Political and Legal Barriers

Instructions:

Step 1: Choose a leader for this round.

Step 2: Leader reads aloud the Background.
Background: After the Montgomery Bus Boycott, the struggle for civil
rights took on a new direction.
People in the movement
began to realize that real
social change could be
brought upon when
collectively and consistently
they planned, organized, and
stood their ground. Taking
Martin Luther Kings lead in
establishing a non-violent
approach to this process of change, African Americans began to apply
these tactics in other arenas. Continuing their goal of full and equal
access to civil rights, groups like the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference (SCLC), the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), and later, the
Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), joined forces to
challenge segregation in all public facilities. They began what came to be
known as the Sit-ins and the Freedom Rides.

Step 3: Take turns reading aloud; Sit-ins, Freedom

Riders, and The March on Washington for Jobs and
Freedoms.
Sit-Ins: The sit-ins started on Feb. 13, 1960, and the targets were
downtown department stores where African Americans could shop, but
refused service at lunch counters. Young people would come into the
department stores and sit at the lunch counters, asking to be served.
They stayed there until they were served or escorted out of the
establishment. To make sure that everybody stayed committed to their

nonviolent philosophy, John Lewis and Bernard Lafayette, who both

attended American Baptist College at the time, developed and printed
copies of the ten rules of conduct, the standards of behavior for the Sit
Ins

Do Not

Do

1. Strike back nor curse if

1. Show yourself friendly and

courteous at all times.
2. Sit straight; always face the
counter.
3. Report all serious incidents
to your leader.
4. Refer information seekers to
your leader in a polite manner.
5. Remember the teachings of
Jesus Christ, Mahatma Gandhi
and Martin Luther King. Love
and nonviolence is the way.

abused.
2. Laugh out.
3. Hold conversations with
floor walker.
4. Leave your seat until your
leader has given you permission
to do so.
5. Block entrances to stores
outside nor the aisles inside.

Students who participated in the sit-ins

would often bring their books and studied
while they protested. But not every
protest was peaceful. Sometimes,
students were assaulted verbally and
physically by customers and the owners
of the department store. Other times, food
was dumped on them as they sat at the
counter. But this did not deter the
protesters. In fact, the protests spread to
train and bus terminals, public libraries,
swimming pools, and movie theaters that barred blacks. As news of these demonstrations
reached all of America via the media, politicians in Washington were receiving criticism and
were pressured to act.

Freedom Riders: The newfound confidence of the student activists led

to the formation of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee
(SNCC). Along with the other civil rights groups, SNCC decided to test a
1946 Supreme Court ruling
that declared segregation
unconstitutional on interstate
transport. On May 4, 1961,
thirteen people-seven young
blacks and six older-whites left
Washington aboard two buses,
headed for New Orleans. As
their bus rolled through the
South, the Freedom Riders, integrated waiting rooms and lunch counters
successfully and usually without incident. In South Carolina, however, two
of the Riders were beaten by a white mob, and the next day two others
were arrested in a lunchroom in that state. Later that same month, a mob
armed with chains, sticks, and iron rods met one of the buses as it pulled
into the station at Anniston, Alabama. One of the Riders was beaten so
badly that he suffered a stroke and was left paralyzed. The mob attacked
the bus, smashed its windows, slashed the front tires. While the bus was
heading out of town, someone threw an incendiary bomb into the bus. The
passengers were able to get out but had to be treated for smoke
inhalation at a nearby hospital.
The next time the Freedom Riders made their way to the south, federal
authorities assured the bus company of protection. However, the violence
against then went unrestrained. Many times it seemed that it had the
approval of the National Guard units and local police. Federal marshals
sent by Washington to protect the Riders were threatened with arrested
by Alabamas governor, John Patterson; We do not recognize the federal
marshals as law enforcement officers in this matter. he said. Yet, instead
of discouraging the activists, by summers end, hundred from all over the
country had joined on Freedom Riders. As they entered southern cities

they were immediately arrested and jailed for trying to integrated bus
stations. The media-newspaper, magazines, television-had sent reporters
and photographers to cover the growing mass protests in the South. When
the nation saw what was happening, great numbers of people pressured
the federal government to do something. In November 1961, the
Interstate Commerce Commission issued regulations that posters must be
put up in all interstate terminals establishing the right of travel without
segregation.
The Freedom Riders had made a difference. Many WHITE and COLORED signs were taken
down and seats anywhere in a public bus made open to all.

The March on Washington for Jobs and

Freedom August 28, 1963
Black nonviolence had won concessions. As more and more people, black and white, joined
together in the struggle for civil rights, A. Philip Randolph proposed that all the forces on that
front be untied in one great dramatic action a March on Washington. The movement had
shown it could organize nationally. The goal was to call upon Congress to pass the Kennedy
civil rights bill, the integration of schools, an end to job discrimination, and a job training
program.
On August 28, more than 250,000
people, black and white, people of all
faiths, from all walks of life, and
including 150 congressmen, came
together before the Lincoln Memorial
in Washington. It was the largest
demonstrations in American history
up to that time. Here, to a huge crowd
and to the national TV, Martin Luther
King gave his famous I Have a Dream speech.

Step 4: Leader asks the discussion questions below to

the group members. If your group is not able to
answer the questions, review the information again.

Discussion Questions
1. What tactic did the student activists use to integrate the department
store lunch counters?
2. What part of the strategy do you think was most effective and way?
Least effective?
3. Why do you think that at first, the federal government was not as
supportive of Freedom Riders as they could have been? What do you think
was the main reason why they later became supportive?
4. What do you think was the key to the success of both of these
strategies? Explain.
5. How would you have responded?

Step 5: Using the information that you learned,

complete the Civil Rights Memorial worksheet (Data
Sheet 2). BEFORE you begin start the activity for
Political and Legal Barriers.
**** Before you move to the next center please return
all items to the folder.