SOCIAL MOVEMENTS OCCUR when

EVERYDAY PEOPLE ACT COLLECTIVELY

at the RIGHT HISTORICAL

MOMENTJanuary 2013

1960 Sit Ins

1955 Montgomery bus boycott

1965Selma

1964 COFO Freedom Summer

1961-3 Freedom Rides

Some of the MAJOR EVENTS OF THE SOUTHERN FREEDOM MOVEMENT

1954 Brown v Board

Leading to: CIVIL RIGHTS ACTS 1957 1960 1964 1965

AND Freedom from Fear and Freedom of Association

BUT NOT FREEDOM FROM POVERTYPOVERTY OR FREEDOM FROM DISCRIMINATIONDISCRIMINATION

Some key components of a successful social movement:

Get Ready to Be Ready

Personal relationship and community building,

Building an infrastructure

Development of local leadership,

Creating coalitions,

Identifying the problem and doing your homework,

Strategic use of the arts,

Strategic use of nonviolent direct resistance,

Learning how to deal with the contradictions within the movement,

and being in the right historical moment.

ORGANIZATIONS:--Build Infrastructure and Coalitions--Develop experienced activists

1910 --- NAACP National Association for the Advancement of Colored People

1942 --- CORE Congress of Racial Equality

1957--- SCLCSouthern Christian Leadership Conference

1960 --- SNCC (snick)Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee

1962-4 --- COFO Council of Federated Organizations = NAACP, CORE, SCLC, SNCC

-------Local independent civil rights organizations------- e.g., Women’s Political Council

e.g., Montgomery Improvement Association e.g., Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights

e.g., Nonviolent Action Group

1957 SCLC Churches

1960 SNCC Black College Campuses Friends of SNCC

1910 NAACP NAACP local chapters Youth chapters

The Importance of Infrastructure

1932 - -------------Highlander---------------------------------------------

1942 CORE Local chapters

1925 Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters and Maids 1950

1908 Federal Council of Churches------------1950 National Council of Churches

1919 Associated Negro Press--------------------------------------1964

1837-1861-1890------ HBCU’s-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fred Shuttlesworth

C.T. Vivian

Jo Ann Robinson

Esau JenkinsMyles Horton

A. Philip Randolph

World War II

-----Cold War------------------------------------------

1960 Sit Ins

1955 Montgomery bus boycott

King1957 SCLC

SNCC

1910 NAACP

1942 CORE

1964 COFO Freedom Summer

1908 Springfield IL Race riots

Panic of 1907

Gandhi

1961-3 Freedom Rides

NAACP local chapters in S.bolstered by black WW II vets

CIVIL RIGHTS ACTS 1957 1960 1964 1965

1955 Bandung Conference African anti-colonial movements

LYNCHING

The Importance of Historical Moment

African Independence Timeline

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

1951 1956 1957 1958 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1968 1974 1975 1976 1977 1980 1990 1993

number of countries achieving independence

year of independence

1960 Sit ins at HBCUs

World War II

-----Cold War--------

1910 NAACP

1964 COFO Freedom Summer MFDP

1908 Springfield IL Race riots

End of Reconstruction

Gandhi

IN SOUTH:local chaptersyouth 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

1917Silent March

1915 Protests againstBirth of a Nation

LYNCHING

1960 Boyton v Virginia

Thurgood MarshallRoy Wilkins

Walter White

W. E. B. Dubois

Ida B. Wells

MEDGAR EVERS

CHARLES HOUSTON

World War II

-----Cold War--------

1955 Montgomery bus boycott

King

1957 SCLC

Lynching highpoint 1898Plessy 1896

Gandhi

Citizenship schools

1963 Kennedy shotAfrican anti-colonial movements

Southern ChristianLeadership Council

1965Selma

1964 COFO Freedom SummerFreedom Schools

JO ANN ROBINSON

SEPTIMA CLARK

E.D. NIXON

ELLA BAKERKING AND BAYARD RUSTIN

-----Cold War--------

1960 Sit Ins

SNCC

Lynching highpoint 1898Plessy 1896

1964 COFO Freedom Summer

Voter RegistrationMFDP

1963 Kennedy shotAfrican anti-colonial movements

1965Selma

Student Nonviolent Co-ordinating Committee

World War II

Gandhi

BOB MOSES

ELLA BAKER

DIANE NASH

WAZIR PEACOCK

World War II

-----Cold War--------

1942 CORE

LynchingPlessy 1896

Gandhi

1961-3 Freedom Rides

1963 Kennedy shot

1964 COFO Freedom SummerCommunity centers

African anti-colonial movements

Congress of RacialEquality CORE

1947 Journey of Reconciliation

James Farmer

1961 - The First Two Freedom Rides

Nashville

Birmingham

MontgomeryJackson

New Orleans

Washington, D.C.

