SOCIAL MOVEMENTS OCCUR when EVERYDAY PEOPLE ACT COLLECTIVELY at the RIGHT HISTORICAL MOMENT Last 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 1965 Selma 1964 COFO Freedom Summer Freedom Rides Some of the MAJOR EVENTS OF THE SOUTHERN FREEDOM MOVEMENT 1954 Brown v Board Leading to: CIVIL RIGHTS ACTS AND Freedom from Fear and Freedom of Association POVERTY BUT NOT FREEDOM FROM POVERTY DISCRIMINATION OR FREEDOM FROM DISCRIMINATION

World War II -----Cold War LYNCHING Plessy 1896 Gandhi - Indian Independence 1963 Kennedy shot Events Occurred In the Context Of Larger Historical Forces African anti-colonial movements Bandung, Indonesia The Great Depression Korean War

World War II -----Cold War Sit Ins 1955 Montgomery bus boycott King 1957 SCLC SNCC 1911 NAACP 1942 CORE 1965 Selma 1964 COFO Freedom Summer 1908 Springfield IL Race riots Panic of 1907 Plessy 1896 Gandhi Freedom Rides 1954 Brown v Board NAACP local chapters in S. bolstered by black WW II vets CIVIL RIGHTS ACTS Kennedy shot 1955 Bandung Conference African anti-colonial movements LYNCHING

ORGANIZATIONS: --Build Infrastructure and Coalitions --Develop experienced activists NAACP National Association for the Advancement of Colored People CORE Congress of Racial Equality SCLC Southern Christian Leadership Conference SNCC (snick) Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee COFO Council of Federated Organizations = NAACP, CORE, SCLC, SNCC

Local independent civil rights organizations e.g., Womens Political Council e.g., Montgomery Improvement Association e.g., Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights 1957 SCLC Churches 1960 SNCC Black College Campuses Friends of SNCC 1910 NAACP NAACP local chapters Youth chapters The Importance of Infrastructure Highlander CORE Local chapters A Philip Randolph and Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters Federal Council of Churches National Council of Churches

World War II -----Cold War NAACP 1964 COFO Freedom Summer MFDP 1908 Springfield ILL Race riots Panic of 1907 Plessy 1896 Gandhi IN SOUTH: local chapters and youth 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 1917 Silent March 1915 Protests against Birth of a Nation LYNCHING 1960 Boyton v Virginia

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

Waco, Texas "This is the barbeque we had last night. My picture is to the left with a cross over it. Your son, Joe.

NAACP Silent March

World War II -----Cold War CORE Lynching Plessy 1896 Gandhi Freedom Rides 1963 Kennedy shot 1964 COFO Freedom Summer Community centers African anti-colonial movements Congress of Racial Equality 1947 Journey of Reconciliation

World War II -----Cold War Montgomery bus boycott King 1957 SCLC Lynching highpoint 1898 Plessy 1896 Gandhi Citizenship schools 1963 Kennedy shot African anti-colonial movements Southern Christian Leadership Council 1965 Selma 1964 COFO Freedom Summer Freedom Schools

Jo Ann Robinson, in 1950 becomes president of Montgomery Womens 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

-----Cold War Sit Ins SNCC Lynching highpoint 1898 Plessy COFO Freedom Summer Voter Registration MFDP 1963 Kennedy shot African anti-colonial movements 1965 Selma Student Nonviolent Co-ordinating Committee World War II Gandhi

1960 Nonviolent Sit-Ins Ella Baker and King invite students to Bakers 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 the DISCIPLINE of NVR Strategy : end segregation in all public places downtown -- dramatize issue and win over opposition. Cant 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 THEOR Y: Tactic s: 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 stores Seize the issue they give you: Bombing of black lawyers 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 Recruitmen t and Training: Goal: HUMAN DIGNITY AND FREEDOM

World War II -----Cold War CORE Lynching highpoint 1898 Plessy 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 NAACP 1942 CORE Lynching highpoint 1898 Plessy 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 Montgomery bus boycott King 1957 SCLC Lynching highpoint 1898 Plessy 1896 Gandhi Highlander Folk School Citizenship schools 1963 Kennedy shot 1964 COFO Freedom Summer Freedom Schools 1911 NAACP Rosa Parks African anti-colonial movements Interaction of SCLC and NAACP 1965 Selma E.D. Nixon

World War II -----Cold War Sit Ins SNCC Lynching highpoint 1898 Plessy COFO Freedom Summer 1963 Kennedy shot African anti-colonial movements Interaction of SNCC with NAACP, CORE, SCLC Youth chapters NAACP local chapters in South Established by black WW II vets 1965 Selma 1961 Freedom Rides

MISSISSIPPI FREEDOM SUMMER

World War II -----Cold War Sit Ins 1955 Montgomery bus boycott King 1957 SCLC SNCC 1911 NAACP 1942 CORE 1965 Selma 1964 COFO Freedom Summer 1908 Springfield ILL Race riots Lynching highpoint 1898 Plessy 1896 Gandhi 1961 Freedom Rides 1954 Brown v Board NAACP local chapters in S. est by black WW II vets CIVIL RIGHTS ACTS Morgan v VA Highlander Citizenship schools Community centers Voter Registration Freedom Schools 1963 Kennedy shot African anti-colonial movements 1960 Boynton v VA

Ella Baker speaking at the MFDP State Convention Until the killing of black men, black mothers sons Is as important as the killing of white men, white mothers sons We who believe in freedom cannot rest until it comes

Fannie Lou Hamer speaking at the National Democratic Presidential Nominating Convention

THE SOUTHERN FREEDOM MOVEMENT 1960 Sit Ins 1955 Montgomery bus boycott 1965 Selma 1964 COFO Freedom Summer 1961 Freedom Rides 1954 Brown v Board Leading to: CIVIL RIGHTS ACTS 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 Harding From 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