SOCIAL MOVEMENTS OCCUR when
EVERYDAY PEOPLE ACT COLLECTIVELY
at the RIGHT HISTORICAL
MOMENTLast updated Jan-08 © SF Freedom School 2007
The Southern Freedom
Movement as
A CASE STUDY of how
social movements
HAPPEN
1960 Sit Ins
1955 Montgomery bus boycott
1965Selma
1964 COFO Freedom Summer
1961 Freedom Rides
Some of the MAJOR EVENTS OF THE SOUTHERN FREEDOM MOVEMENT
1954 Brown v Board
Leading to: CIVIL RIGHTS ACTS 1957 1960 1964 1965
AND Freedom from Fear and Freedom of Association
BUT NOT FREEDOM FROM POVERTYPOVERTY OR FREEDOM FROM DISCRIMINATIONDISCRIMINATION
World War II
-----Cold War--------LYNCHINGPlessy 1896
Gandhi - Indian Independence
1963 Kennedy shot
Events Occurred In the Context Of Larger Historical Forces
African anti-colonial movements1955 - Bandung, Indonesia
The Great Depression
Korean War
Waco, Texas---1916
"This is the barbeque we had last night. My picture is to the left with a cross over it. Your son, Joe.”
14 year old boy and his 35 year old mother
Picture taken for postcard reproduction
50 people on bridge, posing for several hours. The photographer had to row out into the middle of the river and upstream enough to get everyone in the picture.
Oklahoma, 1911
World War II
-----Cold War--------
1960 Sit Ins
1955 Montgomery bus boycott
King1957 SCLC
SNCC
1911 NAACP
1942 CORE
1965Selma
1964 COFO Freedom Summer
1908 Springfield ILRace riots
Panic of 1907Plessy 1896
Gandhi
1961 Freedom Rides
1954 Brown v Board
NAACP local chapters in S.est by black WW II vets
CIVIL RIGHTS ACTS1957 1960 1964 1965
1963 Kennedy shot
1955 Bandung Conference African anti-colonial movements
LYNCHING
ORGANIZATIONS:--Build Infrastructure and Coalitions--Develop experienced activists
1910 --- NAACP National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
1942 --- CORE Congress of Racial Equality
1957--- SCLCSouthern Christian Leadership Conference
1960 --- SNCC (snick)Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee
1964 --- COFO Council of Federated Organizations = NAACP, CORE, SCLC, SNCC
NAACP Silent March - 1917
World War II
-----Cold War--------
1911 NAACP
1964 COFO Freedom Summer MFDP
1908 Springfield ILLRace riots
Panic of 1907Plessy 1896
Gandhi
IN SOUTH:local chaptersandyouth chapters
1963 Kennedy shot
Bandung Conference African anti-colonial movements
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
1954 Brown v Board
1944 Smith v Allwright
1946 Morgan v Virginia
1917Silent March
1915 Protests againstBirth of a Nation
LYNCHING
1947 Journey of Reconciliation
World War II
-----Cold War--------
1942 CORE
LynchingPlessy 1896
Gandhi
1961 Freedom Rides
1963 Kennedy shot
1964 COFO Freedom SummerCommunity centers
African anti-colonial movements
Congress of RacialEquality
1947 Journey of Reconciliation
Jo Ann Robinson, in 1950 becomes president of Montgomery Women’s Political Council (est.1946 by Mary Fair Burks).
