2.1: Progress 1960-62 Flashcards
Events at Greensboro
On 1 Febuary 1960 four black students waited to be served at the segregated lunch counter in Woolworth department store.
The students knew they would be asked to leave the ‘white only’ area. However, they refused and held a ‘sit-in’ until closing time. This was done to generate publicity to end the stires policy of segregation.
The following day 25 more students arrived to join the sit-in.
By 4 Febuary there were more than 300 students working in shifts for sit-ins which soread to other towns.
In July Greensboro Woolworth department store desegregated due to loss of earnings.
When was Greensboro sit-inns
1 Febuary 1960 started
In July Greensboro Woolworth department store desegregated
How was the Greensboro sit-ins organised
As the Greensboro sit-ins continued, CORE and the SCLC sent experienced campaigners to train students in non-violent methods
In 1960 the Student NonViolent Coordinating Committee was set up to organise non-violent protest by MLK and CORE. The SNCC trained student to cope with harassment.
Significance of the Greensboro sit-ins
Media coverage:
Positive news resulted in support from black and white Americans in the North and South. This led to demonstrations across the USA to challange segregation of public areas.
White and black supporters:
White Southerners jouned CORE and SNCC. By the end of 1960, campaigners were more mixed and no longer just students.
Mass support:
50,000 by Autumn 1960
Spread quickly:
Existing civil right groups meant structures were already in place to support the sit-ons
Rulings in the supreme court which showed progress for civil rights (1960-62)
Bus stations toilets and waiting rooms remained segregated after public transport was desegregated.
In December 1960, the Supreme Court ordered desegregation of bus facilities
In 1961, CORE activists organsied bus journeys from the North to the South for to see desegregation in order to create negative media coverage to force desegregation.
Events of the freedom riders
4 May 1961:
13 ‘Freedom Rider’ started at Washington
15 May 1961:
First bus reached Anniston Alabama and was attacked by over 100 KKK members. A fire bomb was thrown resulting in the bus to blow up.
The second bus was also attacked and beaten. In the end all riders were rescued.
17 May 1961:
Riders were stopped in Birmingham where a theatening crowd of segregationists confronted them
20 May 1961:
Police escorted ‘Freedom Rider’ bus to just outside Montgomery, Alabama p. However left them to defend against a white mob at a bus station.
24 May 1961:
Police escort accompanied a new group of Freedom Rider. When they arrived in Mississippu they were arrested. The federal government did not protect them.
Throughout Summer:
60 Freedom Rides. Over 300 jailed. Many assuakted by police in custody.
1Nov:
Federal government threatened use of federal officers to enforce desegregation. The governement wanted freedom rider voilence to end so Southern States desegregated bus facilities.
When was the freedom riders
Started on 4 May 1961
Ended 1 Nov 1961
Significance of the freedom riders
Many southern state governors and much of the southern press spoke out against them. The KKK and WCC vowed to stop them- showed the Southern hatred towards black Americans
Freedom rides continued throughout 1961 - Federal government said that they would send federal troops if states did not desegregate bus facilities
What was the Jame Meredith case
Applied to the university of Mississippi after an ealier failed attempt to get there
The NAACP brought a successful court case and the Supreme Courf ordered the university to admit him. However, this was ignored.
On 30th September, federal officials escorted Meredith on campus, where 3000 segregationists attacked. As a result a riot broke out which injured and kill some people (federal troops sent in).
He registered on 1 October but continued to need armed guards as he completed his university studies
