SOCIAL MOVEMENTS OCCUR when EVERYDAY PEOPLE ACT COLLECTIVELY at the RIGHT HISTORICAL MOMENT Last updated Jan-08 © SF Freedom School 2007

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


King1957 SCLC

SNCC

1911 NAACP

1942 CORE

1965Selma


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--------


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



Voter RegistrationMFDP


1965Selma

Student Nonviolent Co-ordinating Committee

World War II

Gandhi

World War II

-----Cold War--------

1942 CORE


Gandhi

1961 Freedom Rides

1963 Kennedy shot


Community centers


Interaction of CORE and SNCC

1960 Sit Ins

SNCC

World War II

-----Cold War--------

1911 NAACP

1942 CORE


Gandhi

1961 Freedom Rides

1946 Morgan v VA

1963 Kennedy shot


Community centers


Interaction of NAACP and CORE

World War II

-----Cold War--------


King1957 SCLC


Gandhi

1932 - ----------------------------------------------------------- Highlander Folk School

Citizenship schools

1963 Kennedy shot

1964 COFO Freedom SummerFreedom Schools

1911 NAACP

Rosa Parks


Interaction of SCLC and NAACP

1965Selma

E.D. Nixon

World War II

-----Cold War--------

1960 Sit InsSNCC




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


King1957 SCLC

SNCC

1911 NAACP

1942 CORE

1965Selma

1964 COFOFreedom Summer

1908 Springfield ILLRace riots


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


1960 Boynton v VA

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. . . .


. . . . 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.


. . . . 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

Documents

SOCIAL MOVEMENTS OCCUR when EVERYDAY PEOPLE ACT COLLECTIVELY at the RIGHT HISTORICAL MOMENT Last updated Jan-08 © SF Freedom School 2007