The USA, 1954-1975

Progress
Greensboro and the sit-in movement
What were sit-ins??
Direct action- Sit-ins, sit down demonstrations and boycotts (usually resulted
in white violence).
 The Greensboro sit - in
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFQ3ZCAgAA0
Started with 4 black students at a Greensboro branch of Woolworths.
Students then boycotted any shop in Greensboro that had segregated lunch
counters.
Non- violent despite the students being attacked.
Sit-ins became an important means of protest in Civil Rights movement.
SNCC (Student Non-violent Co-ordinating Committee)
Founded in Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina in April 1960.
First Chairman: Marion Barry.
Mild success in effort to desegregate lunch counters through non-violent
confrontations.
May 1961: Supported local efforts in voter registration as well as
desegregation of public accommodations.
 The Freedom Riders
December 1960- Supreme Court decides all bus stations and terminals that
serve interstate travellers should be integrated.
CORE tests the decision by employing a “Freedom Ride”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1smGpGSa14
CORE membership doubles in 1961.
Why would federal government intervene? 2 minutes
 The James Meredith Case
June 1962- Supreme Court uphold federal court decision to force Mississippi
University to accept James Meredith as a student.
JFK sends 320 federal marshals to escort Meredith to the campus.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvEN8sQ4Bmw
 The Albany Movement, 1961-1962
Late 1961- hundreds of Freedom Riders arrested in Albany, Georgia.
Albany Movement created- made up of various black groups to oppose
segregation in the town.
MLK visited as did many activists. MLK arrested.
Failed to end segregation-Parks, swimming pools closed and schools still
segregated.