Claudette Colvin, 15 yrs old is Arrested for not giving up her bus seat to a white person
E.D. Nixon asked Parks to be test case.(Nixon is the local NAACP president,Pullman Porters union leader,member of Montgomery Welfare League, and member of Montgomery Voters League. )
Robinson calls for boycott after Parks arrested. WPC and NAACP call upon King to lead new organization-- Montgomery Improvement Association --to organize and sustain boycott
Susie McDonald
Mary Louise Smith
Aurelia Browder and Claudette Colvin were the plaintiffs in NAACP case: Browder v Gayle, which ended segregated city buses 13 months after boycott began
9 months before Rosa Parks’ arrest
World War II
-----Cold War--------
1955 Montgomery bus boycott
King1957 SCLC
Lynching highpoint 1898Plessy 1896
Gandhi
Citizenship schools
1963 Kennedy shotAfrican anti-colonial movements
Southern ChristianLeadership Council
1965Selma
1964 COFO Freedom SummerFreedom Schools
1960 Nonviolent Sit-Ins
Ella Baker and King invite students to Baker’s alma mater --Shaw University to create SNCC
Bob Moses goes to Mississippi in 1961 as SNCC organizer.Becomes co-chair of COFO in 1964, organizes MFDP
In 1965, SNCC begins to organize around the concept of BLACK POWER in Lowndes County, Alabama.
Stokely Carmichael uses expression in Meredith March in 1966
Nashville Sit-Ins 1960 -- the DISCIPLINE of NVR
Strategy:
end segregation in all public places downtown --
dramatize issue and win over opposition.
Can’t defeat segregation by violence (whites have monopoly over the use of force). Activists a tiny number so need sympathy of the white majority and the active support black middle class.
Research: Find an issue that black women cared about -- Lunch Counters
THEORY:
Tactics:
Research: Anticipate opposition tactics to sit in at lunch counters
Escalate conflict: Mass arrests of “nice college kids” provokes outrage among black community -- they are ready to boycott downtown storesSeize the issue they give you: Bombing of black lawyer’s home creates opening to meet with mayor - agreement reached to desegregate public facilities.
• September 1959, Lawson holds workshops once a week, few attend!• First Nashville sit-in, April 1960, 25 students• Second sit-in, 600 students
Recruitment and Training:
Goal:HUMAN DIGNITY AND FREEDOM
-----Cold War--------
1960 Sit Ins
SNCC
Lynching highpoint 1898Plessy 1896
1964 COFO Freedom Summer
Voter RegistrationMFDP
1963 Kennedy shotAfrican anti-colonial movements
1965Selma
Student Nonviolent Co-ordinating Committee
World War II
Gandhi
World War II
-----Cold War--------
1942 CORE
Lynching highpoint 1898Plessy 1896
Gandhi
1961 Freedom Rides
1963 Kennedy shot
1964 COFO Freedom Summer
Community centers
African anti-colonial movements
Interaction of CORE and SNCC
1960 Sit Ins
SNCC
World War II
-----Cold War--------
1911 NAACP
1942 CORE
Lynching highpoint 1898Plessy 1896
Gandhi
1961 Freedom Rides
1946 Morgan v VA
1963 Kennedy shot
1964 COFO Freedom Summer
Community centers
African anti-colonial movements
Interaction of NAACP and CORE
World War II
-----Cold War--------
1955 Montgomery bus boycott
King1957 SCLC
Lynching highpoint 1898Plessy 1896
Gandhi
1932 - ----------------------------------------------------------- Highlander Folk School
Citizenship schools
1963 Kennedy shot
1964 COFO Freedom SummerFreedom Schools
1911 NAACP
Rosa Parks
African anti-colonial movements
Interaction of SCLC and NAACP
1965Selma
E.D. Nixon
World War II
-----Cold War--------
1960 Sit InsSNCC
Lynching highpoint 1898Plessy 1896
1964 COFO Freedom Summer
1963 Kennedy shotAfrican anti-colonial movements
Interaction of SNCC with NAACP, CORE, SCLC
Youth chapters
NAACP local chapters in South Established by black WW II vets
1965Selma
1961 Freedom Rides
World War II
-----Cold War---------------------
1960 Sit Ins
1955 Montgomery bus boycott
King1957 SCLC
SNCC
1911 NAACP
1942 CORE
1965Selma
1964 COFOFreedom Summer
1908 Springfield ILLRace riots
Lynching highpoint 1898Plessy 1896
Gandhi
1961 Freedom Rides
1954 Brown v Board
NAACP local chapters in S.est by black WW II vets
CIVIL RIGHTS ACTS1957 1960 1964 1965
1946 Morgan v VA
1932 - ------------------------------------------------------- Highlander
