The Movement

Greensboro, North Carolina February 1 to July 25, 1960 Four black college students started a sit-in at a Woolworth’s lunch counter…ordered coffee but waitress said no because they were black Student came back each day with more protestors (over 100) In the following weeks, thousands of protestors held sit-ins all over the South Often led to time spent in jail Segregationists started abusing the protestors Threw acid & ammonia, yelled & beat them, burned them with cigarettes

Results of the Sit-ins Protestors eventually forced stores with lunch counters to serve African Americans The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee was formed out of this movement

A New President While running for president John Kennedy intervened to help get Martin Luther King Jr. out of a Georgia jail for traffic violations King was freed and with the help of African American voters, John Kennedy was elected president Southern Democrats supported segregation but Kennedy did not want to anger them (could prevent him getting reelected) Kennedy tried to stay on neutral ground when it came to civil rights but eventually had to act

Freedom Rides in the South On May 4, 1961, a group of 13 African-American and white civil rights activists launched the Freedom Rides Organized to test the Supreme Court decision in Boynton v. Virginia The “Freedom Riders” recruited by the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), a U.S. civil rights group, departed from Washington, D.C., and attempted to integrate facilities at bus terminals along the way into the Deep South. The group encountered tremendous violence from white protestors along the route, but also drew international attention to their cause. Kennedy finally sent in federal marshals to protect them

Results of the Freedom Rides Over the next few months, several hundred Freedom Riders engaged in similar actions The Freedom Riders compelled a reluctant federal government to act In September 1961, the Interstate Commerce Commission issued regulations prohibiting segregation in bus and train stations nationwide.

Mississippi James Meredith, an Air Force veteran wanted to enroll in the University of Mississippi, “Ole Miss” The Governor of Mississippi, Ross Barnett, was determined to prevent integration of the university… it became a standoff between the governor and the federal government Kennedy assigned federal marshals to protect him and a riot ensued through the night with white protestors trying to scare Meredith Meredith enrolled, graduated in 1963 and went on to Columbia University in New York to get his law degree