The Nashville Student Movement: Summary

In the book March Book One the people of Nashville chose to stage the sit-ins to protest the segregation between blacks and whites. They chose to sit and wait to be serve and they wouldn’t leave until they were served. They had to learn how to protest without violence and spend many hours practicing by humiliating each other and learning how to protect themselves when attacked.

In the first presentation, I noticed an event called the Greensboro Sit-ins. This was a single event that sparked a nationwide movement and flood of support for the civil rights movement and the issue of business owners withholding service from those who were not white. On February 1st, 1960, 4 students of the North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University sat at a whites-only lunch table, requested service, and were then denied and asked to leave. When they left, they went to tell campus leaders what had happened and as a result gained people that wanted to participate in the sit-in. It is said that “the next morning twenty-nine neatly dressed male and female [NCATSU] students sat at the Woolworth’s lunch counter,” the same counter where those first four students sat (NorthCarolinaHistory.org). After this happened, protests occurred each week and hundreds of students were showing up at Woolworth’s. Following this, more and more students from around the US were staging sit ins at segregated lunch counters as a form of non-violent protest against discrimination.

In 1963, he was the youngest of the people who helped in the organization of the protest, the March on Washington. This particular protest gathered about 200,000 Americans in Washington D.C. who intended to raise awareness on the political and social challenges that the African Americans were exposed to (Carson 1981:91). This led to the passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1964 which paved the way for the elimination of segregation in public places and employment discrimination on the basis of race and color among others (Carson 1981:120). However, the Civil Rights Act wasn’t enough to let the African Americans to vote and to remedy this, in 1965, Lewis together with Hosea Williams organized another protest march in Selma, Alabama (Lewis & D’Orso 1998:340). When the group of protesters reached the Edmund Pettus Bridge, they were attacked by state troopers and local police who beat the protesters when they refused to leave. In this particular rally, Lewis was heavily beaten up and he even suffered from a fractured skull (Lewis & D’Orso 1998:341). This violent dispersal was recorded throughout the country and was later on dubbed as the “Bloody Sunday”. Moreover, this particular protest was helpful in speeding up the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act which amended the right to vote of any individual regardless of her/his race or color. In 1966, Lewis eventually left the

Black merchants began to supply food to those in jail. Home owners put up property for bail money.The City’s head black lawyer headed up the defense. The court found the students guilty of disorderly conduct. John Lewis refused to pay the $50 fine and chose 33 days in the city workhouse. Most of the other students joined him in jail. They thought it was like a badge of honor spending time in jail. The black parents stopped spending their money at the downtown retail merchants. They hoped the boycott would put pressure on the Mayor to change the rules. The sit ins had spread to 69 cities and over 2,000 had been arrested. The boycott was organized nationwide for stores that discriminated. The boycotts had economic problems with the chain stores. It was encouraged that all people who were interested in democracy boycott the

In the book March: Book One and Two, the main character John Lewis takes part in the civil rights movement in 1960’s. While it's true that many events in his life did not increase his devotion to the civil rights movement and religious beliefs, I believe that John Lewis's beliefs and determination were reinforced by the turning points in his life. I believe the gift of his bible helped him grow stronger in religion, which helped him bring a sense of connection to the civil rights movement through Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s words. Through that he started going to nonviolent workshops where he learned more about nonviolent protests, which started him on the road to joining the civil rights movement. This eventually pushed him to join the freedom riders.

Before the group even hosted their own sit-in, it was brought to their attention that there was sit-ins happening all over the country. The group having already accomplished a test sit-in and an actual sit-in were suddenly warned by Nashville’s Chief of Police that anyone participating in additional protests would now be arrested. Even with the knowledge of the consequences they refused to stop, “We knew we couldn’t let the threat of violence stop us” (Lewis and Aydin 1:98). They had knowledge of the consequences and still didn’t have the desire to freeze their protests. Unsurprisingly, The Nashville Student Movement’s sit-ins taking place at multiple locations throughout town the next day grew violent much more rapidly than usual. The attacks, beatings, and humiliation began almost immediately, and the police were mysteriously absent during it all. Once the mob had tired themselves out, the police miraculously appeared and arrested the protestors. As the police were driving them away, the words “We Shall Overcome Someday” (Lewis and Aydin 1:103), were being proudly sung to the world from the back seat of the paddy wagons. Deep in all their hearts, they enthusiastically believed that they would one day conquer the challenges of

During sit-ins, (black and white) protesters occupied seats at whites’ only lunch counters and remained there even after they were refused service, sometimes for hours. The sit-ins employed the tactic of civil disobedience, breaking the law in a peaceful way to call attention to an unjust law. Student training and counseling in the principles for the sit-ins included the following ’10 Rules of Conduct’ which were the required standards for all those who were supporting the protest: “Do show yourself friendly on the counter at all times. Do sit straight and always face the counter. Don’t strike back, or curse if attacked. Don’t laugh out. Don’t hold conversations. Don’t block entrances. …Remember the teachings of Jesus, Gandhi, Thoreau, and Martin Luther King, Jr. Love and nonviolence is the way” (Library, 2006). Sit-ins disrupted business, making it impossible for white businessmen to ignore the protester’s demands. Highly visible sit-ins in downtown Nashville department stores were also guaranteed to attract press

The Nashville Sit-ins helped to desegregate some shopping districts and food areas while also helping to further desegregation. The first time sit-ins took place as a form of protest was during the 1940’s in Chicago and they had success at a few businesses. During the Civil Rights Movement sit-ins gained more attention and became more prominent. In 1960 the youth of Nashville had decided to attempt to desegregate lunch counters through sit-ins with the encouragement and help of new comer Reverend James Lawson. Reverend James Lawson educated the youth about nonviolence and helped them organize to take action through workshops that he put on. From Lawson’s workshops emerged two new young leaders Diane Nash and John Lewis local college students.

