Freedom Rides

SIT INS ANDFREEDOM RIDES

BYCHERYL SURLESJANUARY, 2012

IMPORTANT DATES OF THE STRUGGLE FOR EQUALITY1819 First route of Underground Railroad1865 13th Amendment abolishes slavery in the United States1868 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.

Miss Ella Baker Studied at Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina.She graduated in 1927 as class valedictorianIn 1930, she joined the Young Negroes Cooperative LeagueIn 1940-1946 NAACPIn 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."Why sit-ins?After holdingthe 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?

What are we protesting for?

Dos and Donts during sit-insDo 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.

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." As a Result of the sit-insThe 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.

Video Overview of the Freedom Rides

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.

Freedom Riders

The Freedom Riders bus burning at Anniston, Alabama ( above) and James Peck, Rider beaten at Anniston (right). Birmingham, Alabama

Montgomery, Alabama

From Anniston the remaining bus traveledto Montgomery with all kinds of protectionuntil they reached the city limits where it all disappeared. As the bus pulled into thebus station, it was attacked by a large mobwith baseball bats and lead pipes unrestrained by police who did not show up for 20 minutes. James ZwergMontgomery, Alabama

Montgomery, AlabamaGeorge 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)

Freedom on the Menu: The Greensboro Sit-Insby Carole Boston Weatherford, paintings by Jerome Lagarrigue

FREEDOM RIDERS 2PBS 2011www.youtube.com/watch?v=av3r0PZ3d5E&feature=related

Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn You RoundThe Freedom SingersSing For Freedom: The Story of the Civil Rights Movement Through Its Songs, track 6/26, disc 1/11990Folk152013.55eng - Amazon.com Song ID: 202427254