“I cannot believe I still have to protest this shit!!” #too many names #ferguson #mikebrown #dontshoot

Aim: Was Non-Violence the best way for African-Americans to achieve their dream of equality? Key Terms: Civil Disobedience Freedom Summer Martin Luther King Jr. Freedom Riders Voting Rights Act of 1965 Rosa Parks Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) Montgomery Bus Boycott Essential Questions: Should the government legislate social change? Why/why not? What challenges could a non-violent movement face? How did the African American Civil Rights movement of the 1950’s and 1960’s address the failures of the Reconstruction?

Civil Disobedience Effective Civil Disobedience Challenges Waves to fill spots of those arrested Never broke non-violence Prepared to be arrested Local residents began to support arrested students (supply with food, bail, legal aid) Media coverage Economic affects on community Cities not segregated boycotted national chains in their own states Openly questioning leadership – local govt had to respond. Safety at risk Public sentiment was against desegregation in many southern towns; violent behavior of whites toward protestors Law not on their side Multiple cities Huge numbers of arrests Blacks not part of protests became victims to random violence Foreign policy distractions Local government (police) ignore violence

Sit-Ins: “New Protests Are Followed By Arrests” – Greensboro Daily News 2/24/1960 “Negro students, apparently welcoming the probability of arrest, resumed nonviolent demonstrations against segregated lunch counters in North Carolina today. Police in two cities arrested demonstrators. The resumption of the passive resistance movement after the sit-ins of several days followed a statewide strategy meeting in Durham of Negro student leaders. The students voted to continue the protest by sitdown demonstrations, boycott and picket line until they reach their goal of desegregated lunch counters…”

Four Freshman from A&T College sat at Woolworth Lunch Counter—it was a “white only” counter Joseph McNeil, Franklin McCain, Ezell Blair Jr., and David Richmond

4-seat section of lunch counter from the Greensboro, North Carolina Woolworth is at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, D.C.

The Protests took place at F.W. Woolworth Co. Retail Store

Freedom Riders Bus Route

Birmingham and Montgomery Riots During the Freedom Riders Tour

Freedom Rider James Zwerg after he was attacked and beaten during the Montgomery Bus Riot “No matter what happens we are dedicated to this. We will take the beatings. We are willing to accept death. We are going to keep going until we can ride anywhere in the South.”

Birmingham and the [Ku Klux]Klan In Birmingham, an FBI informant in the Klan learned of a detailed plan in which Police Chief Bull Connor had agreed to give the Klan 15 minutes after the bus arrived to beat the riders before local police would arrive. The plan was reported to the FBI headquarters, but no action was taken. The Trailways station was filled with Klansmen and reporters. When the Freedom Riders exited the bus, they were beaten by the mob with baseball bats, iron pipes and bicycle chains, and then, battered and bleeding, they were arrested. White Freedom Riders were particularly singled out for frenzied beatings. That night, the hospitalized Freedom Riders were ejected from the hospital because personnel were threatened by the mob.

There were over 430 Freedom Riders, 300 ended up in Parchman Farm Prison in Mississippi

Jail Songs We Shall Overcome Michael Row Your Boat Ashore Let My People Go I’m Travelin’ Keep Your Eyes on the Prize This Little Light of Mine Get Your Rights, Jack (tune of Hit the Road Jack) We Shall Not Be Moved

Norman Thomas, Committee of Inquiry Report (May 1962) “They (Freedom Riders) have fought entrenched discrimination and wrong without themselves indulging in violence and done this in one of the most violent periods of human history.”

Mississippi and Selma - Voting Rights http://bcove.me/dilka3ce

Freedom Riders http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/freedomriders/#part01

Woolworth Sit-Ins https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xbbcjn4d1cE&feature=youtu.be