4.1.4
SNCC
The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)
The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)
The SNCC was created after the SCLC. It favoured the empowerment of local communities.
Sit-ins
Sit-ins
- The SNCC was inspired by the sit-ins that were organised by CORE during the Second World War.
- At SNCC sit-ins, students went to the all-white counter of a Woolworth’s cafeteria in Greensboro, North Carolina and waited patiently to be served.
- Students sat in the seats day after day and a movement of sit-ins swept across the South.
- Almost 70,000 students took part in sit-ins.
The effect of sit-ins
The effect of sit-ins
- The sit-ins were a direct challenge to the Jim Crow laws and were massively successful.
- The sit-ins proved that direct action could be effective.
- However, not all Civil Rights groups shared this sentiment for direct action. Many were keen to ensure they did not come across as crazy or mob-like.
- King’s vision of leading a peaceful group from the front was not shared by youth groups like SNCC.
Mississippi Freedom Summer
Mississippi Freedom Summer
- Although half the population of Mississippi was black, only 5.2% of them were registered to vote. The city had not had a black official elected since 1877.
- This was largely down to the resistance that white officials put up, such as reading and literature tests.
- 70% of the black population in Mississippi were uneducated and illiterate.
- The SNCC worked to set up Freedom Schools to educate black people so that they would be eligible to vote.
Media coverage
Media coverage
- This drive, known as the Freedom Summer, attracted mass support from the North. White people travelled to Mississippi to help provide education to black people.
- The movement saw media attention particularly when 3 young activists (2 white and 1 black) were brutally murdered by racist segregationists.
- This was even depicted in the 1988 film, Mississippi Burning.
- The SNCC also educated black people on political issues and inspired many people, including women, to lead grassroots movements for Civil Rights.
1‘Free at Last’ 1865-77
1.1The Thirteenth Amendment
1.2Radical Reconstruction, 1867-77
2The Triumph of ‘Jim Crow’ 1883-c1890
2.1Jim Crow Laws & Civil Rights Cases
3The New Deal and Race Relations, 1933–41
3.1Failure to Address Black Grievances
3.2The New Deal
3.3The Second World War
4‘I have a dream’, 1954–68
4.1Civil Rights Activities, 1954–63
4.2Civil Rights 1964-68
4.3Malcolm X & The Black Panthers
5Obama's Campaign for the Presidency, 2004–09
5.1The Late 20th Century
5.2Barack Obama & his Political Career
5.3Reasons for Obama's Victory
Jump to other topics
1‘Free at Last’ 1865-77
1.1The Thirteenth Amendment
1.2Radical Reconstruction, 1867-77
2The Triumph of ‘Jim Crow’ 1883-c1890
2.1Jim Crow Laws & Civil Rights Cases
3The New Deal and Race Relations, 1933–41
3.1Failure to Address Black Grievances
3.2The New Deal
3.3The Second World War
4‘I have a dream’, 1954–68
4.1Civil Rights Activities, 1954–63
4.2Civil Rights 1964-68
4.3Malcolm X & The Black Panthers
5Obama's Campaign for the Presidency, 2004–09
5.1The Late 20th Century
5.2Barack Obama & his Political Career
5.3Reasons for Obama's Victory
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