The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)

Civil rights, a significant issue of the ‘60s, reached a climax in 1968 and hatched a novel approach racial strive. Even though Martin Luther King Jr. had waged a successful campaign of peaceful protests in US southern states, a growing number of younger activists began to feel that nonviolent tactics could not

The civil rights movement of the sixties is one of the most controversial times of the last century. Many, if not all, who lived through that time, and the generations following were enormously impacted. At the time passions ran so high that violence at peaceful

John Lewis was one of the most notably influential leaders of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, SNCC. SNCC was founded in the 1960s in Releigh, North Carolina and initially consisted of black students as its members (Murphree 2006:11). The first members of this organization made use of nonviolent ways of protests such as sitting in and occupation of certain public places. The organization was successful in making other people aware of the injustices that black people were usually exposed to. Moreover, SNCC supported more nonviolent protests such as the Freedom Rides in 1961 and the March on Washington in 1963 which paved the way for the amendment of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

This book explores the relationship between nonviolence and armed self-defense in the Civil Rights Movement in the South. Cobb points out the importance of armed self-defense in African American history and its role in the Civil Rights Movement. Cobb gives a voice to war veterans, nonviolent activists, and members of the armed self-defense groups to explain the significance of self-protection during the Civil Rights Movement. Cobb discusses how dangerous nonviolence political demonstrations were in an area (the South) where Jim Crow laws

Through the rise of groups such as the Black Panther Party, violence became increasingly prevalent. “The Black Panther Party for Self-Defense calls upon the American people in general and the black people in particular to take careful note of the racist California Legislature which is now considering legislation aimed at keeping the black people disarmed and powerless at the very same time that racist police agencies throughout the country are intensifying the terror, brutality, murder, and repression of black people (Document F).” As a result of the lack of movement on the bill previously proposed my Kennedy to remove segregation, many African-Americans began to give up on this method of peaceful protest. “All of these efforts have been answered by more repression, deceit, and hypocrisy (Document F).” This is because as it appeared to them, it was not working and had no effect on the government. Instead, they discovered a much more direct approach which, was assured to catch the eye of the government. This method was violence. “The Black Panther Party for Self-Defense believes that the time has come for the black people to arm themselves against this terror before it is too late (Document F).” Through violent “black power” groups such as the Black Panthers, the previously peaceful Civil Rights movement began to take on a new

The American Civil Rights Movement in the late 1950s and 1960s generated massive international following and controversy, which made the movement one of the most important in U.S. history. The movement’s legacy can still be felt today, with the positive aspects, such as voting rights to African Americans and wide spread desegregation of public facilities, still being felt in the United States, and in many similar models across the globe. Although there were many “battlegrounds” where civil issues were debated, many people who know of the movement today would argue that the movement’s heart was rooted in the Deep South, ironically where it could be argued that the mentality of people living in the area at the time were the most violently opposed to such civil rights. In contrast, those who championed the Civil Rights Movement chose the tactic of nonviolence, at least at first, as a tool to dismantle racial segregation, discrimination, and inequality. They followed models that Martin Luther King Jr. and other activists had commissioned, using principles of nonviolence and passive resistance. Civil rights leaders had understood that segregationists would do anything to maintain their power over blacks. So, in consequence, they believed some changes might be made if enough people outside the

In 1960 Ella Baker delivered a speech entitled “Bigger than a Hamburger” to what would come to be the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). In this speech she argued to students who had been involved in the sit-ins that what they were fighting for was bigger than a hamburger and desegregating a lunch counter, but struggling for equality in all its forms. In a similar way, so too has the fight for quality education been bigger than a classroom. Ella Baker also argued that, “through the process of education, black people would be accepted in the American culture and they would be accorded their rights in proportion to the degree to which they qualified as being persons of learning and culture.” This is a testament to the over 200 year tradition within the black community of viewing education as inseparable with the concepts of freedom and citizenship. During slavery anyone found to be assembling in an effort to teach slaves to read and write received corporal punishment. Consequently, throughout Reconstruction education was pursued with a vengeance. Freedmen’s Bureau agents reported, “Colored men have paid their own money to prepare and furnish a room for a school.” The Rosenwald Fund, a charity organization headed by the president of the Sears Roebuck Company, donated funds to build black schools, but the funds had to be matched by those from the local school system. So black residents’ double taxed themselves in order to pay for these schools. Nearly every

Many African Americans would have separate schools, bus seats, and even fountain drinks for the “colored”. If an African American would ever break these “laws”, they were either jailed, beaten, or killed for it. In response, many Africans saw the negative effects of violence and instead of choosing to fight back violently, they chose to protest through “nonviolence [,] as it grows from Judaic-Christian traditions [and] seeks a social order of justice permeated by love” (Doc. A). Many African Americans believed that through nonviolence it would help benefit the fight for equality because it would help them gain sympathy and support from the people through the sight violence being used on peaceful people. However, many African American’s were getting frustrated at how long it was taking to gain equality, protection of civil rights, and justice in courts so many thought that the time had “come for black people to arm themselves against [violence] before it [was] too late” (Doc. F) Many African Americans then started to turn to violence to try to push the fight for equality, but this was ultimately a disastrous decision because this caused the Civil Rights Movement to lose a lot of support they had from the

