherently unequal. 1955: year-long bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama to protest segregated buses 1957: President Eisenhower sends federal troops to force integration in at Little Rock Central HS 1960: 70,000 students participate in sit-ins across the South 1962: James Meredith enrolls at Ole Miss University

1960s 1961: Freedom Rides Busses full of black and white students ride through the South to support integration on interstate busses Most riders were physically assaulted, beaten, and eventually jailed 1963: Clash in Birmingham, Alabama Bull Connor uses extreme violence to stop protesters Move backfires, forces desegregation

1960s 1963: March on Washington thousand people demonstrate in capitol MLK’s “I Have a Dream” speech, music by famous musicians (Bob Dylan, Sammy Davis Jr.), celebrity support (Jackie Robinson) Credited with passing Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act

Legislation passed (1964) Civil Rights Act (Lyndon Johnson) Government can force desegregation Prohibited discrimination in public spaces (parks, restaurants, etc) and in the workplace Freedom Summer Massive voter registration drive in Mississippi Met with extreme violence (bombed churches, homes burned, murdered volunteers)

Legislation passed (1965) Following freedom summer, protest marches in the south happen Selma Marches: 50 mile march from Selma, AL to the state capital of Montgomery by MLK Marchers were beaten en route LBJ places Alabama National Guard under federal control to protect the march Voting Rights Act: Federal govt. can forcibly register voters if necessary 24 th Amendment: outlawed the poll tax and other illegal voting requirements