In the early 1960s, Birmingham was, culturally and forced by police, one of the most racially divided cities in the United States. Blacks did not have the same legal and economic rights as their white brethren. When attention was drawn to this issue, they were faced with violent responses. It was conceivably the most segregated city in the country. Protests began to form to fight for equal chance of employment at businesses and to end segregation in public places such as stores and schools. Sit-ins were soon organized after the failed protests to produce a copious amount of arrests and draw the country's attention towards Birmingham. Shortly after, the amount of adults to take part in the sit-ins fell harshly and there were new volunteers. High school and college students rose to the occasion and took part in passively fighting for their rights. With the addition of the students also came many of the SCLC (Southern Christian Leadership Conference). Among those who came with the SCLC was a very important guest. One who was jailed, had an article criticizing himself and his methods, and was able to produce a letter in which he responded to the writers of the article while incarcerated. This man

Lewis was highly influenced by this book at his young age. Lewis with his co-author Andrew Aydin presented this novel as a comic to grab attention of today’s young generation. March accounts the journey of as a rural boy from Alabama to being a leader of civil rights movement. Specifically, March: Book One accounts the childhood experiences of Lewis, Martin Luther King’s influence on his life and also the fight for

February 1st, 1960; the Greensboro Sit Ins; Franklin McCain, Ezell Blair, Jr., Joseph McNeil, and David Richmond. “Segregated conditions were as characteristic of Greensboro, however, as they were of cities with reputations for racial violence and intimidation.” The Greensboro Sit Ins made a huge impact not only in North Carolina, but along the Southeast states; thirteen states and fifty five different cities. This was where a group of four black male freshmen college students at A&T State University who

February 1961 Lewis describes the attempt to desegregate movie theaters in Nashville, TN as stand-ups. But besides the constant attacks from the whites, law enforcement was taking actions of joining the attacks. Lewis starts a scene of a stand-up, where the colored protesters stand in line to buy a ticket at white theater. Upon denial of purchasing a ticket they move along and reform the line again. But Lewis was sitting away from the booth when a law enforcement approached him and questioned his presence at the theater and imitates to arrest him. Lewis responds, “But I have money to buy a ticket, officer why can’t I buy a ticket?.....” (Lewis and Aydin 2: 21) Before Lewis could finish his sentence the officer had struck him. The officer had no legal right to hit him but he used violence anyways. That didn’t stop Lewis because he return that following evening to keep protesting and once again the got arrested. As Lewis clearly states,” but there was no violence. Twenty-six of us were arrested.” (Lewis and Aydin 2: 24-25). Clearly the law enforcement had taken action to their own hands using unlawful assemble against those 26 protesters. The government had failed them once again showing the community who had control and how they would abuse

The popularity of sit-ins can be reflected in the involvement of the N.A.A.C.P. (The National Association of the Advancement of Colored People). An article published by the New York Times talks about planned demonstrations that will occur in New York City which will be headed by the N.A.A.C.P (Robinson 54). This example shows how large the movement had become by summer 1961 because a nationally recognized organization was already actively involved in demonstrating. Another article, printed in late 1961, reports that the national director of the Congress of Racial Equality would begin planned sit-ins nation wide, with a focus in the South and the Midwest (“Negroes to Broaden” 18). This again proves how effective sit-ins were because a nationally recognized organization was taking the movement and organizing a nation wide effort to end discrimination.

The specific examination of the Greensboro, N.C. lunch counter sit-ins that ignited a wave of similarly executed sit-downs throughout the 1960 was accredited to the strong personal ties amongst the initial Greensboro students. Two were roommates and all had gone to the same high school and shared a wealth of common experiences ranging from smuggling beer into the dormitory to the remembering the injustices of Little Rock. The idea of a month long Woolworth sit-in was initially discussed in the dormitory in a most informal manner. This evidence inexplicably presented by Mr. Gladwell is in complete contradiction to his statement requiring a hierarchy in which national or local leaders and organizations operating in a hierarchical arraignment were essential to the development of significant social change.

Another significant transformation took place in the Civil Rights Movement in terms of its strategies. In analyzing this facet of the movement, we notice a great shift from nonviolent demonstration to forward, forceful action. Specifically, at the start of the Civil Rights Movement, lunch counter sit-ins were evident throughout the nation, as were Freedom Riders. Starting in Greensboro, North Carolina at a luncheonette called Woolworths, young black citizens would seat