One of the most elements of the book is the evolution of the organization called SNCC. SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee) was founded in conjunction with the lunch counter sit0ins that originated in Greensboro, North Carolina in February 1960. SNCC activists were known to practice slow, tedious and patient voter registration drives in the most dangerous parts of the South. However, they seldom received credit for their efforts on a national level. Despite their lack of national attention, SNCC activists often managed to annoy white federal officials and black civil rights leaders. SNCC attracted radicals from the Revolutionary Action Movement, black nationalists from the North and a host of other mavericks. From its humble beginnings, SNCC was a peaceful group that used nonviolent methods to seek racial equality. Over the course of time, SNCC became more assertive in their methods of demanding racial equality and

In the pursuit of social justice and civil rights, Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, and Stokely Carmichael, sought to amend a flawed system. To accomplish this task, these men entered the armory and chose to wield nonviolence as their weapon. Their goal: to combat violence with nonviolence, to fight hate with love, and to spread equality through peace. In the end they succeeded. Violence breeds violence, hate breeds hate, it is an ineffective approach and an archaic mean to resolving societies issues. Malcolm X and Carmichael were both extreme individuals but that does not make them violent. They attacked social justice and civil rights passionately and assertively, not violently. The methods used

Most African Americans who used violence as a means to acquire racial equality used it purely as a form of defense in their communities. The following excerpt from the essay “Race, Gender, and the Civil Rights Movement: The Struggle in Mississippi” by Steve Estes, that's included in the book Public Lives/Public Moments, gives us an illustration of African Americans using self-defense and their struggles with it even being leaders of the NAACP, “The debate came to a head in 1959. That year, the national leadership of the NAACP [Nation Association for the Advancement of Colored People] denounced the militant stance taken by Robert Williams. A veteran of the

The Civil Rights Movement and the Black Power movement were two monumental movements advocating for the rights, liberties, and equalities of African Americans in the 1960’s. While both had similar interests and long term goals for African Americans, these movements, their leaders, actions and influences were vastly different than one another. The Civil Rights Movement which largely credits their accomplishments to the leadership of Dr. Martin Luther King. Jr based and grounded itself on moral principles that were distinguished by the importance of non-violence (HistoryNet). The Black Power Movement aligned itself and defined its actions by leader, Malcom X. Malcom X, like Dr. King, pushed for the rights of African Americans and drew a wide following. However, he differed from Dr. King, in that he did not condemn violence, especially when he believed it was in self-defense, for him this was a justified action to fight against the oppression the African American faced by white supremacy (History.com). The stance on violence is the essential and most critical division of these two movements in their principles and actions. In addition, this dividing stance would result in differences in the way they were perceived by established society. Although, they would have differences with each other, in the end, this would not be enough to stop either from focusing on their long term goal of improving the rights, liberties, freedoms and equality of African Americans.

Of course, like many other stories, there were people who did not believe in the nonviolence philosophy. Groups such as the Black Panthers, an organization that’s purpose was to patrol African Americans and protect their people from police brutality, preached violence (“The Black Panthers Party for Self-Defense”). The practices of the late Malcolm X, a black muslim who was a leader of his movement believed that if blacks didn’t receive their right to equality, they should just take it, even if it meant with violence. “The Panthers took the revolutionary philosophy and militant stand

The American Civil Rights Movement is personified through several prominent personalities. These figures exhibited strong character throughout their careers in activism that revolutionized the ideals and opportunities of the 20th century, standing as precedents for courage and perseverance in the face of widespread systemic oppression. However, not all of these figures received the acknowledgment and acceptance that their legacy deserved. One such figure was Bayard Rustin, a lifelong Civil Rights activist in the African American and LGBTQ communities whose experiences exemplified the hardships faced by American minorities. His career was defined by perpetual conflict and confrontation as both sides of the Civil Rights Movement attempted to demonize and discredit him. Despite this obstacle, Bayard Rustin’s controversial decision-making and sheer tenacity made him an influential force in the ongoing fight for equality in the United States of America.

Violence also proved to be unproductive because it only caused more resistance and chaos in time of confrontation. Violent protests such as riots ended up damaging the Black Community. African Americans resulted being the victims of these riots, and as a result the most affected by the violent confrontations. Moreover, the use of violence created stiff race relations between the African Americans and White. Demonstrating that the violence method was ineffective for the civil rights movement is the fact that the “Black power movement faded almost as quickly as it appeared” (Ware 161).