Formation & role of groups supporting CR & ideas for change Flashcards
Formation and role of groups supporting civil rights and their ideas for change
National association for the advancement of coloured people
NAACP
Formation
- 1909, initiated by whites in response to ongoing lynchings and race riots in Springfield, Illinois the year prior
Aim:
- Achieve political and social equality for AAs through the law as per the 13th to 15th amendments (No slavery, equal legal protection, universal suffrage)
- Today has over 500k members and continues to work to remove barriers to racial equality in the law
William Du Bois authored The Souls of Black Folk in 1903 and was the only original black executive of NAACP, Founding The Crisis magazine to spread ideas
Protested the pro-KKK 1915 film The Birth of a Nation at premieres in various cities, emphasising the need for publicity in conjunction with their legal approach
Won small cases overtime, culminated in brown vs board of education (1954)
Formation and role of groups supporting civil rights and their ideas for change
Congress of racial inequality
CORE
Formation
1942, interracial group established in Chicago
Aim
Non-violent direct action influenced by Gandhi, gaining widespread recognition after supporting MLK in the Montgomery Bus Boycott
Chicago was a major destination for AAs who had migrated from the South, showing need for national racial equality campaigns
A series of successful sit-ins in Chicago inspired later campaigns in the South
The murders of CORE workers Schwerner, Goodman, and Chaney in the Mississippi Freedom Summer of 1964 radicalised many in the organisation
By 1966, Floyd McKissick became its new director and adopted the Black Power approach, minimising
Involvements of whites, and declaring non-violence as dead after MLK’s assassination in 1968
Formation and role of groups supporting civil rights and their ideas for change
Southern christian leadership conference
SCLC
Formation
1957, group formed in Atlanta from the Montgomery Bus Boycott strengthened by black churches in South
Aim
Non-violent activism focused on a community level, drawing together smaller groups to create awareness of civil rights across a broader geographical area
Gained national recognition under MLK Citizenship Education Program - a program designed to provide civics training to AAs, and have them teach their communities
Operation Breadbasket - A program designed to encourage As to support businesses that employed AAs
Its success in Atlanta became a model for grassroots activism across the South
Formation and role of groups supporting civil rights and their ideas for change.
Student nonviolent coordinating committee
SNCC
Formation
1960, emerged from sit-in campaign in Greensboro, North Carolina, led by NAACP/SCLC veteran Ella Baker
Aim
Non-violence, issuing press releases that challenged politicians and the public to embrace racial equality
Led Freedom Rides in 1961 to desegregate buses in South after original CORE freedom riders had been subjected to great violence
Key role in driving black voter registration, Mississippi Freedom Summer of 1964, and passing the Civil Rights Act that same year
Became more militant as its members became subject to violence, turned its protests to the Vietnam War; ceased being an effective organisation by the early 1970s.
NAACP
Shortened summary
Established - Feb 1909: NY
Targets: Voting inequality; physical discrimination
Legal means - est. 1940 Legal Defence & Education Fund, run by Thurgood Marshall; 1944 ‘Smith v Allright’ (exclusive Texas voting); 1946 ‘Morgan v wealth Virginia* (interstate bus): 1954 ‘B v BOE’ Case
CORE
Shortened summary
Established; 1932; Chicago; James Farmer - ‘Fellowship of Reconciliation’
‘Operated in Nth - peaceful direct action; 1940s sit-ins, 1956 M Bus Boycott, 1961 Freedom Rides
1966 - Farmer replaced by Floyd McKissick - Black power; limit on whites
SCLC
Shortened summary
Established; 1957 by MLK after M Bus Boycott; Christian principles
Targeted voting rights, economic social & educational disadvantage
Peaceful grass-roots activism (Occasionally overt); 1957 Crusade for Citizenship, 1962 Operation Breadbasket, 1963 Mch on W for J&F
Mid 60s - Expanded into North - Chicago
SNCC
Shortened summary
Established; 1960 after Gboro sit-ins
Non-violent ideas of Gandhi - Involved in 1961 Freedom Rides, 1963 Mch on W, 1964 Mississippi F S
1966 - Chairman Stokey Carmichael; black power
