SIT INS AND FREEDOM RIDES BY CHERYL SURLES JANUARY, 2012
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IMPORTANT DATES OF THE STRUGGLE FOR EQUALITY 1819 First route
of Underground Railroad 1865 13 th Amendment abolishes slavery in
the United States 1868 14th Amendments equal protection clause
requires states to provide equal protection under the law to all
people. 1870 15th Amendment guarantees that the right to vote could
not be denied based on race, color, or previous condition of
servitude. 1909 First meeting of the NAACP is held in New York.
1942 Congress of Racial Equality, an interracial American
organization, is established. 1954 Brown v. Board of Education of
Topeka, Kan., is decided. The Supreme Court declares segregated
schools are inherently unequal and therefore unconstitutional. 1955
Rosa Parks refuses to change seats on a Montgomery, Ala., bus,
sparking a yearlong bus boycott spearheaded by Martin Luther King
Jr. 1957 President Dwight Eisenhower signs the Civil Rights Act of
1957 and also send US troops to Little Rock to enforce
desegregation of public schools. 1960 Sit-ins spread across the
South forcing integration of lunch counters and diners. 1960
Freedom Riders travel across the Deep South and one bus is
fire-bombed in Anniston, Alabama. Fortunately all passengers
escaped from the bus. 1963 Martin Luther King makes I have a dream
speech in Washington, D.C.
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Miss Ella Baker Studied at Shaw University in Raleigh, North
Carolina. She graduated in 1927 as class valedictorian In 1930, she
joined the Young Negroes Cooperative League In 1940-1946 NAACP In
1957, Baker moved to Atlanta to organize Martin Luther King's new
organization, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)
Formed the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC,
pronounced "snick") to lead the sit-in effort. Strong people dont
need leaders."
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Why sit-ins? After holding the non-violence workshops, the
Nashville Christian Leadership Council (NCLC) and the Nashville
college students needed a cause. There was plenty of discrimination
in everyday life. The question was where to start?
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What are we protesting for?
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Dos and Donts during sit-ins Do sit straight and always face
the counter. Do show yourself friendly on the counter at all times.
Don't strike back, or curse back if attacked. Don't laugh out.
Don't hold conversations. Don't block entrances.
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Sit-in February 1, 1960 Greensboro, North Carolina Joseph
McNeil, Franklin McCain, David Richmond, and Ezell Blair, Jr. "We
believe, since we buy books and papers in the other part of the
store, we should get served in this part."
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As a Result of the sit-ins The sit-ins, however, were not over.
By August 1961, they had attracted over 70,000 participants and
generated over 3,000 arrests. They continued in some areas of the
South until and even after the passage of the Civil Rights Act of
1964 declared segregation at lunch counters unlawful. In addition,
the technique of the sit-ins was used to integrate other public
facilities, such as movie theaters, and SNCC, the student group
that rose out of the sit-ins, continued to be involved in the civil
rights movement for many years. Perhaps most importantly, the
sit-ins marked a change in the civil rights movement. In the words
of journalist Louis Lomax, "They were proof that the Negro
leadership class, epitomized by the NAACP, was no longer the prime
mover in the Negro's social revolt. The demonstrations have shifted
the desegregation battles from the courtroom to the marketplace."
They showed that nonviolent direct action and youth could be very
useful weapons in the war against segregation.
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Video Overview of the Freedom Rides
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FREEDOM RIDERS The Freedom Riders of the early 1960s organized
by the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) rode through the South
seeking integration of the bus, rail, and airport terminals. This
map shows their routes, location of violent events, and numbers of
Freedom Riders arrested.
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Freedom Riders The Freedom Riders bus burning at Anniston,
Alabama ( above) and James Peck, Rider beaten at Anniston
(right).
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Birmingham, Alabama
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Montgomery, Alabama From Anniston the remaining bus traveled to
Montgomery with all kinds of protection until they reached the city
limits where it all disappeared. As the bus pulled into the bus
station, it was attacked by a large mob with baseball bats and lead
pipes unrestrained by police who did not show up for 20
minutes.
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James Zwerg Montgomery, Alabama
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Montgomery, Alabama George Lincoln Rockwell, center,
self-styled leader of the American Nazi Party, and his hate bus
with several young men wearing swastika arm bands, stops for gas in
Montgomery, Alabama, on May 23, 1961, en route to Mobile, Alabama.
(AP Photo)
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Freedom on the Menu: The Greensboro Sit-Ins by Carole Boston
Weatherford, paintings by Jerome Lagarrigue