Civil Rights Movement: Part 3Non-Violent Protest Groups

Major Civil Rights GroupsThere were four major nonviolent civil

rights groupsNational Association for the Advancement of

Colored People (NAACP)Congress On Racial Equality (CORE)Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee

(SNCC)Southern Christian Leadership Coalition

(SCLC)

While each group was active in the movement, each group had a different role or function

Congress on Racial EqualityFormed in Chicago in 1942; first major Civil

Rights group in the USPrimary role: Planning and organizing of

protestsResponsible for planning local

demonstrationsFocused on voting rights, de-segregation,

and discrimination in the workplace/schools

Student Nonviolent Coordinating CommitteeFormed in 1960 with money from the SCLCPrimarily college age student activistsMore radical; sought change

immediately rather than graduallyRole: Provided manpower for nonviolent

protestsTended to be more confrontational

Southern Christian Leadership ConferenceComposed of ministers and religious

figures in the South; associated with Martin Luther King Jr.,

Advocated peaceful protest of racial policies in the South

Instrumental in planning community-wide action like the Montgomery bus boycotts or marches

NAACPProvided legal support for civil rights

movementRole: Legally challenging laws that

prevented blacks from full equalityAnti-lynching lawsBrown v. Board of Ed.Housing segregation

Thurgood Marshall was most prominent member

Civil Rights Timeline

IntegrationBrown v. Board of Education (1954):

Separate but equal is inherently unequal.1955: year-long bus boycott in Montgomery,

Alabama to protest segregated buses1957: President Eisenhower sends federal

troops to force integration in at Little Rock Central HS

1960: 70,000 students participate in sit-ins across the South

1962: James Meredith enrolls at Ole Miss University

1960s1961: Freedom Rides

Busses full of black and white students ride through the South to support integration on interstate busses

Most riders were physically assaulted, beaten, and eventually jailed

1963: Clash in Birmingham, AlabamaBull Connor uses extreme violence to stop

protestersMove backfires, forces desegregation

1960s1963: March on Washington

200-300 thousand people demonstrate in capitol

MLK’s “I Have a Dream” speech, music by famous musicians (Bob Dylan, Sammy Davis Jr.), celebrity support (Jackie Robinson)

Credited with passing Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act

Legislation passed (1964)Civil Rights Act (Lyndon Johnson)

Government can force desegregationProhibited discrimination in public spaces

(parks, restaurants, etc) and in the workplace

Freedom SummerMassive voter registration drive in

MississippiMet with extreme violence (bombed

churches, homes burned, murdered volunteers)

Legislation passed (1965)Following freedom summer, protest marches in

the south happenSelma Marches: 50 mile march from Selma,

AL to the state capital of Montgomery by MLKMarchers were beaten en routeLBJ places Alabama National Guard under federal

control to protect the marchVoting Rights Act: Federal govt. can forcibly

register voters if necessary24th Amendment: outlawed the poll tax and

other illegal voting requirements