World War II

-----Cold War---------------

1960 Sit Ins

1955 Montgomery bus boycott

King1957 SCLC

SNCC

1910 NAACP

1942 CORE

1965Selma

1964 COFOFreedom Summer

1908 Springfield IL Race riots

Lynching

Gandhi

1961 Freedom Rides

NAACP local chapters in S.est by black WW II vets

CIVIL RIGHTS ACTS1957 1960 1964 1965

1946 Morgan v VA

1932 - ------------------------------------------------ Highlander

Citizenship schools

• Community centers

• Voter Registration• Freedom Schools

1963 Kennedy shotAfrican/Asian anti-colonial movements

1960 Boynton v VA

1944 Smith v Allwright

Interaction Among Organizations and Leaders

MISSISSIPPI FREEDOM SUMMER - 1964

?

Mississippi Literacy Test

c. 1955

DOM VOTE

The creation of the

MFDP

MFDP

Location of Mississippi projects

DISTRICTS

State Convention in Jackson68 Convention Delegates:

• 64 black• 4 white

5 Congressional Candidates2 Senate CandidatesGovernor and Lt. Governor

Fannie Lou Hamer (1917-1977)

Speaking at the Credentials Committee Hearing of the National Democratic Presidential Nominating Convention

Atlantic City, New Jersey - August 22, 1964

Lyndon Johnson opposed the seating of the MFDP and spent

political capital twisting arms.

The Credentials Committee offered a “compromise:” MFDP to get

two seats “at large” without voting power. MDP delegates to be

seated, had to swear a loyalty oath to the Democratic Party.

The MFDP voted against accepting the “compromise.”

The Convention Delegates, under the impression that the MFDP

approved the “compromise,” approved the Credentials

Committee recommendations.

The Success of Freedom Summer

[T]he most significant thing that the movement gave to us was it removed people from fear. The freedom from fear of being dragged out of your house in the middle of the night for daring to want to be part of the mainstream, of daring to dream or want to participate, to want to have equal justice, that equal pay for equal work that my father used to talk about. The generations since the movement have not been taught to stay in their place or to understand that there’s a certain way to walk and stand and look at and relate to white people. For white and blacks, I think that is the most significant contribution it made to people in [Mississippi].

-- L.C. Dorsey

What happened in 1964 symbolized the situation that we are in now. The National Democratic Party and the political leadership of that party at the time, said, okay, there’s room for these kind of people. And it was the professional people within our group who were asked to become part and did become part of the Democratic Party. On the other hand they said, there isn’t room for these people—grassroots people, the sharecroppers, the common workers, the day workers. There’s room for them as recipients of largesse—poverty programs and the like. There isn’t room for them as participants in power sharing.

--Bob Moses

The Failure of Freedom Summer

Never again were we lulled into believing that our task was exposing injustices so that the ‘good’ people of American could eliminate them. We left Atlantic City with the knowledge that the movement had turned into something else. After Atlantic City, our struggle was not for civil rights, but for liberation.

-- Cleveland Sellers

The Lesson of Freedom Summer

THE SOUTHERN FREEDOM MOVEMENT

1960 Sit Ins1955 Montgomery bus boycott

1965 Selma

1964 COFO Freedom Summer1961 Freedom Rides

1954 Brown v Board

Leading to: CIVIL RIGHTS ACTS 1957 1960 1964 1965

Freedom from Fear Freedom of Association

BUT NOT Freedom from POVERTY

or Freedom from DISCRIMINATION

Vincent HardingFrom Fundi: The Story of Ella Baker (1981)

“. . . Because this country has been changed [by the Southern Freedom Movement], 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.”

Ella Baker speaking at the MFDP State Convention

“Until the killing of black men, black mother’s sonsIs as important as the killing of white men, white mother’s sons We who believe in freedom cannot rest until it comes”

San Francisco

Freedom School

Google:

“sf freedom school”