Citizenship schools
• Community centers
• Voter Registration• Freedom Schools
1963 Kennedy shotAfrican anti-colonial movements
MISSISSIPPI FREEDOM SUMMER - 1964
Fannie Lou Hamer speaking at the National Democratic Presidential Nominating Convention
----------------------Local independent civil rights organizations----------------------e.g., Women’s Political Council
e.g., Montgomery Improvement Associatione.g., Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights
1957 SCLC Churches
1960 SNCCCollege CampusesFriends of SNCC
1910 NAACPNAACP local chaptersYouth chapters
The Importance of Infrastructure
1932 - -------------------Highlander---------------------------------------------
1942 CORELocal chapters
A Philip Randolph and Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters 1925---------------------------------------------1950
1908 Federal Council of Churches-------------1950 National Council of Churches
THE SOUTHERN FREEDOM MOVEMENT
1960 Sit Ins1955 Montgomery bus boycott
1965 Selma
1964 COFO Freedom Summer1961 Freedom Rides
1954 Brown v Board
Leading to: CIVIL RIGHTS ACTS 1957 1960 1964 1965
Freedom from Fear Freedom of Association
BUT NOT Freedom from POVERTY
or Freedom from DISCRIMINATION
Martin Luther King Jr. April 14, 1967 at Stanford University
. . . the struggle is more difficult today because
we are struggling now for genuine equality. It's much easier to integrate a lunch counter than it is to guarantee a livable income and a good solid job. . .
. . . . so many people who supported morally and even financially what we were doing in Birmingham and Selma, were really outraged against the extremist behavior of Bull
Connor and Jim Clark toward Negroes, rather than believing in genuine equality for Negroes. . . .
Martin Luther King Jr. April 14, 1967 at Stanford University
. . . . the white backlash is merely a new name for an old phenomenon. It's not something that just came into being because of shouts of Black Power, or because Negroes engaged in riots in Watts, for instance. The fact is that the state of California voted a Fair Housing bill out of existence before anybody shouted Black Power, or before anybody rioted in Watts. It may well be that shouts of Black Power and riots in Watts and the Harlems and the other areas, are the consequences of the white backlash rather than the cause of them.
Martin Luther King Jr. April 14, 1967 at Stanford University
. . . . And so there is a great deal that the Negro can do to develop self respect. There is a great deal that the Negro must do and can do to amass political and economic power within his own community and by using his own resources. And so we must do certain things for ourselves but this must not negate the fact, and cause the nation to overlook the fact, that the Negro cannot solve the problem himself. . .
. . the Civil Rights movement must now begin to organize for the guaranteed annual income. . . . if we can spend $35 billion a year to fight an ill-considered war in Vietnam, and $20 billion to put a man on the moon, our nation can spend billions of dollars to put God's children on their own two feet right here on earth. . .
Vincent HardingFrom Fundi: The Story of Ella Baker (1981)
“. . . . This country has been changed [by the Southern Freedom Movement] . . . . Because this country has been changed, we must change too if we are going to continue to carry on the struggle . . . . You move into a struggle with certain kinds of visions and ideas and hopes. You transform the situation and then you can no longer go on with the same kinds of visions . . . because you have created a new situation yourselves. And if anybody has taught us how to be flexible and change and
recreate our ideas and our thoughts as time has gone on, Ella Baker has done that.”
Social movements occur when everyday people act collectively
at the right moment in history
What to do in-between social movements?
AND study the Southern Freedom Movement as a case study of how social movements happen!
• Build infrastructures/organizations
• Create coalitions and community
• Study and understand tactics, strategy and issues
• Develop a repertoire of organizing skills
• Write songs, poetry and plays